Tape is back! Reel-to-reel tape!
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Monday November 25, 2024
David Mellor
David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.
The best reason to get into tape is if you like analogue but cannot find good pressings or reissues to your liking. Many recordings from the 1950s and 60s have been reissued, but the quality varies, depending on the state of the master tapes and the skill of the remastering. 1:1 copies of masters (production or safety) will often sound superior, at a cost and if you can find them. Even commercial 7.5 ips releases (esp. 2-track) from that era can sound better than any LP, but this depends on the condition of the tapes. If the price is cheap enough, it is worth taking the risk. Specialist releases such as the Barclay-Crocker reissues from the 70s and 80s can sound amazing. Direct DSD transfers of analogue materials, such as the downloads from High Definition Tape Transfer are good alternatives, but I find most PCM transfers to be inferior.
@Robert-TomCat74: A cassette is actually a miniature version of reel to reel. If you examine the cassette closely, you will see two miniature reels, one on the left and one on the right. Of course the tape is half as wide as proper reel to reel, 1/8 inch instead of 1/4 and only running at 1 7/8 IPS instead of 3 3/4, 7 1/5, and 15 IPS or inches per second. 30 IPS is reserved for studios, I believe.
@Phiyedough: That new Revox is more than I paid for my house! I do have a Tascam cassette deck and it is good but....
@AudioMasterclass replies to @Phiyedough: Don’t worry. The government will soon subtract what you paid for your house from what it’s worth now and tax you on your unrealised capital gain.
@Woffy.: I have a collection of machines, The Teac 8-80 is fun but very hungry munching miles of 1/2 tape salvaged from studio's. The other day I dug out an old Sony TC 645 from my stash and after an hour of cleaning and service it was up and running. I dropped some tracks from a CD and replayed them in sync. I was very surprised at how well it performed and the low noise floor. I am not into Digital and my CD's came from a friends estate and OK but give me Analogue and the ritual of threading a tape or dropping a stylus into a track you have not played for years. I buy up tape from eBay and have picked up some good tracks and quality tape. Long play tape is ok at higher speeds but the main problem is with machines which have poor tension control on rewind which will stretch the tape, go gently and its OK.
@madmad8582: I have two reel tape recorders , the first one is a Sony the other is a Teac , I did have the Teac 4 track recorder , but traded it to buy some records reason being the Teac needed a mixing board plus I don't have much room to run a Studio , but i do love my Sony it has a Sound on sound and I use that too make my guitar sound like two Guitars it very cool if you do it right . but yes Reel to Reel is a lot of fun to use and it sounds very nice , Les Paul use to use like 4 tape machines to do his multi track recording , He invented a lot of gear for the studio , recording great music started with Les Paul , and it was made in the USA , I love some American Gear , also some Japan made stuff can be nice too. like I said before my EV collection is the best there is and is true audiophile gear it is sad there is some nice modern speakers but carry a huge price tag on the Market speakers have not changed that much over the years , speakers are motors for sound , and this has not changed since they where invented, to be honest people are being ripped off Big Time Modern speakers are made out of poorly made materiel's , The day's of wooden speakers are gone , and so much plastic is used as well , I use too run Tube Gear it was nice but decided it was not my cup of tea , I did have a Sony Mastering Deck it was the nicest Reel to Reel I ever Had the tape ran in one direction , and it was the nicest sounding deck I ever Heard in my life , that is one thing Sony ever made was very good recording gear even in video gear and cameras Sony had there name on it , do you remember Beta machines that is a perfect example on how Sony made cool stuff and they have quite the History of making Electronics starting with the transistor radio , I had one and I found it at a Ham Fair with my Father his call number was VE7-AIL , I have a huge History of Electronics Gear over the years even computers The Sony Transistor radio I sold for 800.00 dollars , being I only bought it for 3 dollars , it was a great find and I bought a ring for my Girl Friend from the profits any ways Your shows here on Youtube are very cool I enjoy what you have to say about audio gear , and you are correct about what you have to say , plus you have bin too one of the greatest Studios on the planet like WoW that is very cool . I will watch more of your videos and drop some post to you ty Audio Masterclass :-)
@slappymcslapster8845: Bring back 8 tracks! Lol If that happens I will then know for sure some of you old farts (my age LOL) are off your rockers. The only way that some people think that vinyl, cassettes, R2R (And 8 tracks maybe... is that next?) sound better than a decent mp3 or wav file is because of the nostalgia factor.
@slappymcslapster8845: I'm in my mid '60s and never ever understood the obsession some audiophiles have with vinyl, cassettes, reel to reel... What's next? 8 tracks? Nothing like having your song fade out in the middle. I don't want to go backwards with audio quality no matter how nostalgic it is.
@NTSCuser: Can't wait to see a TEAC/Tascam knock-off at a fraction of the price!😛
@AudioMasterclass replies to @NTSCuser: We used to have Teac tape recorders and they were not anything to get excited about. Then they professionalised and introduced the Tascam brand. I had a G16, or was it a G24, for review for a while. For it's specs and price it was good.
@jtavegia5845: Tape is back my butt. Have you checked the prices for used R2R machines lately? They are mechanical nightmares and have fun finding a new cassette recorder with Dolby B. Too cheap to pay the licensing free? Tape is joke with speed issues, expensive tape that degrades over time.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @jtavegia5845: £15 quid for a 30 minute reel in the 1980s. Happy days.
@MrMcGuy: I want one so badly, but it's a rich man's game. I opted instead to pay to have my Pioneer RT-909 and RT-707 both fully restored by a professional.
@mobilepsycho: Now let's see, where did I put that $23,000 😂😂🤷🏽♂🤷🏽♂
@Andersljungberg: How good does an album sound that is at the speed of 71/2? On Etsy, pre-recorded tapes are at that speed, among other things, as Dire Straits brother in arms
@Andersljungberg: Analog productions in the USA have also sold albums on real to real tape. Still available on their website. There may also be master tapes that you can find in different places but according to him at Anadalog. there are things that you should look at that can make it realistic that it is really a Mastertape. Then there are probably also copies on master tape
@ramchandharphotography2836: location link company sent
@trevorjohnson2315: Pretty sure this is Paul McCartney
@pb.5444: Sorry, but for 16,995.00€ I can buy a fully reconditioned professional multitrack tape machine with a set of 64-channel converters i/o, and I have money left for a 2-track and a crappy car. Crazy... extortion is what it is. hahahahaha
@xisotopex: what size tape do reel to reel machines use?
@AudioMasterclass replies to @xisotopex: Domestically, quarter inch.
@viliamvala6289: Hi, you seem to be very qualified and so maybe you can tell me what are exactly the two knobs in my Revox a77 mk4 2 track on the left side under the silver lid saying recording calibration. I cannot find it anywhere. I am new to Revox and somehow my machine I just purchased does not record at all. The sound is getting through the aux, but when I switch from input to tape there is nothing recorded. Thank you very much.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @viliamvala6289: I don’t remember the A77 specifically in this respect but tape recorders in general need to be calibrated for bias, level, and EQ. I wrote a couple of articles years ago. Here’s the first https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/tape-line-up/1647
@viliamvala6289 replies to @viliamvala6289: @AudioMasterclass thank you I will have a look. It is the Dolby version of Revox A77, still short on info
@viliamvala6289 replies to @viliamvala6289: @AudioMasterclass I found it is the Dolby B version and it needs to calibrate the noise reduction before recordings. There are no real demos of that unfortunatelly, but it is described in the manual. Thank you for your reply :)
@Ptownjohn: It certainly is ❤
@MechWarriorBK: im from Poland i have Revox a77 professionally refurbish but not from revox , replaced all the caps , brakes etc i have whole bag of old capacitors from that service , im using RTM LPR90 tapes have around 10 of them , my A77 can record and play 2 track at 7 and half speed (15 was in some b77 models like you mentioned) , rest my setup is new from German Brand Magnat , Speakers Transpuls 1500 , and Magnat MA900 with tube pre amp , Magnat MTT 990 record player , around 20 vinyls ofc for revox i have 6 steel original revox reels few plastic ones , original nabs and a cable remote what i import from switzerland (60y old remote and 60 year old revox :D ) i have other audio eq from technics mostly models from 1989-1994 (imported high grade models) myself im new in that hobby only 4 years +- , im 41 y old now , i had speakers and cd players before and was using streaming servivce like Tidal (never liked spotify even before i had decend audio ) for my friend i have crazy high end setup, for rich audiophiles i have peasant setup even if that are best Magnat models there are other brands, my audio setup is arround 8900euro not including tapes or records only equipment but that refurbished revox cost me only 600 euros (a bargan almost like cost of servive itself) , in Poland we have a guy named reel to reel king he service them and for service you need wait in line for 1 year! mby im deaf alredy at 41y old but if i record flac files 192kb 24bit (from tidal ) to that reel to reel and then play them for me they sound better , placebo? meaby that i put some work to create that record setup machine record it mby that make them for me they sound better? but i rly think it is sounding better then native tidal i don't know, meaby that tape adds something to it , in other topic my record vinlyl player was very expensive for my standard it cost 1090 euro and i have all ''new'' max 4 year old vinlys and few brand new you still hear occasional ''pop'' sound but albums and operating that machine also give some enjoyment , but my revox a77 at 7 and half speed outclass that expensive vinlyl record player.
@alexrossi-g9k: Reel To Reel tape recordeR...HAHAHAHAHA
@davefm-d8g: I have 2 reel to reel player recorders. They are to hard to maintain. Nobody knows how to keep them running. So they sit gathering dust.
@thattubesound2214: Witty, informative, fast-paced. What's not to love about your videos? Thank you, sir! To see where I am on the spectrum, you must look low. No, lower! There I am. At the bottom. My main hobby is restoring vintage and antique electronics. I am currently doing a full restore of my Teac A-4010S from 1970. Next, I have a Sony TC-850 that I want to go through. See, I told you I was way down there. BUT these machines, to an unprofessional and untrained ear like mine, sound utterly fantastic when they are right! Please keep your videos coming. They are delightful.
Michael in Champaign, Illinois, USA
@victorbloom8286: Still have My Teac X1000R from 1976 . Still going strong
@stridersongs: As much as I laud the return of vinyl and tape (I am proud owner of a relatively new Revox T700 turntable) this makes no sense whatsever. Who would spend 16k (Swiss francs) for a prosumer tape machine? To transfer your $400 audiphole records to save them from wearing out? -What they won't do on a good system anyway or if they do you'll be too old too hear). If you want to learn about tape and recording then get a Tscam 4-track cassette recorder for probably 100 bucks and you'll learn a ton. It's how I started before getting into Pro Tools and though it was only a short period I wouldn't want to miss it. This here is for the hobby musicians that buy 5k custom shop guitars to hang on their walls.
And wait, there's a 26k (Swiss francs) ALICE COOPER edition......No, this is not a joke.
Look, it's a fact that some folks have too much money and don't know what to do with it.
@ingenfestbrems: You’re a overcooked idiot. The voice and dialect just as.
Staring into the lens
The entitlement is of the scale 🤯
@camhyde9701: So I have to buy the IV-S then... at one point Nagra were refurbishing them.. I emailed them but never heard back
@FeminismIsCancer-GodIsAConcept: Please don't be selfish.. this video is unplayable outside YouTube. Sharing is caring 🙂 please remove the limits on the video.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @FeminismIsCancer-GodIsAConcept: Puzzled. What limits?
@jonarmandhalle8021: Why the hell would you use a tape machine, unless you wanted to make the sound wobbly or lofi or <put yor answer here> ? There is CD, which is outplaying tape by far. I get the point of recording onto tape for the pleasant compression, but why would you use it at home for playback? It makes absolutely no sense. I have been recording music onto tape in a studio. We used a 2 inch tape at 30 inches per second, which would obviously provide a very high fidelity. But at home? Why?
@bpm2190: Reel to Reel have caught on with many of my friends all various ages. However, they are looking for more music on tape.. this should be a wake-up call for the studios. Please forward this to the formentioned studios 🎉get straight on it.. make more tapes 😃😃😃😃. REEL TO REEL.. KEEPING IT REEL
@pinarellolimoncello: I've splashed out on a Linn Sondek with an ittock arm, it makes me feel ever so superior in the hifi world, it doesn't play tapes very well but its very good at playing the vinyl I get from the charity shops for a few quid , the money saved helps pay for the counselling I receive for my audiophile addiction. I would agree that these rather exotic looking tape machines do sound even better but thanks to my therapy I won't be getting caught up in this overly exuberant and overly enthusiastic tape race. Thanks for the video though , cant help thinking you should be the curator in a musical online museum where you play lots of old reel to reel tapes for youtubers to reminisce about 'back in the olden days'.
@inforobob: I have a Mk III, my initial thoughts at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_syEJmF7xs. .
@Thecat1962-h8p: I Had the reVox A700 .
@ExplorationProject: Revoke is not all that!
@TheAstroKid: Buy a new car instead 😅
@Supergeologist: I nave an Akai 4000db that my neighbour was throwing out. Its cost me around £250 to have it repaired/serviced/refurbished and it sounds just lovely.
The new Revox B77 coming in at over £15,000 is just way beyond my budget and I have to wonder if it sounds £14,750 better and whether or not my aging ears can tell the difference!
On another note ( i wouldn't mind some help with this) anything over 35 microns tape and the Akai can't manage! Weird. I bought a reel of RTM 911 (50 um) and it just wont have it.
I agree you need a minimum 2 brushed aluminium reels, it just looks so 😎
@YnotNomis: NOTHING beats the sound of Reel to Reel tape!
@eternalcoldweather replies to @YnotNomis: Except my iPhone.
@cigarland replies to @YnotNomis: @eternalcoldweather 🤣 - YMMD!
@slappymcslapster8845 replies to @YnotNomis: Yeah.... Numerous formats beats reel-to-reel sound. Hell, YT music beats it...
@fepatton: I have a few dozen old pre-recorded tapes, and recently purchased a Teac A-2300SX for 200USD - needing a bit of refurb to make it usable - to replace a dying Sony portable. It does sound quite good, but old tapes are a gamble. New tapes at 500USD and up? Never gonna happen for me. I'll stick with $30 vinyl records, thanks!
@Davethreshold: I have a Crown CX844 which needs work. It has the DBX187 included, but that doesn't work. This unit on RECORD/PLAY, was within 3db to 32 Kilohertz at ZERO DB. No other RTR tape machine can do that, unless you are talking about TRUE studio machines like Scully. John Gill, from Gill Custom House, Palos hills, IL. recorded the ENTIRE RAT PACK on it with MANY other feature famous acts, including SINATRA, right across the street in the saber Room. I AM thinking of selling it.
@Solitaire001: After the failure of the Digital Compact Cassette format, I considered purchasing a reel-to-reel (r2r) deck. Unfortunately, the decks I could afford weren't very good, and for less money I could get a compact cassette deck that would (with quality tapes) outperform the r2r decks I could afford.
@lesguiblin4463: My thing is to grab them as thikkos don’t realise what the junk in their garage is and refurb them. You know, belts and pulleys, replace caps etc. then I wonder why did I bother.
@lesguiblin4463: I’m a NAB man myself.
@lesguiblin4463: So I retired three years ago but had already started collecting r2r machines. (I had always wanted one but could never afford one). Yes I like the Revox machines but my favourite is my Teac x2000r. This had Dolby B which turned out to be the Betamax of Dolby - great sound quality (you are fine with 7.5ips but the downside was you could not use it on another make of machine). It is still pride of place in my living room. I got a second one cheap and refurbed it. A while back a visiting nephew was drawn to it and so I played the tape that was on it at the time (Close to the Edge by Yes). He looked thoughtful at the liquid motion of my beautiful machine and asked ‘so, Uncle Les, you downloaded the music from Amazon Prime and recorded it onto the tape. You can now play that back, but - ok you know the rest. To me it’s the fusion of music and movement but this is lost on the youngsters of today.
@johnschlesinger2009: There was something even better: the Nagra D, the only digital reel-to-reel recorder using video technology. I still have mine: it has a choice of four sampling frequencies (maximum 96Khz), four channel operation at up to 48Khz, and 24 bit resolution. At sample frequencies up to 48Khz there is an option of full speed four channel operation, or half speed 2 channel, with a doubling of recording time in 2 channel mode, allowing for long recording times. The D/A and A/D stages are of the very highest quality. It cost a fortune, but, like all Nagras, it was built with jewel like precision. It used special tape, which was ultra thin, no longer available as far as I know.
@happypapi1903: 3:50 I'm assuming the format you are referring to that required "expert maintenance engineers" is the Sony 3370 DASH units, which were popular in Nashville and classical recording circles because of the high dynamic range and very clean sound, where as 2 inch 24 track was more favored for recording rock and pop music. There was a brief period in the 1990s when digital multitrack on tape was affordable - Alesis ADAT and Tascam DTRS (DA38/DA88/DA98HR) as well as a slew of modular hard drive recorders. Some major records were made on that format (Alanis Morrissette's Jagged Little Pill being one, the score for Apollo 13 being another)
@bpm2190: Many of my friends are truly happy to reconnect with the reel to reel tape player, however since most are retired some are on a limited budget. There needs to be various levels of reel to reel tape players to easily fit a wider range of budgets so everyone can get one. For myself still have my AKAI 1730 SS a great tape player. I do plan on buying a new one in the future to record music with, but will keep my AKAI 1730 SS. As I always say.. staying in touch with the music tapes and Vinyl.
@Derpy1969: It’s NOT BACK! It’s still DEAD.
@Samurai-Steve: I hated reel to reel. Hard to use. Linear on steroids.
@BrianBollocks-h8r: What about Elcassette! Sony EL7
@John-ys2pn: CDR will beat it....350 quid for TEAC.....CDR....IT WILL BEAT IT RECRDING CD....BUT NOT VYNAL
@gregeney: I haven't seen the video yet. I have a big problem with this line... :"but are you truly an audiophile without a reel-to-reel recorder?" Equipment doesn't make one an audiophile at all.
@bob-s-bit-s: 2400 is thin don't used the rew ff if you can it's ok from end to end in one go 2400 is great for editing tape and using tape
where it would get used alot
bbc used alot of 24mm on 5 inch spools zonal for new work for the re port decks
@bob-s-bit-s: hi used to edit alot of 2400 back to back put them on my otari mtr 12 record of the on line radio yes i know it very bad level was hit bbc sounds
i am a bad one i have the spot on line is better than bbc sounds not alot of the level wars there
radio show play track if i like them i go to spot
and make a play list record it in wave lab 6 ar ar i know take out all the ad's or i record on betacam liner audio or FM audio
@bob-s-bit-s: my lady can't have ago at me she loves to sit on the tape decks
i have been lucky with tape used zonal tape not needed alot of heavy baking ampex yes right pain
@crrodriguez: Noope. FUCK TAPE..not going snywhere near that,
@vinylflo: 15,000 dollars
@repentnow1720: Thanks for the info 'Clone of Paul' : )
@HMinot: The high-speed half track Revox A-77 I bought back around 1973 is still running today! Three head changes.
@Just-An-AverageBear: Don't care. I'm buying 2 of them Revox beauties!!
One to play side A the other to play side B!
@AudioMasterclass replies to @Just-An-AverageBear: Nah. Keep one mint in box. It's your pension.
@Just-An-AverageBear replies to @Just-An-AverageBear: @AudioMasterclass Just yanking and pulling you again and just as I thought, a Petty fella!
@Airlane1979: Sixteen thousand euros. Cheap at half the price...
@Niels133: No it's not. Fragile, expencive. Been there, done that.
@danielrose-tt7os: I just bought an Akai I722II (I paid 30.00) I am sensing that this is an entry level model? What is your feeling?
@AudioMasterclass replies to @danielrose-tt7os: I feel that you are at the start of a wonderful journey, like my Akai equivalent in 1972ish. Revox though was my ambition and I got there... £999 GBP in 1983 and worth very penny. Still have it.
@danielrose-tt7os replies to @danielrose-tt7os: @AudioMasterclass Thank You, your comment was inspirational. I believe I will be opening up the Akai 1722II. The reason for this work is. I am able to move the "stop, play, record" lever to "record" without pushing in the "record safety button". This is the first problem I see. I am unable to record to the unit and playback is simply a "roar". I am thinking that it is something simple. I am correcting the items I see that are incorrect. It is like the button is stuck in and my Akai is stuck in a no man's land, a place between "play" and record" at the same time. Before I open it up I will purchase a good tape and test the playback feature again. I only paid 30.00 for this Akai. I realize it is a entry level 2 head unit, good one to "get my feet wet" with. I hope I live a few more years after training myself up (I am 71.) good hobby, I just love this kind of work. Wow, 1000 "pounds" in 1983, I am thinking that is like 4000 "pounds" today.
@kentvonseverin1257: I still take delivery of the physical print newspaper, which I soon await your commentary....
@AudioMasterclass replies to @kentvonseverin1257: I like a broadsheet. I can handle one very politely when on public transport.
@IbrahimTurundu: Really nostalgic...As a Radio Producer with quite a few years in the Music & Light Entertainment Department, editing blocks, Nagra, and Uhers were faithful companions. We never really liked thin tapes; splicing them was generally tricky. Management, however, insisted on their cheapness for archiving. I remember one day, after two or three hours in the editing room on a Revox or Ampex, looking at the tangled mess of editing scraps on the floor and begrudgingly agreeing with their cost-saving point! Trying a similar edit last year on Audacity almost brought me to tears with its ease. Somehow, I still love analog sound...it makes me wonder if we hear something physicists are yet to discover!
@POEMS466: Ye gads. "If a hobby doesn't cost a lot, it's not worth having." I gotta remember that one! I just blew a hundred on chrome tape.
@zen_dac: You know what's great about streaming today? You mention George Duke on your channel and moments later I am playing a 24 bit 88.2kHz FLAC from that exact album that is entirely included in my 10 euro monthly subscription. Awesome! All this controlled directly from my laptop, phone and tablet. It's a miracle!
@AudioMasterclass replies to @zen_dac: And to think you could have had the pleasure of paying 480 euros for that album.
@mikegeary8056: You can old reels at flea markets all the time. Sometimes still sealed.
@Trevor4364: I had a pair of pre-owned B-77s back in the 80's and sold them for a song when compact cassette and CD came along.
@NeverBetter464: The Revox B77mkiii costs $3.7 billion dollars.
@socratesson4320: Very nice presentation. Subscribed.
@colloidalsilverwater15ppm88: One question for all: is there different kinds of tape, like we have typeI, typeII, type III and typeIV cassettes?
@rodneyarnoldi: I use my restored Revox B77 to record BBC Radio 3 live concerts over the internet (48kbs Sample rate/320kbs Bitrate AAC-LC encoding. The BBC have fine sound engineer's, so there is always that special realism that one gets from a live classical concert.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @rodneyarnoldi: Fabulous.
@RoyChartier: Not it isn't.
@grimlyfiendish2053: Analog ignorant.... Bunch of old farts who haven't a clue regarding the difference between analog versus digital. Like Heinlein said, never underestimate the power of human stupidity. Thanks, I will stick with 90db in 90db out and laugh while you're wasting your money on this old crap.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @grimlyfiendish2053: You should maybe include ignorant old farts who like their vintage cars in your analysis. The worldwide market... $25 billion annually apparently. All bought by ignorant old farts.
@stephenc2738: ReVox produced reel-to-reel tape decks for the professional recording industry. The last generation was the B77 MkII and PR99 MkIII. They recently released the B77 MkIII at 15,000 Euros! For people who have a vault of pre-recorded Analog Tape it may be a blessing. ReVox is releasing 10.5 inch prerecorded tape recordings at 500 Euros. Anyone who can afford $10 to $15 Grand on an exotic moving coil phono cartridge, should order a B77 MkIII today, a nice conversation piece next to your Edison wax cylinder player!
@AudioMasterclass replies to @stephenc2738: I think an Edison cylinder player is pushing it a bit. On the other hand, my 100-year old HMV 101 picnic gramophone often comes out of my attic when I fancy a cucumber sandwich.
@Rekmeyata: Reel to reel tape sound is amazing, it will at least match CD quality, and I think it's far better than CD sound, I actually was able to A/B them back and forth using the same mix. But, there are problems with reel to reel, the major one being finding prerecorded tapes brand new, these tapes will start at $500 and go up to $1,500; on top of that they only have mostly classical, and old school jazz music on new tapes, I couldn't find any for classic rock, or blues. The other issue is they are not making new machines, so you have to buy them used, and if the heads are worn, or you need a belt or a new motor, good luck in finding them.
@rook9309: At that price you can buy two used 2-inch reel to reels, so hard pass lol.
@didierattaix4463: I've had several reel to reel tape recorders (a Teac 3300 SX, and several Revox), including a B77 mk II, always in my system. However, the reproduction quality of my Revox B77 mk II is far behind that of my Nakamichi 1000 ZXL K7 deck running at 4.75 cm/s... All my reel to reel and K7 tapes are Maxell. Hopefully I still have a stock of both brand new and never used types of tapes.
@RevoxA77: smug and sarcastic.
@sbarncar: Chances are you'll never own a master, so everything you hear through your new taper corder will be at least second or third generation. So what's the point?
third generation analog is never gonna be better than first generation digital.
@paullacotta5645: This is wonderful! You’re like a humorous steamroller of depression!😂❤
@RemyRAD: If you have self powered speakers you also have to plug into your electrical wall outlets. You're going to have to be good with a screwdriver and soldering iron. You need to reverse the connections. On the speakers directly. You do that to all the speakers. With your soldering iron. Reverse the polarity of all of them. Then they will be right. And in positive absolute polarity. It will sound way different. It will surprise you. You'll be delighted. It's a whole new sound you have never heard before. But always thought it should sound this way. Now it will. It really is that simple, that funny, that beginner. And that clueless.
When you've worked in the business over 50 years at the top of the top of the heap of engineers. I know all of those studio secrets. I'm the one that makes those happen for those studios. That provides a leg up on the competition. As it is so damn competitive. I decided to be one of the very best, in the world. And well, it just happened. Because I made myself happen. And I made myself. To be one of the best in the world. Now I'm retired. Ensuring this very important secret with you all. And about how your speakers are not connected correctly. They are in phase and inverted. Together. You can only change that. At the audio power amplifier output. Directly to the input of the speakers. There is no other way upstream by inverting phase of the way for. That does not change the absolute polarity at the output. Which remains the same. Nobody gets this. Nobody can think this through correctly. Is just amazes me. Since 1978. When I figured this out. With my first large studio build. And having 2 different pairs of speakers designed and built by the same guy, James B. Lansing. And they were out of polarity to each other. I had to figure out what the hell was going on. I had to get to the bottom of this. And so I did. The JBL's are correct in polarity. They are the only manufactured to get that right. After he made them wrong with the company he cofounded called Al tech Lansing. And those speakers he designed. Are in negative absolute clarity. I think he had a falling out with his business partners. Over this. As they continue to manufacture their speakers. In negative absolute polarity to his later JBL product line. Which I found the correct in their polarity. By listening. Understanding. What I'm hearing. And the way I am hearing it. The way it is projecting towards me. It's easy enough to hear. When you know what you're listening to. When you know how it's supposed to sound. And I do. I do very much so. Better than anybody in the business. Anybody.
You'll find out by listening. You don't need any Dolby ATMOS bullshit. You get immersive sound with only 2 speakers. In positive absolute polarity in phase, together. And nobody gets this. Nobody understands this. It just blows my mind. Nobody can get this right with a college degree. It's taught wrong at university. It's truly incredible and mindless. Totally clueless. As to what is occurring. How is it all working. What direction are the speakers traveling in? It's easy enough to hear for yourself. But everybody with a college degree he thinks this is wrong periods so they won't even tried. There that kind of stupid. They've turned it into a cult. But audio does not respond to a cult belief system. It doesn't. It doesn't work that way. Just because they all get it wrong together believing they are right. Does not make it right. That turns it into a cult. I'm not into cults. I'm only into great sound. And straining out control room monitoring issues. Since 1978. And so simple to do. You can do it with any brand of speaker you wish. I still prefer JBL's. Over just about everything else. You can say I'm kind of hardcore. I know what great hits were recorded in mixed with those. And by whom. Of some of the greatest in the world. Who needs any better? Who the hell are you? I want to hear it like the engineer and producer heard it. In their control room. Just the way they heard it. I want to hear it that way also. Who needs better? Are you that affluent? That flush with cash are you? I'm not. Most are not.
So just do that. Flip the polarity on both of your speakers. And then you'll be hearing it right. You will not look back. You will no longer like it the original way. It will sound wonky. Because it's in negative absolute polarity in phase, together. Ugh. I don't know how people can work that way? They're clueless. If they don't know what they're listening to. And they don't. They only think that they do. But they can't get this right. They think they are right. Ha! What dopes. What dummies.
Now if you want to know how to tweak up the recorder the right way? It's not the way you think it goes. You do not adjust low frequency playback equalization. During playback. That is wrong. That's not how you do it. That's how you get it, wrong and weak, thin and anemic sounding. It was like that when I got to NBC A radio in Washington, DC. Back in march of 1981. And I thought they were kidding? They were not kidding. They were wrong. So I fixed that posthaste. And then everybody liked the sound so much better. When I found out they replace the heads in the playback machines. That required additional compensation, circuitry. They left out. And it had no deep bass. Then I design and building custom control room audio console. Everybody loved the sound of. Loved the way it worked. Had special features. No other on air audio console, ever had. It was awesome. It was really cool. It would fade the DJ's microphone in and out, automatically. Everybody loved the way it worked. You've never heard a click, ever. When they turned their microphone on and off. That's all the announcers were allowed to do. The engineers did the rest of the show. It was a union house. And it all went like clockwork. It was an NBC flagship owned station. For Washington, DC. It was a #1 black contemporary station. And very highly regarded. Coupled with BET Television. Where Donnie Simpson our PD had a worldwide show. He had his favorite engineer for the morning show. I would only occasionally do fill in. And he would eat his fruit loops and read the paper during his show. And got paid big bucks. Who are both originally from Detroit. So was our midday gal candy Shannon. She was great to work with. They both were. I had a great Time Engineering. Especially using the audio console, I had designed and built. I basically made it, for me. And I knew everybody else would love using it. And they did. I made it out of the highest quality studio components. So it would sound stellar. And have no overload. Bang the meters all you want. It would never overload. So everybody loved it. I know how to design for maximum headroom. He was one of my favorite. Max Headroom on Cinemax. Back in the 1980s. I never missed his show. Now he has sadly passed. But now can be RE animated thanks to a I. So they can bring Max Headroom, back to life. And I think they should. Now that they don't have to pay him anymore. Because he's dead. And he was just a computer imagined creation. So fuck copyright!
There that should do it.
RemyRAD
@BillyBlaze7: yeah screw that
@BillyBlaze7: holy crap you guys pay 20% sales tax????
guess you gotta fund the illegals somehow...
@AudioMasterclass replies to @BillyBlaze7: So professionally, I have to charge my customers 20% VAT (sales) tax. Then my business pays 25% corporation tax. On the money I take out I pay 40% dividend tax. Then when I buy anything for myself I pay 20% VAT. 20 + 25 + 40 + 20 = 105%. This is why I'm poor.
@BillyBlaze7 replies to @BillyBlaze7: @AudioMasterclass You need to sell your stuff and buy a ticket to the US, we are handing out money to anyone except americans....pretend to be Ukranian and they will set you up with a free new Tesla, and a 7 to $800,000 house in north Texas.plus you get a ton of other things for free...i wish i was joking.
@carlosguinle1971: Hy, Can you say something about REVOX-C270 ?
@AudioMasterclass replies to @carlosguinle1971: No but the C278 was nice.
@carlosguinle1971 replies to @carlosguinle1971: Thanks.. never heard about C278. Greetings from Rio.
Cheers.
@Harald-MacGerhard: There is nothing cooler than REEL-TO-REEL ... I wnat a STUDER 😍
@AudioMasterclass replies to @Harald-MacGerhard: The only problem here is that with the Studer comes the cost of maintenance and consumables.
@Harald-MacGerhard replies to @Harald-MacGerhard: @AudioMasterclass absolutely!
@jasonbeatty831: $15,000 is a bit steep.
@BlazonStone: Would be cool if they made 8 or 16 channel tape machines
@robinkershaw: Great video. Really interesting and it gives me a warm (analogue, even) feeling that tape (and cassette) is still around and a cool part of the production process.
@stevenwymor1398: Hey, ALL tape except for SFX carts and 8-tracks are reel to reel. The cassette, the micro-cassette and even video tape cassettes like VHS, BetaMax, U-Matic, et. al., are reel to reel. The reels are just housed inside a mechanism. What you are specifically describing are open reel tape recorders.
@williamdew7143: Would you be the David Mellor of Evil Twin fame? 'The Black Spot' is far and away my favourite album of all time....
@AudioMasterclass replies to @williamdew7143: I'm the David Mellor of David Mellor if that's any use - available on streaming and Bandcamp - https://davidmellor.bandcamp.com/
@JohanDee: I bought a TEAC A2300 SD after owning an Akai GX 650D that sounded awful. The TEAC was a demonstration model. I was 21 at the time. Still own it, now 68. One time the heads were polished and though the stuff need possible a overhaul again, it still works! It still has a wonderfull airy depths! Tapes used: Best tapes Maxell UD XL and TDK Audua, further many cheaper Scotch and others. Old BASF were bad, very powdery and bad high sound. I don't record anything for many years any more but still own many tapes from radio recordings and vinyl. 😊
@michaelfedora5630: What ever happened to TDK or Maxell
@michaelfedora5630: I have 2 Teac X1000 RBL's and love them but if the B77 is reasonable I will buy it
@jenniferwhitewolf3784: Studer A80-VU-HS 15/30 ips
Revox PR99
Revox A77 consumer
Revox A77 pro high speed
Revox A77 pro low speed
2) Technics 1500
Technics 1520
Ampex 351 stereo
Ampex 350 spooling deck
Ampex 354
Ampex PR10
Ampex 350 1/2" 4 track
Crown CX-822
cassette
Nakaichi DX9
Teac Esoteric
and this is after I sold twice that many. Yea, I have a problem
@thechuckster6838: Love it!!!
@johnsmith-zv1lo replies to @thechuckster6838: USD $15,950 new revox so its only for the rich....
@chriswiser9976: If you have too much time and money,go ahead futz with tape but so much more classic music has been released via hi rez sources that tape can't touch soundwise it just can't technically no matter how much flowery prose.There are some custom builders that make custom bespoke heads that get closer to hi rez digital but thats really niche and why? Hi rez digital has no tape distortion or other audio arifacts from a device with too many moving mechanical parts
@DID70Sworkedoutforyou: about fancy, i took from my father´s home studio some yamaha speakers because he had bought some better monitors ,i think from JBL and put them on my SX-1050 this in 1987 but had to put to work some huge 70´s pioneer speakers CS model but huge ones so both had the sound complete as the lacking of bass on the yamaha´s was complemented with the CS early 70´s speakers, also i had a Pioneer PD-7300 cd player and it sounded good at the time, only when buying or put to use , first a nakamichi system , after a Sony ES and ending up with a mix of mainly pioneer black components as i wanted a black system, that i had never owned one but to resume the yamha´s ended up in a A-91D amplifier urushi series from Pioneer part digital part analogue, only the cd player sounded not so good in my new and expensive black system, and the loudness seem to do not work as at night to not put the sound a bit louder the loudness was very good for night listening as it increases both end of the spectrum lower volume frequencies as in high´s and in low´s but it was working but compared to 70´s amplifiers it almost didn´t felt it´s increase of sound in the less heard frequencies when at low volume, those were incredible good i remenber buying some cerwin-vegas that weren´t that well talked about but i heard them in a store with my amplifier and the seller told me, "this in promotion will cost you ..." what today is 1.000€, my reaction as i had never paid for nothing regarding hi-fi system´s said "what a pair of speakers, 1.000€?" and the reply was "No, each speaker, 1.000€" i almost fall to the ground, but paid and brought them home, they were amazing the ways weren´t only three but more and were huge, and as i grew up listening to music and when starting to play records i would choose my favorite one´s , one double lp that some of my friends listened was deep Purple - made in japan a double live Lp , at the time seemed that led zeppelin wasn´t a so big band but i used to play a lot the fourth lp or four symbols like it was called at the time and one day i saw a black sabbath album saying vol.4 ,i thought it made part of a colection only when playing it, the sound seemed perfect, a heavy but high quality sound also listened a lot to the beatles starting in rubber soul as at the start i used to play their older lp´s and when my father went abroad he bring back home, the doble red and blue albums where the songs of the beatles except on abbey road , were all stereo but a strange way of stereo , like in one speaker mostly the voice and solo guitar in other the rythm ,later i discovered that was 4-track stereo recording, easy to do as at the time the original tapes were still very good but it felt strange to hear all songs in stereo , but in my bedroom i had a amplifier ,well a receiver fromlate 60´s and a pair of philips speakers that between several i put to work seemed to me the better sounding ones and started also by having only a reel to reel deck a grundig from late 50´s ,huge and having 7 speeds in a big reel i would record in my father´s equipment several albums in one reel and they sounded good even at the lower speed butn i was young and not that demanding but was fine i had maybe 10 reeels and all had several of my favorite albums , during the day i could listen to music in my father´s excessive expensive system but after he got home i would only listened music in my room and my friends had not a good hi-fi system but all had some grundig portable litle reels players and i used to record to them at standart speed those litle reels and having only one speaker they sounded better than average, this to say that when i tried my first Akai open reel deck a 1970 X-165D that was sold earlier with a less atractive look, more metal as building material, i was amazed by it´s sound, i couldn´t tellwich was better the record or the recording, people today say , reels it´s the most expensive format but i lived in a neighborwood that half the people were really poor and other half were rich , real rich and the poorest one´s only had reels and radio ,so i got a bit confused when now i hear some saying it ,after i tried a revox , a pioneer ,a technics that today people talk a lot about it but was very nice, also my father´s home studio main recorder , a studer in stereo but was inside it´s box when getting it to work and because i saw the beatles using one studer and i liked the beatles so i started to use the studer 1970 model studio recorder ,it had a lot of devices conected to it in a moveable piece of furniture but sounded very nice, i alone with 16 years old conected everything perfect as nothing as assembled but i followed the instructions and it was working at 100% ,even my father noticed some boxes missing and when entering my room asked me , "did you assembled it all by yourself "to which i replyed," yes it took me all afternoon but now is working correctelly" after thatn he used to ask me to do this and do that , so was a bitter deal as i was proud of getting everything working by myself but adfter that my father would ask me to do everything, but when he bought a 78 GX-4000D open reel deck from akai for home use i was like wanting it and it didn´t took that long as he bought a entire home system by revox b series and a extra pair of studer speakers , so the new Akai was in my room, well by that time was in my first house and was a nice house that i saw it as being litle but later i noticed that no one had bigger homes only my father´s home was kind of huge, he used to park 7 cars inthe backyard and still lot´s of space for fruit threes, five along the cars, but that´s hopw i got my first stereo systems, using my father´s leftovers, even today i still use the GX-4000D from akai and repairs ,never only regular maintenance as it says in the manual, in my opinion is the cheapest format and with a superior quality, and i see for sale in open air markets a lot of open reel decks and boxes of reels litle and big ones and not a single bad tape in a 2nd hand reel, normally i join all litle ones in a big reel, and sometimes in 50 i bought in a cardbox for 20€ some litle reels are still sealed and well protected inside so they behave like new ones and also see people selling three or four decks very cheap and i tried to put some top work and they worked so i don´t get this being the expensier format as i never saw so cheap material, cassette decks are diferent, the best cassette decks from the most known brands are expensive, also sealed cassettes too, but i don´t know if in general people don´t live outdoors as prices on ebay are estupid excessive this maybe more since 2017, but in any place open air markets people sell hi-fi components very cheap while on ebay the price is a really huge amounts, i still record today in reels and also record DAt´s cassettes and analogue cassettes also minidiscs for a old car i have, open reel decks are really the best ever recording system and not that expensive
@awie7656: I own an A77, would buy a used A700 or Studer B67, but never would spent 16.000€ for a B77!
@pantegministries: I have always wanted one