2 track or 4 track reel to reel deck?

Egoss, three points:

1) There were actually 2 track machines that used a 30 ips speed (recording studio applications only).

2) I said that you cannot playback a 4 track recording (pre-recorded reel to reel) on a 2 track machine. Since a 2 track machine is not reversible, tracks 2&4 will be audible playing BACKWARDS, unless the 4 track tape was recorded in only ONE direction. Non-reversible unidirectional pre-recorded tapes were recorded at 3 3/4 ips, not a speed at which you want to record music.

3) There should be no alignment problem with a 2 track tape when played back through a 4 track machine. The output will be somewhat lower, though.

Fatparrot -
Yup, I didn't mention 30 IPS, since it's not really a consumer speed.

I never mentioned your 4 track comment since I agree that it's correct. :-)

As for your 2 track comment, I have been taught that there is actually a slight difference in the recording slots in a 2 track head compared to a 4 track head. A 2 track head is not the same as a 4 track with tracks 2 & 4 missing. Track 1 (right channel) is slightly moved inward, and track 2 (left channel) is even more off center compared to track 3 on a 4 track deck. Thus, if you try to play back a 2 track tape on a 4 track deck, track 1 on the tape covers all of slot 1 on the head, even though the slot is not wide enough to recover all of the info from the tape. But slot 2 is not fuly covered by track 3 on the tape, so the volume is quite a bit lower and a great deal of the information is not read by the head. If there's an expert out there that has a better explanation, or if what I've been taught is incorrect, please jump in and educate us all. :-)

Have a great week,
Ed

      https://www.google.com/search?q=size+of+tape+recording+heads&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&...


This should straighten you out.