Reel to reel

Just a little while ago, I recorded "Trance Mission", Meanwhile; Meanwhile, is the title of the CD. It has cuts titled with names like "Chasing the Moon Rabbit". Instruments include didgerdoo, clarinets, percussion, winds and digital atmospherics.

Before I recorded, I demagnetized and cleaned the heads; my rubber rollers are relatively new. The signal was straight off the out of the Marantz CD player to the in of the reel.
The recording level was less than 2, any more and the needles went into the red; they were really popping at that level.

During recording, the music sounded louder in the left channel; that's normal for my room, not good, but normal.

On playback, all was straightened out; the holographic sound stage was spread evenly across the rear wall.

Let me explain this; the louder left channel is because of the room acoustics, it has nothing to do with electronics; the very strong signal from the reel, straightened all that out, it overcame the bad room acoustics, and delivered a "holographic" sound stage.



Think about it; when you buy a beautiful "Studer" that handles tape magnificently, it still has old capacitors and transistors; hopefully you at least buy new rubber rollers.

The same as in any analog rig; "The devil is in the details". Happy listening, and may the force be with you, and the wind in your sails.

orpheus10

Just a little while ago, I recorded "Trance Mission" ... During recording, the music sounded louder in the left channel; that's normal for my room, not good, but normal.

On playback, all was straightened out; the holographic sound stage was spread evenly across the rear wall.

Let me explain this; the louder left channel is because of the room acoustics, it has nothing to do with electronics; the very strong signal from the reel, straightened all that out, it overcame the bad room acoustics ...

It sounds like your tape deck is somehow misaligned or not properly calibrated. It works out well in your installation because of its unusual room acoustics, but those tapes aren't likely to sound good using headphones, or when played back in a more neutral acoustic environment.

I've just been listening and evaluating this morning: vinyl from computer hard drive, just fine. If you're not getting the same results, you're doing something wrong.

LP's recorded at 7.5 are good; the new thing is CD's recorded at 15 IPS; will order new tape.

Cleeds you're good, anytime I have a problem I'll give you a ring; but in the meantime I'll handle this.

According to my evaluation, although it's nice to have a reel to reel; if done right, your computer is a good substitute; however, this CD to tape at 15 IPS is flat out addicting.

I had something similar happen to me recently... the right VU meters' signal was lower than the right.  Then I remember reading somewhere if you play a 1/2 track tape on a 1/4 track machine (in this case, my TEAC X-1000R) the right channels' track is slightly misaligned, thus not providing perfect centering of the track, resulting in less signal, although you can hear the music.  The tape was purchased used and had some choir music on it (quite well recorded I might add).  I believe I confirmed it was a 1/2 track recording as when I reversed playback direction, the recorded music was also playing reverse.  Am I correct in my assumptions?  Hope this helps.

No, this had absolutely nothing to do with any of the gear, someone else had the same problem, it was entirely do to the room acoustics; as a matter of fact, it took a lot of troubleshooting to discover the problem was "room acoustics". 

In reality, both channels were equal; it just sounded that way from the listening chair because of  unequal wall reflections, but on playback of the stronger signal, it was balanced again; the stronger signal overcame the bad room acoustics.