Why Not Bring Back Analog, Reel to Reel Tape

Myles, a friend just sent me a 7 1/2 ips 4-track of Miles Davis' "Sketches
of Spain," and while I believe you are right in principle, there are
commercial tapes out there, like this one, that are simply amazing. On my
Otari, the Miles tape made mincemeat of a pristine LP and left a CD far, far
behind. The open reel Kind of Blue sounds equally stunning, although it takes
a great deck and a good system to hear HOW stunning.

Bring back analog, RTR?

If you go through the trouble of lugging a great machine, a fine set of mikes and a good pre wherever you can find a group of musicians willing to let you record them you'll realize just how good analog tape can sound. If they're good they might be under contract and the answer will be no. Many clubs won't let you set foot in their doorway to do any kind of recording but you can't stop trying.

Their is an alternative. Their are those that worked at the great studios in the 60s and 70s when analog tape was still the norm. Many engineers were allowed to take home master tapes to make copies for their own use. Well, after all the years have gone by, some of those tapes can be had, copies that is, for a price. The price is usually around $100 per reel plus the cost of the tape. That comes to about $300 plus per hour at 15 ips. You don't get to listen before you buy so you get what you get, after you've paid. All in all the results are good and the more you get the easier it is to amortize the cost of your high dollar RTR machine.

My experience has been great and I've never regreted the the cost I've incurred in master tape dubs or the machines I've bought to play them back. I don't have that many tapes but I'm always on the lookout for another gem.

Ken

I understand what you're saying :) BTW, you should hear the 15 ips of Kind of Blue. It's a knockout!

Funny thing happens on the 15 ips tapes too. One finds that some albums are well mastered and faithful to the original recording; others were murdered in the mastering process.

Take the Weavers. Vanguard eliminated the low end becaause there's a lot of stomping going on that would drive some woofers crazy. Or take the Mercury Carousel Waltzes. Found a 15 ips 2 track safety and compated it to the LP. The tape murdered the LP. The tape, a late Mercury recording, actually sounded better than the best Mercury LPs; in fact, that Mercury "string" sound was barely recognizable on the tape. After hearing this tape, one can only imagine just how good the other Mercury tapes/recordings sound. The LPs just dno't do Bob and Wilma justice. Or take the Columbia jazz recordings. Brubeck's Time Out and Davis' KOB are simply stunning on 15 ips tape; the van Gelder Basie and the KC7 on Impulse is a knockout (can't wait to hear Chad's reissue on 45 rpm of this winner!)

Others such as RCA and Decca did a remarkable and faithful job in mastering-but some there are some such as Bartoks Music for Strings, Celeste and Percusion with Reiner where the low end is so much better on the tape. Also on the Bartok, one can really hear how they spotlighted but OTOH also recognize that in the mastering of the LP, RCA played around with the recording and gave it more depth than the tape actually possessed.

Cheers!

Dopogue I have a copy of (Kind of Blue) 7.5 4track and I think it sounds fantastic on my Otari/Seduction.

I think the other factor here is that a turntable is a very simple machine. It can be very expensive if the quality is pushed very high, but it remains a far simpler machine to make than a reel to reel tape deck. How many parts would there be in the typical RtoR deck compared to a turntable? Much bigger risk setting up a manufacturing process for the RtoR than the TT.

Also there was never much in the way of quality pre-recorded tapes. Records are easy to find, so many were made for so many years, tapes: not easy at all. I know of 30 record shops in Melbourne, only 1 place I know sells a limited range of RtoR tapes.

It's a pity, as tapes can sound great. But I just can't see it taking off.

DS