Why Not Bring Back Analog, Reel to Reel Tape

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

The Jacqui Naylor tape is the exception to the rest of The Tape Project's work I mentioned. It is The Tape Project's first tape and produced an unfortunate result. Good thing they had sterling results beyond that first effort.

If you listen to some of the other tapes you will simply find the best sound available, (BTW, I have no stock in The Tape Project). Nice thing is you don't have to buy Jaxqui Naylor or listen to it if you don't like it. It's like saying a Porsche is not that great because I drove a 944, ok but what about the GT3?

Listen to the Arnold Overtures, Suite Espanola, also Sonny Rollins Saxaphone Colossus, or Waltz for Debbie, just to name a few, great stuff.

Also go back and listen to some of the tapes recorded from vinyl, eye opening, just awesome!!

This might be a bit OT, but keeping tape alive has been an interest of mine for a very long time.

Tape can shed its oxide after a few years. However, this is easily stopped for extended times by baking the tape in an oven at 150 degrees for about 45 minutes. This will not harm the recording.

I've seen a lot of studio tapes start shedding after a few years of storage. I had also noticed that the cassettes I play in my car seem to hold up fine- some are 25 years old! I usually store the cassettes indoors normally. Then I realized that on trips, the tapes stay in the car, where it can get quite warm in the sun! It was counter-intuitive at first- but the heat of the car is what has been keeping those cassettes alive all these years.

I thought I might share this, as tape shedding can be a common problem. I mentioned this in another thread: if you keep the tape in a plastic bag, put a little silica-gel packet in there with it to absorb humidity- its the moisture that leads to oxide shedding.