Reel to Reel decks

Tonykyma, I have to say I am moving in this direction. I have a nagra iv-l full track 1/4" and seeing that head coverage makes me realize the potential (not using yet, waiting for a pinch roller). I have some 14" 1/2 track masters and they are an eye opener in terms of what is possible the closer you get to the original tape (these are just people that recorded some music and not people that are known). But the results are obvious. I keep thinking, lets see, my sister can play a violin and does play in some groups, my dad knows some old country songs that I could record, why not just make some high quality recordings to listen to?

Hi Andy we are not pro just for fun still a lot to learn, We did used two systems in the same Mic and amp in the same time digital and analog in recording. result in best of cause is master tape but the CD recorded after from the master tape still better than the direct recorded in the same digital recorder (Tascam), maybe my play back system are good for analog more than digital (all tube amps in 4 ways horn system) tape recorder of cause the most important in recording but Mic and pre amp also change the level of quality even the Mic's cable too, really a lot of things for try and learn!

Hi Tonykyma, I also don't have a background in pro audio recording. In my post I mentioned 14" 1/2 track but meant 1/4" 1/2 track. With the nagra I like that it is portable and opens up more opportunity for recording (the iv-l can take two mics). I think making your own live recordings would be both very challenging and exciting, I am looking forward to learning.

Something that I have been wondering about that is not obvious to me but also addresses some of the discussion in this thread is about making dubs of say master tapes. It has been debated that a dub cannot be better than the original and I leave that for others to debate. My question is suppose I have a 1/4" 1/2 track master and I want to make a dub. Let's say the master is fragile and valuable (only want to play it once to make a dub for example). If I make a dub I would want to use that dub to make other play copies (so my dub would be my working master). My thought is that it would be better to make my master dub onto 1/2" 1/2 track rather than 1/4" 1/2 track. My thought is that subsequent dubs would be better from the 1/2" tape than a 1/4" tape with less chance of loss? It seems intuitively correct but I don't have any experience to verify that (I don't have 1/2" heads but they are available for my machines).

Hi Andy, although I am not pro but I learned some from the pro , if you have 1/2" tape then better use as the master, store in reverse condition (fast forward first and record and store, time to play back same fast forward first and play, that will keep tape better for longer), for more copies, dub from the master to a dub master in a 1/4 , in making copies better dub in same speed (you can use fast speed for less time but in quality down a little bite ) those small sound quality different can be notice only by higher level play back system or by people's individuality. try more different things to do in recording for to get the answers maybe we can as good as the pro's doing sometime

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You guys kill me. Just when I think I'm "there", someone mentions the "Maxell XLII, Position "EE" tape with its holographic imaging. Now, I want to "take a walk among the musicians". I am so curious and I really want to experience that sensation. All of this means more money for a good tape machine, and even more money for the surely expensive Maxell blank tapes. I started reading this thread for the hell of it because I owned a reel to reel machine a long time ago. I wanted to see what the dinosaurs of hifi were discussing, since of course tape and tape machines were supposed to be long since obsolete. It's been 25 years since I've had a reel to reel machine, and I knew that I'd never look back, much less go back. I must admit this thread has been very informative and very intriguing. Now I'll get to work doing my homework on finding a suitable machine. Thanks to all of you for the info you've provided for me to re-discover reel to reel. Then again, no thanks to all of you for the money it's going to cost me to get re-involved. I'm just thinking of the money than I could have saved if I'd never read this thread.
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