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An analog question for those who record

I am going to buy either a reel to reel or a VHS recorder to record my vinyl onto for repeated playbacks. Is recording vinyl possible by simply hooking my preamp up to a VCR hitting record and dropping the needle. This would be ideal as it has a long run time via the VCR tapes. I have heard VCRS have good analog sound. Should I just go with a reel to reel? Cassettes arent really an option but I have heard some recordings from vinyl onto cassette that sound great. I also am aware of digital recording using audacity and have used it hundreds of times. However I like analog and if I want digital I will just pop in a cd. Do you think there would be a huge difference in the quality one way or another.
davidnboone
davidnboone OP
22 posts
 
I will do some homework about what you said about the DACS Herman. This would require rebuying a computer as I no longer have the one I recorded and used Audacity on.
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inna
7,296 posts
 
I do exactly what you want to do, and I use finely tuned and aligned Nakamichi 682ZX cassette deck with reference metal tapes. It sounds good with better type II tapes too.
Good reel to reel will sound better but will be most likely more expensive as others said.
Revox cassette decks could be an alternative to Nakamichi.
I never tried to use high end VCR for this purpose.
How close to the sound of vinyl do you want your recording to be?
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
Davidnboone,
Way back in the 80's I owned a Sony superbeta vcr. I was having a party so I recorded quite a few songs off of cds onto a beta tape so I wouldn't be bothered with constantly changing cds during the party (I wanted to be free to concentrate my attention on the liquor and ladies).
As I recall, you could record at regular tape speed and have 6 hrs worth or at the higher tape speed for 4 hrs capacity. I used the higher tape speed for the best fidelity. I'm not sure why but the recorded cds sounded better than the cds themselves.
The recording sounded smoother and more analog without sacrificing details. I paid about $1,000 new for the vcr but I bet you could get a used one dirt cheap now. I know its obsolete technology but for your purposes I think it would be great (beta was superior in both sound and picture to vhs according to the experts at the time). But I don't know about blank tape availability but would think someone still sells them for beta video cameras which were nice because they were smaller than vhs cameras.
Since you like vinyl, I think the superbeta would be a good fit and you'll save a ton of money compared to a reel to reel deck. And it's much easier to load. Just something to consider.
buconero117
2,311 posts
 
Forget reel to reel, for all the reasons previously stated. I have a few reel to reel machines and they are all used for playback of pre recorded tapes. Go with a Nakamichi Dragon, the best cassette tape machine ever made. Tons of features. Also, look into the 'D-VHS' decks which tape the VHS format to the highest level. I have such a machine and have made a few recordings that do sound better then the Dragon. Tapes are expensive and getting service would be impossible.
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