The Tape project is it worth it

Myles B. Astor said:
Not exactly sure but little more than double. Maybe Sam can answer since he plays with 1/2 inch tape.

Not sure can generalize -find that recordings could have been done at 7-1/2 all the way up to 30 ips since there is no standard. But probably more 30 ips are 1/2 rather than 1/4 inch. Think of all those magnetic particles going by the tape head at 30 ips! IIRC Kavi's Water Lily recordings on Tim's machine were 15 ips 1/2.

Yes 30 AFAIK is the province of Pro machines and has its own EQ curve. Remember also need different head stacks for 1/4 and 1/2 tape (not to mention 1-inch).
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Actually there is a standard for tape EQ, even 30 IPS (usually the same curve as used for 7.5 and 15 ips); at this link is a copy of the Magnetic Reference Labs charts: http://home.comcast.net/~mrltapes/eq-shift-tables.pdf MRL makes the calibration tapes that I would expect to see in any technician's arsenal if he works on tape machines.

30 ips is often considered impractical (despite its amazing high end). The problem is getting bass out of 30 IPS is really hard due to the fact that tape response rises by 6db per octave- (which is to say it falls off 6 db per octave as you go down) so to get deep bass you have to put a bit of gain to it with attendant hum and noise problems. For this reason 15 ips is much more common (not to mention the cost of the tape and the amount of time available). With 15 ips you have plenty of bandwidth in both directions with the right machine.
 
A
atmasphere said:
Actually there is a standard for tape EQ, even 30 IPS (usually the same curve as used for 7.5 and 15 ips); at this link is a copy of the Magnetic Reference Labs charts: http://home.comcast.net/~mrltapes/eq-shift-tables.pdf MRL makes the calibration tapes that I would expect to see in any technician's arsenal if he works on tape machines.

30 ips is often considered impractical (despite its amazing high end). The problem is getting bass out of 30 IPS is really hard due to the fact that tape response rises by 6db per octave- (which is to say it falls off 6 db per octave as you go down) so to get deep bass you have to put a bit of gain to it with attendant hum and noise problems. For this reason 15 ips is much more common (not to mention the cost of the tape and the amount of time available). With 15 ips you have plenty of bandwidth in both directions with the right machine.
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Exactly AES/IEC 2.

Now while there is a head bump issue, take a look at some of the specs for say Giorgio's machines at Hemiolia or the specs in this Response Curves of Analog Recorders that I'm sure you are well familiar with. LF response is all over the place but some of the Studer decks at the bottom esp. with the extended response heads are damn good. One can also compensate somewhat for the head bumps in the electronics as Charlie did for me at 15 ips in his tape pre. Much more linear and detailed sounding.

I'll try and look out Giorgio's FR. graphs. They were either posted on WBF or he sent them to me.
 
Also just on the topic of 30 ips recordings, get ahold of the Connoisseur Society recordings of Ivan Moravec. This recording has always puzzled me as it's hard to hear a bass roll off on his Bosendorfer piano. :)
 
Myles,
Great to see the Axpona reel truth seminar now posted on the axpona site! In terms of your list of tape suppliers, Todd Garfinkle of MA recordings sounds like he will be releasing a reel tape within the year. Larry may chime in further on this but I have also spoken with Todd about it.
Chris
 
Myles B. Astor said:
Exactly AES/IEC 2.

Now while there is a head bump issue, take a look at some of the specs for say Giorgio's machines at Hemiolia or the specs in this Response Curves of Analog Recorders that I'm sure you are well familiar with. LF response is all over the place but some of the Studer decks at the bottom esp. with the extended response heads are damn good. One can also compensate somewhat for the head bumps in the electronics as Charlie did for me at 15 ips in his tape pre. Much more linear and detailed sounding.

I'll try and look out Giorgio's FR. graphs. They were either posted on WBF or he sent them to me.
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The old Ampex stuff had methods of dealing with head bump - that is often a problem when the electronics and the heads are not matched. IME it *should* not be an issue on a pro machine, but its common on consumer decks. Thanks for posting the link.
 
tunes said:
Myles,
Great to see the Axpona reel truth seminar now posted on the axpona site! In terms of your list of tape suppliers, Todd Garfinkle of MA recordings sounds like he will be releasing a reel tape within the year. Larry may chime in further on this but I have also spoken with Todd about it.
Chris
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Todd is currently off to Europe for recording sessions. He told me that he would be checking with his tape guy, Len Horowitz, when he returns. Right now we are looking at the Goldberg Variations album he did. At this point we have around 10 copies that have been committed for a duplication run.

Larry
 
Myles B. Astor said:
But these tapes are originally high rez digital recordings?
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According to the album back cover (MA024A-V, Bach Goldberg Variations Ito Ema) it is an analogue recording done February 1994, in Matsumoto Japan. Recorded with a Studer A-820 with 1/2" heads at 30ips using 3M996 tape. the mics were B&K (DPA) 4006. Todd Garfinkle was the balance engineer.

There is a CD and DVD-ROM. The CD was recorded digitally with a DCS A to D converter, and the DVD-ROM was transferred at 24/176 using a modified KORG MR-2000s from the analog tapes.

Larry
 
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