It ain't necessarily true

[Deleted User]

Hello,
I had a very pleasant listening experience, last night. I had won an ebay auction for a pre-recorded open reel tape of Ornette Coleman's "Tomorrow is the Question". Jazz recordings on open reel are fairly uncommon and to find Ornette on one was a treat. I didn't read the description very closely and when I got the tape it was a quarter track 3 3/4 IPS recording (the tape speed moves 3.75" of tape past the playback head per second, slow speed for an open reel deck). I was disappointed, the common "wisdom" is that nothing slower than 7 1/2 IPS is going to sound very good. But, I was interested in hearing the tape, it's a piece that I don't have on lp. So, onto the Crown CX824, and set the playback speed to 3 3/4 (the first time I'd ever played the deck at that speed) hit the playback button and it sounded excellent. Outside of some reduced dynamic range it was a very good sounding tape. I don't know how familiar you might be with Ornette's work but underneath all of the modernism of the playing it has a very fundamental blues feeling that I've always found beautiful. Anyway this tape sounded really good, it had some "cupping" on the edges, but the Crown totally smoothes that out and there's no tape "wandering".
So, if you collect open reel tapes, don't dismiss a 3 3/4" tape if you find an artist you think you'd like.
Ken

audiobliss

Well, that certainly is good to know!


However, what exactly is an open reel tape? lol

Tour2ma

Kids... :rolleyes:...

Ken,
It's nice to find unexpected pleasures.

There is a small goup that makes a strong case for pre-recorded open reels being the best source ever available to home audio.

About all my homemades are 3-3/4 ips. It was strickly an economy move, but I used a JVC ANRS to make them more than listenable.

VR3

Isnt REEL TO REEL...

like a GIGANTIC tape, that is just two reels that run the 'magnetic tape' (or whatever) through some device...

I see this all the time in movies with music recording companies, etc...

[Deleted User]

Hello Audiobliss,
The first stereophonic software that was available to audio enthusiasts was pre-recorded open reel tapes. Also, the first discrete four channel program material was produced on pre-recorded open reel tape. Owners would have open reel tape recorders that would play back these tapes as well as make their own recordings using blank tape. Very early (late 1950's and early 1960) tape duplicating processes were controlled very carefully because these were new formats and had to appeal to the most discriminating listeners (kind of like today's SACD and DVD-A owners). As a result these early tapes can sound amazing, with tremendous clarity and dynamic range. They can sell for several hundreds of dollars and are eagerly sought. They were produced by RCA, Mercury, Concert Hall and Westminster. On the right tape deck they can rival anything produced since, including any digital format.
Then there are people, usually within the recording industry, who have test tapes or "working tapes" that were used as backup tapes for tape duplication companies. These folks make extremely careful copies of these master tapes. They are usually recorded at 15 IPS instead of 7 1/2 IPS and can be "off the charts" in terms of fidelity. This is probably the most esoteric area of audio, finding and maintaining a tape recorder that can play these kinds of tapes to their fullest is very challenging.
But, for listeners who want to "dip their feet" there are some very good sounding reasonable open reel tape recorders around that would let someone begin collecting and listening to some very good music. Keep in mind, most of the popular groups, Doors, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Airplane, The Band, Blind Faith, etc made open reel tapes and they definitely sound better than the LP from the same era.
Ken

audiobliss

Wow; thank you very much for the comprehensive explanation. I think I understand.

I'm going to start another thread about this, but it seems you are quite knowledgeable about tapes & reels and such, so I thought I'd see if you could explain this to me.

One of my friends is really into recording music. Besides playing the guitar and the keyboard, he has written several acappella (sp?) songs. He has this recorder that uses 'a-track' or '8-track' tapes, I'm not sure what he said. Anyways, he explained that there are 4 'tapes' on each cassette and that each reel is divided into 8 sections. Using this he could record him singing different parts of a song and thus end up with a song sung completely by him.

Now, I know I got quite a few things up there wrong, I just don't know what! lol Could you clear this up for me?

The reason I'm interested is because the ac-adapter to it has been stolen. He said he's used a generic one of the same specs, but it didn't work. I thought I'd try to find an adapter for him for Christmas. I don't have any model numbers, but he said the recorder is made by Tascam.

I'd appreciate any info on this. Thanks!!

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Here's a link that might be helpful:
http://www.phantomprod.com/vinAd77.html
A Pioneer RT-707 in good shape is a good deck to consider, it has a very good reputation as a fine sounding deck.
Ken

audiobliss

Thanks for the link; however, I'm almost positive that his recorder is not open reel.

[Deleted User]

Sorry, Audiobliss, I put the link there as a reference to my previous message. Let me ckeck on your friend's deck.
Ken

audiobliss

HAHAHA - you can tell I don't know much about this since I couldn't even figure that out.....LOL

Thanks!

Tour2ma

Nice link, Ken.... lotsa memories there....

ab,
Your buddy must have hooked onto a pro-style recording deck. What he's doing is called "overdubbing".

One or more decks (if more than one, they were synchronized) were used to record instruments, vocals, etc. at different times. For each added layer or "track", the player/ singer would simply wear headphones and the previously recorded track(s) were played for him. The multi-track efforts were subsequently mixed down into the Master Tape.

Machines ranged all the way to 16-track. Many were open reel. Some were cassette, but not the cassette used in the home/ car audio market; they were more VHS size. I think just about all were 15 ips.

This approach pretty much revolutionized the recording industry. Previously all artists had to be in the studio at the same time, so all had to be perfect in their play or it was "Take 2" or "12" or "46", etc. With multi-tracks artists could come and go, and once each part was "right", it was locked in and built upon.

Some artists did whole albums playing every instrument, doing every vocal, etc. Couple quick examples that come to mind are Paul McCartney's first solo LP, "McCartney" and Todd Rungren's double album, "Something/ Anything"... although Todd did have a couple friends chip in some vocals. There are many more examples as it become quite the thing t do for a while....