why limit ourselves ?

[vintage]

Hi All

been visiting the forum for a while and only just noticed that we have a new Reel to reel topic on the menu.
i think this is about darn time and well done to whom ever instigated this.

I'm a huge Reel fan and have been for a while but are we not limiting ourselves by excluding our cassette owner cousins by calling this "reel to reel" I'm sure there are tones of cassette mad-fans out there (I too am one) that would love to find a place in this forum, or is there one and I missed it.

having been a member of this forum for a few years now and my Reel to Reel personality felt ignored all this time and it was not very nice, so lets not do it to them!!!
Good job lads 

[Family_Dog]

A Cassette tape is also "reel to reel", just much smaller! 


-F_D

[Family_Dog]

Better? Title changed.


-F_D

[chrisc]

I was a reel to reel fan from 1963 (first Philips 4 track 3 3/4 mono) to 2010 when I sold my last Revox A700.  The last two Revoxes I had were superb and the A700 which was 1/2 track and did 15 i/s worked superbly.  It was clumsy to cart around to concerts to do recordings, so eventually I got a SONY DAT recorder, model 2000ES, same size as an analogue cassette deck but gold in colour.  Then one day at the Nassau Centre while I was in the kitchen making something to eat for the musicians during a jazz concert interval, someone, presumably from the audience, nipped on stage, unplugged it and stole it.  No-one apparently noticed although there were 200 people in the audience, but not all seated at that time

It did work very well, with superb dynamics and utterly silent background.  I think it did 16 bit 48KHz recordings

Another device I still have is a Panasonic VHS Hi-Fi deck.  This uses I believe an FM type of modulation to record onto video tape.  Very smooth sound, but not as good as the Revox

Strangely enough, one studio I used wanted open reel tapes so I would transcribe the DAT tape onto 15 i/s 1/2 track.  There was a slight degradation I could detect, but only using an A/B comparison

[vintage]

HI chrisc, I'm but a pupp to Reel compared to you 
I too had an A700 but mine is sitting in my hut at the bottom of the garden as it just stopped working on me one day (it never really worked too well to start off with, very long in the tooth).

Did you use the A700 for recording some Jazz sessions? you must have some really great sounding and historic tapes in your collection.

[vintage]

Dear forum moderator

I am impressed at how quickly you action-ed my request, I guess that must be the reason I just keep coming back to this forum so much more frequently than any other.
well done - keep up the good job and again a big THANK YOU for remembering us tape nuts 

jorge

[chrisc]

I am good friends with Maurice Gawronsky, the drummer, who is still playing at sessions, mainly at the Winchester Hotel on Sunday mornings.  He also used to play at some concerts at the Nassau Centre in Newlands and I recorded quite a few concerts there.  When I stopped making recordings, I gave the microphones, cables and mixer to a church group who play at the church and also at concerts at old age homes.  The tapes (a whole box) went to the Nuthouse Recording Studio and he passed some on to friends

Some of the tracks recorded at the Winchester are on one of the CDs issued by MG, he must have at least 500 copies left and I could scrounge some from him if needed

The problem with recording at 15 i/s is that even using a 10.5" reel (2400 feet) of long play tape, you could only get 32 mins out of it.  The tape was fairly expensive too.  One big bonus of using a DAT tape was that in England, a DAT cassette only cost £9.50 and would last 2 hours.  Editing a DAT tape is infinitely easier than an analogue tape and with a recording studio, time is money.  You can even correct bum notes on a digital tape.