What are you listening to on your reel to reel right now?

More German Air base tapes...I acquired 30 of them so I've got a lot to listening to do! I'm ready though, as the headstack on this deck was just relapped by JRF :beerchug:
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EDIT: After listening to a few now, I really have a new appreciation for Deep Purple. They sure were more creative and tight than I previously gave them credit for. I encourage any of you old farts like me to revisit their catalog (at high volume of course)!
 
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The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 7 1/2 IPS L2653

Found this for a twenty at a local used book store. I see the 3 3/4 version selling for around a hundred. Is this a somewhat rare tape? Just curious, I will not be selling it. I think I lucked out!

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You got a heck of a deal there. And yes, you lucked out, indeed. Probably one of the most looked for album, on these tapes, in the set, along with the White album and Revolver.

I have a set, myself. All from an antique dealer in Texas. Another nice deal as I payed him a few hundred bucks, for them. I have done some online research, in the past, and, since you asked, I'll write in.

In the mid '60s, Capitol Records stopped making the 'Something New' album, in all formats, all together. Most of the second side is songs from the film. It may be an issue with United Artists as they released the 'Hard Day's Night' film. And neither of those albums are in the set of tapes. 'The Beatles Story' isn't either.

Some time in the mid to late '60s, 'Capitol' surrendered their tape production to Ampex. They had been producing their own up 'til then. That's where all the 3 3/4 ips tape come from. BTW; I've seen the 'Meet the Beatles', 5" reel, black box, go for over $400, on the 'Bay' at auction.

In mid '69, Capitol, went to the circle 'C' logo, and you see both the 'C' and the oval logo, on the tape boxes and reels, somewhere.

In 1970, Capitol, requested that Ampex, produce the Beatles albums on tape, at 7 1/2 ips, and they did. That production run is where your tape comes from. There are 16 tapes in the set and 'Abbey Road' was all ready out there, in stores, by September of that year anyway, and is not included in the set. Record album out by the previous April.

These tapes are all of American releases as the 'Brit' releases were different in title and song list up to 'Sgt. Peppers'. And, anything beyond the 'White Album' was never mixed down, in the studio, in mono, by George Martin. Stereo record players had gotten a big enough grip on the listening audience that mono mixes were no longer made.

I think it's odd that 'A Hard Day's Night' sound track, isn't in the set when the 'Help' album is. Both films were UA releases.

I've written this before and this much I can tell.

Edit; I meant to write in, April and September of '69.

Lu.
 
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You got a heck of a deal there. And yes, you lucked out, indeed. Probably one of the most looked for album, on these tapes, in the set, along with the White album and Revolver.
Lu.

I've noticed that if shazam while playing the tape, Shazam thinks it is the remastered version of Stg. Peppers. Guess I am back to the future with this tape, lol. I am probably as close to hearing what it was intended to sound like as possible.
 
corpblues;

I don't know what Ampex did to record those tapes, but I might be able to find out. I'll look into it, anyway. Besides, why wouldn't Ampex do a bang up job of those tapes, too. And, stock number L-2653, It's one of the tapes from the 1970 set. Great sounding tapes and I played a few of them yesterday, on a 5050.

I gave my pre records a count, yesterday, too, and there are 43 in my collection. Not the biggest, but what I have is in good shape.

I was playing night clubs when I heard of fresh tapes of Beatles albums were going to be made. I didn't buy into them, as I was buying other stuff.

The singer, in that band, was part of the TV repair business that his Dad started. I've been in the house many times and with white carpet in the front room, you weren't allowed to go in there with your shoes on. He told me that his Dad put a fresh stylus on the big console stereo every month, weather needed or not.

Greg also brought a Sony TC-630 with him, to all our jobs, that we could play tapes, any of us had. And that's when I started buying.

Now, we played six days a week, and had Monday off. We headed back home, then. And Greg's Dad would take that deck to his store every month, and clean heads, demag, check levels and adjust alignment if it needed it. So, no damage to tapes I have.

I quit buying when the group busted up, but got back into it when I did buy a deck. Early '80s I think.
 
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The Great Hits of Brazil

Paulo Alencar and his Orchestra

1962 Kapp KTL 41051 4-Track 7½ IPS
__________

My CD/LP/TAPE Collection
 
I plunked down the bucks on two 15 ips 2 track tapes, sold by the guy in Russia. We've written back and forth and, when asked, he wrote back to say that he sources the originals on a Studer and makes the copies on Tascam equipment.

Iron Butterfly's 'In-a-Godda-Da-Vida' and Santana's third album arrived here yesterday.

The Santana album just knocked me over. Man-O- Man, those guys were good. ' Not complaining about the IB album either. Great music from 1969.

Lu.
 
I plunked down the bucks on two 15 ips 2 track tapes, sold by the guy in Russia. We've written back and forth and, when asked, he wrote back to say that he sources the originals on a Studer and makes the copies on Tascam equipment.

Iron Butterfly's 'In-a-Godda-Da-Vida' and Santana's third album arrived here yesterday.

The Santana album just knocked me over. Man-O- Man, those guys were good. ' Not complaining about the IB album either. Great music from 1969.

Lu.

I've been wondering about tapes by that guy. Thanks for the report.
 
Max', corp', and Skylab;

I will continue, just a bit, with my own observations, about 15 ips., 2 track tapes being sold as copies of album protection tapes.

To start with and from my own research, CDs were out on the market about '83. Protection, tape copies, of records, were made to produce those albums, on CDs. Those tapes needed to be QUIET! I've read, on the net, that tape used in studios during the '50s and '60s, was largely, Scotch 111. And as one put it, a notoriously 'noisy' tape. Ampex 'pres' are like that. Crackly, mostly, in the left channel. Scotch 111 may have been used in studios as 3M sales reps. pushed it.

Being in a suburb of Milwaukee, breweries are a big deal here, and I remember a story my Dad told me, way back when. Schlitz sales personal would give bars, taverns and clubs, a discount, on their brand, IF, when a costumer came in and asked for a beer, the tarbender tapped them, a 'Schlitz'. And many bar operators went with it.

That may be a reason why, 111 masters and mix downs are everywhere. And those mix downs needed to be cleaned up for CD production.

I know that there are about four Ebay accounts, in that city in Russia, and I wrote to ask if all those were one seller. He didn't exactly answer that but he wrote back to ask if I was interested in the latest copy of the Miles Davis album his uncle, I think, was working on. I didn't answer him, then, either.

The seller in Orlando sells terrific sounding copies but every time you buy one, the next is offered at an inflated price. I got into the 'Moody's' and quit buying.

There are two sellers in New York state, 'reelshiny' will send copies on pancakes. I haven't bought from him so I can't say. The other 'NY' seller seems to sell originals. I have one from him. Badfinger's 'Straight Up' album. It's in a Scotch box and there is a catalog number '290' on one edge of the tape box. 3600' of tape on a 7" reel. The tape is a dark grey color, almost black, and looks like Quantegy/Ampex 642. An audio grade, 1 mil., tape. More likely 290. I've seen him sell two tapes of the Beatles '65 album, and no more. ' Would like to have that one but, taxes at the beginning of the year, I had to pass it up.

I also bought a line level converter and the patch cords I need. The XLRs showed up today and am still waiting on the box and the RCAs . I've started a thread, on the subject, of line levelers, but came away with the idea that I didn't need all that. Not having 50 or 100 foot cables hooked up anywhere. Well, Skywavebe sorted that out for me and I went for it, then. Thank you, Sam, I never understood that, until now. I record record albums, too. My 2 track deck is a 5050. So I need to be able to work +4 dBu.

So, there are my views.

It's a Rap!

Lu.
 
Good info, thanks for the report ! I have also (with a little hesitation at first) purchased a couple of "low-generation" copies made (supposedly) from safety copies. A little pricey, but the quality was there. Only dealt with US sellers, I don`t (yet) have a 2-track deck....maybe one of these days ! :)
 
Maxx;

If you ever decide to get into it, I think you would be pleased. RIAA curve for record production is fussing with the sound of the original tape. Tape copies done, on a well set up recorder, won't add much back ground noise. And besides, those protection copies are another generation anyway. Musicians record on a master, then the sound engineer re mixes it for record and tape manufacturing companies, and the copies you buy in stores are third generation. And that's what protection copies are. Third generation, and they're copies of the sound engineers mix down. By the time these guys run off copies of their's, it's forth.

I'll add something to post #1775.

The other part of noisy pre recorded tapes is proper Biasing, which may have been done with the manufacturing companies duplicators. And I've proven it to myself.
I recorded a tape, which sounded like 'you know what', and wrote in about it. One of the repair techs wrote back to say 'not enough Bias'. I had really screechy, scratchy sounding highs.

I recorded part of the album again with the Bias pot of the left channel all the way off. As I turned the Bias up, the highs cleared up. It works!

Now that doesn't say that it's the right amount of Bias then, either. I've found something on the 'net' that is a more positive approach to it all. And no need to know nW/m flux levels or any of the tape specs. You may do this if you care to but it isn't what's in SMs for setting Bias, though similar.

Set a signal generator for just under 40Hz.. Send that to a audio frequency mv. meter and attenuate for standard input levels, my TEAC 3300 likes to see 308 mv. i.e.. Plug the SG out into the deck and start recording. I turn the pre amps balance pot over to the left channel, turn the decks left Bias pot all the way off and listen to the speakers.

To start with, probably won't hear much of a signal, but the back ground noise will be crackly. (Much like you can hear on pre recorded tapes, at times) Now you turn up the Bias pot and begin to here signal. Keep going until you hear a nice, clean, signal. It will be near, or dead on, peak VU.. Do the same for the other channel.

Next, set up a 10K. at input levels and record it. Now, turn the Bias pot 'DOWN' until the VU peaks, and leave it there. Turn the input pot to find 0 VU.. If you find that there isn't enough room, your VUs have peaked after the next thing, choose a lower number. Just pick one.

Now turn the Bias pot 'UP' until the VUs peak. The difference is the amount of over bias needed for the tape you are using. And to continue, keep turning the Bias pot until it once again reaches 0 VU., or the other number you picked.

After that, of course, you need to go for record levels and record Eq. This just sets Bias.

If you keep your tape path an heads clean and Bias your recording right, you should have nice quiet sounding tape. Try recording no input signal to see that it works.

And yeah, I like to read stuff.

Lu.
 
Ok Folks, A little while ago I got these Reel to Reel tape that are Westwood One recordings. They where licensed to record shows producing records, tapes and CDs to send out to radio stations. The stations would play these recorded programing all over the country for one night/day and then it was done and over with.
A thread here on them.
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index....ne-7-1-2-ips-tapes-need-help-flipping.805068/

Anyway you'll never hear this recording anywhere but from me unless you can find one of these very rare tapes.:p So here we go...:rockon:


Westwood One, Midnight Oil : Live at Wembley 1992, Blue Sky Mining Tour Part 1


Westwood One, Midnight Oil : Live at Wembley 1992, Blue Sky Mining Tour Part 2


Westwood One, Midnight Oil : Live at Wembley 1992, Blue Sky Mining Tour Part 3

 
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Listing to Mix Tape from iphone 8! (so far my Dad's old Ampex is holding up - no SSS - yet).

Fun Fact:
My 14 year old daughter made this mix playlist and thought her to thread the reel, clean the heads between the reel flip for side 2 and adjust the recording input. Her grandfather would have been proud of her!


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Gents;

I've been thinking about what I wrote in post #1777, so I re read it this morning, carefully. I wrote that from memory but I got one thing wrong.

The more experienced calibrators may see the mistake and compensate for it themselves, but maybe not the less experienced. Any way, doing it as said will leave you short the over Bias.

One of two things can be done here, to get it right. The sentence that says 'turn the Bias pot 'UP'', is the one that is wrong. You need to go past peak to Bias the 10K. signal and what's written won't do that but just get you back to where it was in the first place. And that's what you don't want.

So, instead, find a VU. reading you want to use, with the line in pot, and then turn the Bias adjuster DOWN until the VU. reading reaches peak. Remember that number, it might be +2 dB, but it could be anything. Now, turn the Bias pot back up and, if you used 0 VU., find that.

Here's where the over Bias comes in. Keep turning the Bias pot up until the meter reading reads -2 dB, for example. And the other way. If you started out with a -3 dB. reading, and your peak was 2 dB. over, let's say, you are going to need to find -5 dB now, while still turning the Bias pot, up.

RMGI's GP-9 tape is a +9 tape, for a flux level. There's going to be plenty of over Bias needed for that one. The VUs on my Sonys only go to +3 dB.. I know that's not enough room. Finding peak would certainly pin the meters. In that case, I would need to start out with a -3 dB. reading, just to be able to see it all. You need to know how much additional Bias is needed, while turning the Bias pot down and recording the 10K. signal. You need to go past peak an amount equal to the difference between peak and your 'set' level.

I think that says it right, now.

Lu.

You need to go past the original level an amount equal to the difference between peak and original level. Lu.
 
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