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Explain to a young guy why reel to reel was the thing in 70s and 80s

A

Alkeys

Active Member
I was watching one of my favorite movies the other night: Coming to America with Eddie Murphy (1988) and there is a part in the movie where they show a stereo system in his apartment after his apartment has been renovated and there is a massive stereo system with a 1/4 inch reel to reel tape machine as part of the system.

Then it occurred to me, every time I've seen a 70s or 80s movie and they show a rich person's stereo system there is always a real to real. Even in a movie like Pulp Fiction when they are hanging out at Marsellus Wallace's house, there is a Real to Real.

So my question is- why did people use Reel to Reels? I mean I know people used cassette tapes and record players but what void did a Reel to Reel perform?

Back in the day could you used to buy just as many albums on Reel to Reel as you could Vinyl? If so, why is it that when I'm in an old record store I don't see boxes of Reel to Reels lying around? You even come across a box of old 8track cassettes every once in a while but I never see any Reel to Reels of 1/4 inch tape. And if they only made a few key albums like some Beatles White Album and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon on 1/4 in Reel To Reel why would anyone even bother with that medium if you could only get a few albums on that format?

I understand Real to Real 1/4 in tape for multitracking applications and recording and mastering to 2inch Studer and Ampex tape machines and such in the recording industry, but in a home setting I don't understand the Reel to Reel's useage and what duty they performed. Sorry for my long winded post but just was always curious what the hell people used these things for in their homes back in the day.
 
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Alkeys said:
I was watching one of my favorite movies the other night: Coming to America with Eddie Murphy (1988) and there is a part in the movie where they show a stereo system in his apartment after his apartment has been renovated and there is a massive stereo system with a 1/4 inch reel to reel tape machine as part of the system.

Then it occurred to me, every time I've seen a 70s or 80s movie and they show a rich person's stereo system there is always a real to real. Even in a movie like Pulp Fiction when they are hanging out at Marsellus Wallace's house, there is a Real to Real.

So my question is- why did people use Reel to Reels? I mean I know people used cassette tapes and record players but what void did a Reel to Reel perform?

Back in the day could you used to buy just as many albums on Reel to Reel as you could Vinyl? If so, why is it that when I'm in an old record store I don't see boxes of Reel to Reels lying around? You even come across a box of old 8track cassettes every once in a while but I never see any Reel to Reels of 1/4 inch tape. And if they only made a few key albums like some Beatles White Album and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon on 1/4 in Reel To Reel why would anyone even bother with that medium if you could only get a few albums on that format?

I understand Real to Real 1/4 in tape for multitracking applications and recording and mastering to 2inch Studer and Ampex tape machines and such in the recording industry, but in a home setting I don't understand the Reel to Reel's useage and what duty they performed. Sorry for my long winded post but just was always curious what the hell people used these things for in their homes back in the day.
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Three reasons:

  • Reel to reel sounds more real than cassette :D
  • Back in the day you could buy lots of albums on reel to reel
  • Lots of people used to record their LPs to reel to reel

-D
 
Decent quality pre-recorded R2R tapes went away for the most part in the early '70s. Then, the appeal for R2R became making the best possible copies of your friends' borrowed vinyl, because by the mid-70s turntables & cartridges had become so good and cheap that you could make great copies with an inexpensive TT. There is also a big cool-ness factor with a nice R2R deck... not true with cassettes.
 
Simply, Reel to Reel came before cassettes.

It was the only option for people who wanted to record LP music for parties or programs off the radio or tv or just playing around listening to your own voice.
People also used it to record live music or lectures.

Only later did cassette decks take over the mass market.

Even when cassettes started out, Reel to Reel was recognized as the superior sound format. And reel to reel also had longer playing time than cassettes. So if you are going to have music in a restaurant or your soirée, RtR was the format of choice. Only later did some cassette decks and tapes improve to challenge and be good enough and cheap enough. Then convenience won over the masses with car tape decks and boomboxes. But audiophiles and "rich" people still had Reel to Reel as a status and symbol of quality. And they looked cool and photographed better in movies. ;)
 
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Back in the day before digital recording, reel to reel offered the absolute best fidelity on tape as you could record at much faster speeds and the tracks were wider than other tape formats. Many master recordings were recorded to reel tape because of this. It would have been a great luxury to have a quality reel to reel machine in the home back then as they were quite expensive.
 
It's a lot simpler than you are making it. Usually if a person had only one tape deck in their system it was usually a cassette deck. It represented decent reproduction and portability. The guys that took the next step would own a Reel to reel also. the thinking was that a R2R was the ultimate in recording technology available to the home stereo enthusiast. That thinking was correct! Nothing sounded better than analog music archived on a nice reel to reel.

Really that is still true. The key term being "analog". Back in the day everyone owned tons of albums. Well, instead of digging through all the albums and finding your favorite two cuts or so from each one.... you would record the albums favorite tracks while it was new and pristine. Then you could listen to your favorites without ever having to "touch" that album again. Really it made sense whether you were recording an entire album or two on one tape or if it was a "Mix Tape". You still saved your vinyl from wear.

In my opinion a nice album recorded on a premium reel tape at 7.5 IPS from a nice properly setup turntable with an upscale cartridge on it is still the best sound you can get. The CD will sound a little quieter but it won't have the analog warmth that that tape recording will. There's only a little more effort envolved in playing the tape and there's just something about watching those meters bounce and those reels turn! Best! Franksta
 
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:thmbsp:
Alkeys said:
I was watching one of my favorite movies the other night: Coming to America with Eddie Murphy (1988) and there is a part in the movie where they show a stereo system in his apartment after his apartment has been renovated and there is a massive stereo system with a 1/4 inch reel to reel tape machine as part of the system.

Then it occurred to me, every time I've seen a 70s or 80s movie and they show a rich person's stereo system there is always a real to real. Even in a movie like Pulp Fiction when they are hanging out at Marsellus Wallace's house, there is a Real to Real.

So my question is- why did people use Reel to Reels? I mean I know people used cassette tapes and record players but what void did a Reel to Reel perform?

Back in the day could you used to buy just as many albums on Reel to Reel as you could Vinyl? If so, why is it that when I'm in an old record store I don't see boxes of Reel to Reels lying around? You even come across a box of old 8track cassettes every once in a while but I never see any Reel to Reels of 1/4 inch tape. And if they only made a few key albums like some Beatles White Album and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon on 1/4 in Reel To Reel why would anyone even bother with that medium if you could only get a few albums on that format?

I understand Real to Real 1/4 in tape for multitracking applications and recording and mastering to 2inch Studer and Ampex tape machines and such in the recording industry, but in a home setting I don't understand the Reel to Reel's useage and what duty they performed. Sorry for my long winded post but just was always curious what the hell people used these things for in their homes back in the day.
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At one time Reel to Reel using 1/4 " tape or a Wire Recorder were the only way a person could tape anything.They came before 8 Tracks and Cassettes!I still use it because it's cool but also properly set up and recorded it usually and rivals CD's or at least Direct to Disc LP's!My Pioneer RT-707 and RT-909 with Auto Reverse are awesome sounding..........:):thmbsp:
 
AAA3330 said:
reel to reel offered the absolute best fidelity on tape as you could record at much faster speeds and the tracks were wider than other tape formats.
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Still does. :D

I'm a young guy, and very into tape, for both live recordings and archival transfers. It's great stuff, but expensive as heck.
 
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Also, considering your source for the information (movies), you have to take the movie's art department into account. A reel to reel is big, telegraphic of "nice stereo" and looks really cool. We just used several reel to reels in a commercial (and a bunch of old computer reel machines), both because they look awesome and because they're a good way to quickly say 'retro'. Prop houses are full of them. We had many on set that we didn't even use...I think the one on the left made it in the final commercial, but I'd have to watch it again.

Anybody know what this one is (the R2R, not the girl)?
 

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It sounds good. I have a ton of clasical music on reel tape and it sounds amazing. Better than my good sound card or my vinyl setup. Although that isn't saying much becuase they arn't that great.
 
JohnVF said:
Also, considering your source for the information (movies), you have to take the movie's art department into account. A reel to reel is big, telegraphic of "nice stereo" and looks really cool. We just used several reel to reels in a commercial (and a bunch of old computer reel machines), both because they look awesome and because they're a good way to quickly say 'retro'. Prop houses are full of them. We had many on set that we didn't even use...I think the one on the left made it in the final commercial, but I'd have to watch it again.

Anybody know what this one is?
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I could trade your prop dept some nice looking non-working R2R decks for some nice, working, multitrackers :D :deal:

The one on the left is a 2" multitrack deck. I thought that it was a 3M M79, but at closer inspection I believe it to be a MCI unit of some type. If I could see a little more of the deck I could be more sure.
 
JohnVF said:
Also, considering your source for the information (movies), you have to take the movie's art department into account. A reel to reel is big, telegraphic of "nice stereo" and looks really cool. We just used several reel to reels in a commercial (and a bunch of old computer reel machines), both because they look awesome and because they're a good way to quickly say 'retro'. Prop houses are full of them. We had many on set that we didn't even use...I think the one on the left made it in the final commercial, but I'd have to watch it again.

Anybody know what this one is (the R2R, not the girl)?
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No, but you bring up another aspect. Sex ... erm ... sexy.

My guess is that nothing speaks "Playboy" better than showing the bachelor pad with a reel to reel in a movie.
 
This thread has related arguments: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=310138
I just quote my comment from there:

Music recordings were sold in several formats during the 60's and 70's, including R2R and vinyl releases in two speed formats. My personal experience as a classical music collector is that buying a given recording in both formats, R2R issues (at 7 1/2 ips) are the best sounding: more open (no compression is evident) and better bass response and dynamic range. A very close second are vinyl records at 45 rpm, and vinyl records at 33 rpm fall a bit below in quality. If you would like to have concrete examples, I'm talking about most RCA releases conducted by Munch, Reiner, Monteux and Toscanini , CBS releases conducted by Bernstein or Walter or London recordings conducted by Ansermet. Of course, this is just my experience with this type of music (remember that there is no amplification in classical music and that an orchestra of 100 musicians has a tremendous dynamic range).

So, I would say that even pre-recorded tapes surpassed vinyl sound quality (at least in the classical music domain) and presumably (this is what RCA wrote in the notes of their R2R releases) because of the lack of or little use of compression, a technique necessary for LPs.
 
Realistically, reel-to-reels never were "The Thing".

Oh, they were quite fancy. And a symbol of your refined tastes & swanky stereophileness. But those movies over state their role in the grand scheme of things. Notice how very few vintage reel machines you actually see around? They never did make all that many of them. Very very few people actually owned them. In many ways the consumer reel deck was almost an affectation.
Many of us still romance the reel deck. "Oh they had the best fidelity!"...."oh, you you could press one button & hear hours of music". Those are actually contradictory statements. With reel to reel you could either have very high fidelity OR hours of music. Not both. Also, most of the tape sold to consumers (including a lot of the prerecorded stuff) was actually fairly crappy - not the very nice, clean, expensive tape we associate with recording studios. Much of it was thinly backed, prone to print-through & shedding, and didn't store well.

When I first started working in studios 30 years ago reel tape was our only option, and I can cut tape as well as anybody - better than most. There are certain things it's extremely good for. But I don't really miss it. And there are a host of real reasons that it was never successful as a consumer format. (PITA, among others).
Having said all that, there is a 1964 Ampex in my living room...:scratch2:
 
Right on guys- thanks. It's starting to make sense now.

The only thing that's still weird in my mind is you still never see 1/4inch R2R tape in used record stores. So where did it all go? Either all of the tape is being hoarded or all of it has disintegrated by now.

While reading your guys responses it also occurred to me that back in the day people took great time and care with their music- copying your favorite tracks from vinyl LPs to a R2R- definitely time consuming, but I see how it would preserve all your vinyl.

So then my next question is, if R2R is superior to vinyl, why has the recent(last 10 yrs) audiophile resurgent interest been in vinyl records and not R2R if R2R is a superior sounding format?

Why is it when you go into a high end audiophile stereo store, people are nuts about their Linn Sondek LP12 or Rega turntable or something but you never see any R2R's around? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

You can buy high end record players, cartridges etc all day long. I wonder how come you can't buy brand new 1/4 in reel to reel machines and parts the same way you can record players?

Just my observations- thanks.
 
JohnVF said:
Also, considering your source for the information (movies), you have to take the movie's art department into account. A reel to reel is big, telegraphic of "nice stereo" and looks really cool. We just used several reel to reels in a commercial (and a bunch of old computer reel machines), both because they look awesome and because they're a good way to quickly say 'retro'. Prop houses are full of them. We had many on set that we didn't even use...I think the one on the left made it in the final commercial, but I'd have to watch it again.

Anybody know what this one is (the R2R, not the girl)?
Click to expand...

Yes it is a 9-track tape storage unit from what I would think was an IBM computer or possibly Honeywell, certainly not Univac.
 
Alkeys said:
The only thing that's still weird in my mind is you still never see 1/4inch R2R tape in used record stores. So where did it all go? Either all of the tape is being hoarded or all of it has disintegrated by now.
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Look in eBay: there are thousands of them for sale. Also take a look at the pricing: for example, the same LP album goes for about the same price in R2R (about 8 to 10 $ for a classical music title) if the tape is a 4 track 7 1/2 ips release. The 2 track releases of the same material could very easily have a pricing a factor of 10 higher. Apparently there are some people who think that the sound quality of those tapes (again, in classical music, this may well depend on the type of music) is not that crappy!
 
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