pre-recorded open reel tapes - what's the deal?

[BudrowBob]

"are they very listenable? Seems like it might be a chore with the spooling and threading dance."

I have bought several pre-recorded tapes over the years (when they were a lot cheaper) and they all play fine (very listenable). As mentioned 7-1/4 speed tapes generally sound better.

Buying pre-recorded tapes is basically buying albums, that's why so little tape and songs.
Yes, threading each tape can be a chore, but the more you do it, the easier it gets.

You mentioned friends coming over and background music is where the R2R shines, because they can play for hours. But you are generally going to have to record those tapes yourself.
In the 70s and 80s I spent a lot of time recording albums on my Pioneer RT-707. Those tapes all still sound fine.

Recording quality, whether from tape or albums is mostly dependent on your source material.
Back in the mid-80's I recorded a bunch of cassettes to reel to reel and they still sound as good as the cassettes did.

One caution, buying used tape in any format is a crapshoot, unless you can listen to them completely before you buy.
Most all these tapes are pretty old and no telling what they have been through, no telling how much they have been played, the condition of the heads they were played on or how they have been stored.
They could have been erased, recorded over, have sound drop-outs, the tape could have broken and been spliced, and until you play them, you are not going to know.

I recently got a box of 8-tracks, one of the tapes was The J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame, but the tape inside the cartridge was actually The Eagles - Hotel California.

 

[62vauxhall]

....I recently got a box of 8-tracks, one of the tapes was The J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame, but the tape inside the cartridge was actually The Eagles - Hotel California.

That's rare but it happens. I've reconditioned more than 2000 cartridges over twelve years or so and discovered several that were recorded over. And one of them too was recorded over with Hotel California. That was unfortunate because it was a Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn cartridge. Also, an Alice Cooper cartridge - Billion Dollar Babies recorded over with some lounge singer. Another, I forget which, (The Band or Grateful Dead?) was recorded over with someone holding a microphone trying to capture "baby's first words" or something.

Just a few months ago, I acquired an It's a Beautiful Day cartridge - Choice Quality Stuff/Anytime recorded over with Heart.

 

[Derek Heeps]

I never really collected pre recorded tapes , although I did get a couple when my dad bought me my first tape recorder back in the mid sixties . The two titles were 'Cliff's Hit Album' and 'The Best of The Seekers' , both on EMI and were 1/2 track tape albums at 3-3/4 ips on 4" spools . It had to be remembered that many machines back then did not accept 7" spools , especially portable machines . Although that first machine , which was an Ultra 1/4 track mono machine with 1-7/8 , 3-3/4 and 7-1/2 ips speeds did accept 7" spools as its maximum size , it was a very basic machine .

I used it to record primarily off air , although , like most tape recorders back then it did come with a microphone and I used to record my mother playing piano . Back in the early 70s , when FM stereo became available here in Central Scotland , I used to record a lot off air from the BBC , whose transmissions were of very high quality , and timed to the second as per schedules in the Radio Times , so it was easy to set up a timer to record in my absence .

Later , when I got my first stereo machine , a Sony TC-377 , I invested in a couple of decent ( for the time ) electret mics ( Sony ECM 280s ) and went out to record my mum's amateur operatic groups , plus musical friends and local bands . After a few years I upgraded to a Revox A77 1/4 track , then a half track high speed G36 and half track high speed B77 ( I still have the A77 and B77 , along with a few mixing desks , various miss such as AKG C451s with various capsules , Sennheisser K6 ditto , numerous Sennheiser Evo Wireless 500 series mics and a couple of 3000 series , plus numerous Audio Technica and Shure specialist mics - lectern mics , boundary mics , miniature tieclip mics etc ) . Also had a Uher 4200 Stereo report monitor which I used for field recording along with 16mm film shot on my Bolex H16 and dubbed in post . I have had numerous other decent machines , including Technics RS 1500 , Ferrograph Series 7 , Studier PR99 , Tascam 34 and others through my hands down the years , but these days my two Revox machines are all I need . Also moved later on to using Video-8 multi PCM , Sony SL-F1 with PCM adaptor , Sony SL-HF100 Hi-Fi Betamax and various Hi-FI VHS and S-VHS machines , Sony TC-D5 DAT portable , even dabbled with MiniDisc and using Mini DV and HDV recorders for audio . Much of what I do these days is for video production rather than standalone audio .

So my tape machines have mainly been used for their intended purpose , producing master tapes , a small number of them big name artists now , but back then unknowns and I used to just dub cassettes , using my Technics RS 276 , and pass them out . Using decent tape was always important - in the early days I experimented with BASF , Scotch , EMI and settled on Sony SLH which partnered my TC-377 at the time . Later , when I moved onto the Revoxes I used Maxell UD and UDXL , especially on the high speed machines , and these recordings are excellent .

Those early pre recorded tapes were not so great and a decent vinyl LP would easily beat them . However there are now some very expensive audiophile pre recorded tapes - I recently saw one advertised by Nagra , at a price I originally thought was for a tape machine , well into four figures for one tape , but it was actually a master quality tape album ! Coming from Nagra , I would expect it to be as described .

 

[Derek Heeps]

I have bought several pre-recorded tapes over the years (when they were a lot cheaper) and they all play fine (very listenable). As mentioned 7-1/4 speed tapes generally sound better.

Buying pre-recorded tapes is basically buying albums, that's why so little tape and songs.
Yes, threading each tape can be a chore, but the more you do it, the easier it gets.

You mentioned friends coming over and background music is where the R2R shines, because they can play for hours. But you are generally going to have to record those tapes yourself.
In the 70s and 80s I spent a lot of time recording albums on my Pioneer RT-707. Those tapes all still sound fine.

Recording quality, whether from tape or albums is mostly dependent on your source material.
Back in the mid-80's I recorded a bunch of cassettes to reel to reel and they still sound as good as the cassettes did.

One caution, buying used tape in any format is a crapshoot, unless you can listen to them completely before you buy.
Most all these tapes are pretty old and no telling what they have been through, no telling how much they have been played, the condition of the heads they were played on or how they have been stored.
They could have been erased, recorded over, have sound drop-outs, the tape could have broken and been spliced, and until you play them, you are not going to know.

I recently got a box of 8-tracks, one of the tapes was The J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame, but the tape inside the cartridge was actually The Eagles - Hotel California.

Main issues with old tapes which have been standing a long time are a) oxide shedding from the backing material , and b) print through .

Also , re the wrong tape being inside the 8 track cart - it could have been a manufacturing error , but also , there were 8 track recording decks - I had a Dual one at one point , used it to record tapes for the car , so just possible someone recorded over the original recording ...

 

[radiokom]

I never really collected pre recorded tapes , although I did get a couple when my dad bought me my first tape recorder back in the mid sixties . The two titles were 'Cliff's Hit Album' and 'The Best of The Seekers' , both on EMI and were 1/2 track tape albums at 3-3/4 ips on 4" spools . It had to be remembered that many machines back then did not accept 7" spools , especially portable machines . Although that first machine , which was an Ultra 1/4 track mono machine with 1-7/8 , 3-3/4 and 7-1/2 ips speeds did accept 7" spools as its maximum size , it was a very basic machine .

I used it to record primarily off air , although , like most tape recorders back then it did come with a microphone and I used to record my mother playing piano . Back in the early 70s , when FM stereo became available here in Central Scotland , I used to record a lot off air from the BBC , whose transmissions were of very high quality , and timed to the second as per schedules in the Radio Times , so it was easy to set up a timer to record in my absence .

Later , when I got my first stereo machine , a Sony TC-377 , I invested in a couple of decent ( for the time ) electret mics ( Sony ECM 280s ) and went out to record my mum's amateur operatic groups , plus musical friends and local bands . After a few years I upgraded to a Revox A77 1/4 track , then a half track high speed G36 and half track high speed B77 ( I still have the A77 and B77 , along with a few mixing desks , various miss such as AKG C451s with various capsules , Sennheisser K6 ditto , numerous Sennheiser Evo Wireless 500 series mics and a couple of 3000 series , plus numerous Audio Technica and Shure specialist mics - lectern mics , boundary mics , miniature tieclip mics etc ) . Also had a Uher 4200 Stereo report monitor which I used for field recording along with 16mm film shot on my Bolex H16 and dubbed in post . I have had numerous other decent machines , including Technics RS 1500 , Ferrograph Series 7 , Studier PR99 , Tascam 34 and others through my hands down the years , but these days my two Revox machines are all I need . Also moved later on to using Video-8 multi PCM , Sony SL-F1 with PCM adaptor , Sony SL-HF100 Hi-Fi Betamax and various Hi-FI VHS and S-VHS machines , Sony TC-D5 DAT portable , even dabbled with MiniDisc and using Mini DV and HDV recorders for audio . Much of what I do these days is for video production rather than standalone audio .

So my tape machines have mainly been used for their intended purpose , producing master tapes , a small number of them big name artists now , but back then unknowns and I used to just dub cassettes , using my Technics RS 276 , and pass them out . Using decent tape was always important - in the early days I experimented with BASF , Scotch , EMI and settled on Sony SLH which partnered my TC-377 at the time . Later , when I moved onto the Revoxes I used Maxell UD and UDXL , especially on the high speed machines , and these recordings are excellent .

Those early pre recorded tapes were not so great and a decent vinyl LP would easily beat them . However there are now some very expensive audiophile pre recorded tapes - I recently saw one advertised by Nagra , at a price I originally thought was for a tape machine , well into four figures for one tape , but it was actually a master quality tape album ! Coming from Nagra , I would expect it to be as described .

EMI 1/2 track prerecorded tapes at 3-3/4 was not tapes but sh*t with big S! 3-3/4 tapes all are crap, but EMI is something special! 8Khz (10khz maximum) is what is written on them! When we are talking of good prerecorded tapes we do not talk about European tapes, because they all 100% are crap. Vinyl in Europe was better than in US. I know, because I live in this strange territory called Europe.

 

[Derek Heeps]

EMI 1/2 track prerecorded tapes at 3-3/4 was not tapes but sh*t with big S! 3-3/4 tapes all are crap, but EMI is something special! 8Khz (10khz maximum) is what is written on them! When we are talking of good prerecorded tapes we do not talk about European tapes, because they all 100% are crap. Vinyl in Europe was better than in US. I know, because I live in this strange territory called Europe.

The tapes were no better or worse than most domestic tape machines back then : this was a time when the average household had perhaps a valve AM radio , a one box record player with ceramic cartridge designed to play both microgroove and 78 rpm records with a flip over stylus , or a radiogram which was little better - very few households even had tape machines at all , and the majority that were out there were poor quality mono machines .

The tapes were the least part of the equation , and few domestic recorders were used as anything other than playthings for making home recordings and amusement . I only ended up with those two tapes because they were a gift from my parents along with the tape recorder , which itself was hardly hi-fi .