Reel to Reel?
- Thread starter delfam
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LP like quality, 2X cd duration and a lot of old music is originally recorded on reel, you buy em @ a yard sale and you never know who or what is on it. I have a good many that sound like radio station studio recordings of what are big name bands of the 70's.
Cool.
Srinath.
Cool.
Srinath.
There was a time when they were the only way to record music with real quality.
Those machines are not necessary now and are an inconvenient way to deal with recordings.
But... they look so great. So, it's not only the audio with those old titans. It's more about the visual and tactile pleasure they offer. If you have a working reel to reel, it's just plain fun to use it. Nothing more than that.
Those machines are not necessary now and are an inconvenient way to deal with recordings.
But... they look so great. So, it's not only the audio with those old titans. It's more about the visual and tactile pleasure they offer. If you have a working reel to reel, it's just plain fun to use it. Nothing more than that.
:yes:
They're something to look at and play with and nowadays more useful as a curiosity or something to goof around with than as a means for serious audio playback. A nice toy.
Recently I almost bought a nice one and then changed my mind when I realized I'd have used it to tape music files.
Recently I almost bought a nice one and then changed my mind when I realized I'd have used it to tape music files.
Wigwam Jones
Caesar non supra grammati
I agree, with the very small caveat that there are some tapes (just like there are some LPs) that are not so easy to obtain in CD format. And if the tape itself has been relatively well-kept, it's much nicer than a scratched-up LP of the same material. Given a mint LP or a mint tape, I guess I'd take the LP. But given a mint tape over a not-so-mint LP, the tape wins.
I have only recently gotten back into R2R. I'm having a blast. But no plans to record anything. I just pick up the odd pre-recorded tape to listen to. They sure do sound nice.
Tonight, it's Ernest Ansermet conducting L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande on a double album tape, 7 1/2 IPS, Stravinksy's Petrushka and Le Sacre du Printemps. It was 99 cents on eBay. I don't think it had ever been played.
tom3
Super Member
Today it's more of a vintage thing, but still practical in some ways. Back in the day records were not cheap and the sound quality didn't last long either. Get together with some friends and record each other's 45s, buy a new album, record it and play the heck out of the tape and save the record. A decent recorder with good tape would make a recording pretty much equal to the original. Last about forever. Even today, if you wanted to take the time, make a pretty good recording off the net. Tape is hard to beat.
beans
Got arth-a-ritis
I have to take exception to the implication that R2R is not-so-much a means of "serious" audio playback. I seriously make recordings on R2R from analog and sometimes digital sources. I wouldn't expect a lot of modern music lovers to fall in love with R2R... it almost has to be in your blood. I've had R2R machines since I was a boy. Just don't tell me it isn't "serious"... the machines & tapes sound very good when done properly.
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Wigwam Jones
Caesar non supra grammati
It's a good point. I didn't have R2R back in the day, but I had friends that recorded their LPs as soon as they bought them, and then put the LP away for safekeeping and just played the tape. Cassettes could be used for that, but with all due respect to cassette lovers, they don't sound as good as R2R quarter-inch tape. And going further back, there were apparently a lot of people doing what we would now consider time-shifting; recording radio shows for later playback. You see a lot of those old tapes on eBay now; old radio shows and LPs recorded carefully, notes and everything kept on them, etc. I should buy a few and see what they sound like.
I like to have one in the event I find interesting recordings on reel that I want to convert to digital which happens periodically. Also to just play prerecorded commercial tapes. Plus, as the others have stated, they just look really cool especially when they are on. The spinning reels, the backlit VU meters bouncing back and forth. Mine gives off a smell after awhile that just reeks of coolness. I've never used mine to record, don't plan on it either.
Can you imagine finding this for $1 at the fleahole and not having something to play it on? Yikes!
Can you imagine finding this for $1 at the fleahole and not having something to play it on? Yikes!
Coastsider
Curmudgeon
For those of us - maybe just me - who back when they were a viable medium for albums bought a lot of prerecorded reel to reel tapes, it is important to have a reel to reel deck so I can access all of those tapes which are just as important a part of my music collection as my LP's. It's no more complicated than that as far as I am concerned.
beans
Got arth-a-ritis
I like to have one in the event I find interesting recordings on reel that I want to convert to digital which happens periodically. Also to just play prerecorded commercial tapes. Plus, as the others have stated, they just look really cool especially when they are on. The spinning reels, the backlit VU meters bouncing back and forth. Mine gives off a smell after awhile that just reeks of coolness. I've never used mine to record, don't plan on it either.
Can you imagine finding this for $1 at the fleahole and not having something to play it on? Yikes!
That's Sun Ra, isn't it? WOWIE!
I know they can sound damned good, I had open reel machines 40 years ago. But I don't consider them serious just because they can sound good; modern, cheaper and far easier to use recording devices sound at least as good. They're outdated tools of interest to open reel hobbyists. Maybe in Hollywood they still use Nagras for location work.
I'm glad you're having fun with the things, I don't deny they're fun or useful.
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oblomov
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I know!
At times I will put my nose to the top vent of my TEAC A4010 and breathe in that superb hot machine oil aroma. Takes me back to my chldhood listening to an old Decca phonagraph.
No. Nothing to do with Sun Ra. You can hear the reels here;
http://www.divshare.com/download/16587009-a62
superdog
AK Member
I had an older gentlemen who came over to buy a tuner.We got to talking and he records all his cds to reel to reel tape.He claims it is the only way to go.I personally never had a rtr but remember hearing one when I was in the Army(1981).Sounded better than anything I heard at the time.
guiller
Toscaninichus Australis
Great score!! :thmbsp:
Edriz
AK Member
Ive had R2R's since 1979. Most every new record i get is either recorded to cassette or R2R. With R2R, 7" tape I get 2 lps just like cassette. With 10.5" reels i get 4-5 LPs. Ill record like music to a reel and play them when Im just not in the mood to deal with vinyl or if company comes over. Out a tape on and 4 hours of non stop, uninterupted music.
As for sound quality, its very hard to beat with some experience, good tape, and fast speed. I'll never be without a R2R or cassette for that matter. Maybe they are outdated to some but not to me and never will be.
As for sound quality, its very hard to beat with some experience, good tape, and fast speed. I'll never be without a R2R or cassette for that matter. Maybe they are outdated to some but not to me and never will be.
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