I have, in the past, transferred both vinyl and cassette tape to digital files and I have a frien who asked if I could have some reel-to-reel tapes put on CDs, they are home recordings of her long deceased father, about a dozen 7 inch reels. Since I don't have and have never used reel-to-reel I sought out a local source to do it for me but they are scarce and they are not repsonsive. Due to the content I'm not willing to ship them anywhere. SO I decided, after some research, that I'd get a reel-to-reel unit and do it myself. I basically have one question. I have no idea how the tapes were recorded and I'm I'm trying to cover as many bases as I can with the unit I purchase. I'm going to assume (rolling the dice) that they were not recorded at 15 ips. I am assuming its possible that they were recorded in mono on an 8 track unit however unlikely that might be. If I were to obtain a stereo 4 track unit and did indeed run into the issue of an 8 track recording could I run just one channel at a time into the computer and be OK or am I looking at having 2 mono tracks recorded into one stereo channel? I'm thinking it's the latter. How common was 8 track recording in the early 1960s, when these tapes were recorded?
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As Kurt says, they will not be 8-track, and I very much doubt th
As Kurt says, they will not be 8-track, and I very much doubt they will be stereo, unless your friend's father was an enthusiast rather than just a normal home tape user. That leaves the question of half-track versus quarter-track, but it's easy to get round it. A quarter-track reel-to-reel tape deck will play half-track as well as quarter-track tapes, it's just that you don't get the full advantage of the half-track format in terms of noise.
As far as the recorded speed goes, they are likely to be either 7.5ips or 3.75ips, with a possibility of 1.875ips. If you want to cover most of the possibilities, you should buy or borrow a tape deck that can take 7" reels and is quarter-track (commonly, but incorrectly, known as 4-track) with speeds of 7.5, 3.75 and 1.875 ips. A mono deck would transcribe one track at a time, but a stereo deck would save time by transcribing two mono tracks simultaneously - you would save them as separate tracks in your computer.
Thank you for the helpful replies. I had suspected that a 3 spe
Thank you for the helpful replies. I had suspected that a 3 speed 1/4 track machine would be what I was looking for to cover my bases. I don't even know if the tapes contain anything, but I figure the worst that can happen is I'll end up with a new toy to mess around with. Or a doorstop if I'm not careful LOL. Thank you again and Happy Thanksgiving!
TomNY, post: 421553 wrote: but I figure the worst that can happe
TomNY, post: 421553 wrote: but I figure the worst that can happen is I'll end up with a new toy to mess around with. Or a doorstop if I'm not careful LOL. Thank you again and Happy Thanksgiving!
Be very cautious when purchasing. Things like heads, motors, lifters...these are mechanical parts that can wear out over time. If you can actually test a local machine for sale, you'll want to put a reel on and check PLAY, REC, REW, FF, meters and speed... check to make sure the speed is constant and doesn't drift from too slow to too fast. Check the rollers - if they are rubber, you'll want to make sure they aren't flaking or leaving residue on tape. If I were buying used off of eBay, I would consider getting buyer's insurance.
You also need to be cautious when playing older tapes. Depending on how they were stored - the climate, humidity, dryness... they make have the backing stripping off, or, they can be brittle and even break, and not just at edit points, either.
Your best bet in a used reel to reel recorder will be the quite
Your best bet in a used reel to reel recorder will be the quite prolific and venerable TEAC 3340's or the 7 inch only 2340's. These are four track 4 channel machines.
The 3340's of any variety that they made, are only 7.5/15 IPS. The more consumer oriented 2340's will have the consumer speeds of 3 3/4 & 7.5 IPS. They are otherwise electronically identical machines and virtually transport identical machines except for the reel sizes that they accept.
If the tape is one quarter track stereo? It'll play on channels one and three. If the tape is half track mono? It'll play on tracks one & two. If the tape is half track stereo? It'll play on channels one and four.
If the tape is 3 3/4 IPS? And the machine only plays 7.5-15 IPS? You play it at 7.5 IPS and then slow it down in software. It won't be perfect. But you'll be able to further improve that within software. You'll have to equalize some high-end frequencies by boosting some. You'll have to do whatever to make it sound good. As a slower tape will have twice the high frequencies that the recorder, likely that the recorder can not reproduce properly, when played back at a faster speed. In other words, 10 kHz becomes 20 kHz and 20 kHz becomes 40 kHz. The tape recorder will barely be able to pass 20 kHz. So you'll lose the top octave between 10 and 20 kHz since it will be playing back at 20-40 kHz. And won't pass anything beyond 20 kHz.
If the tape is 15 IPS? And you only have a 7.5 IPS capable machine? You can double the speed in software. It won't be perfect but it will be recoverable and listenable. You'll lose no high frequencies with that scenario. But you might lose the lower octave frequencies between 20-40 Hz since the machine won't be able to pass much below 20 Hz. And at half speed, 20 Hz will be 10 Hz which it cannot reproduce. Which really shouldn't be much of a problem since there is no real information worth hearing down there anyhow. It's not uncommon in recording, to cut everything below 60 Hz. Which would make that 30 Hz that the machine could then pass.
I might also add that the possibility exists that if the tape was 1/4 track stereo? It may have also been recorded on both sides of the tape. What this means is that you will have material/tracks that will playback on all four channels. Channels one and three being forward. Channels two and four playing backwards.
If that's the case? You don't even need to turn the tape over to play side two forwards. You can merely reverse it in software.
In one particular instance, transferring analog tapes, backwards, actually improved the transient response playback of the recorder. As the sound will ramp up to the transient rather than trying to play the transient, forwards. In a time long ago, when one could actually purchase pre-recorded tapes on reel to reel. Those were all duplicated at high speeds, in reverse. So also were radio station commercials that were mass duplicated for distribution to many radio stations.
early 60's those tapes will be 7 1/2 ips. they might be mono or
early 60's those tapes will be 7 1/2 ips. they might be mono or they could be stereo. they might be half or quarter track but they will not be 8 track.