"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message
i.fi...


The 1950's were a very interesting time in tape recording.
I can remember a 76cms Magnetophon recorder on which the
erase head got so hot that it would burn a hole in the tape
when the transport was not moving, if you did not put a
match stick between.

Nothing beats a real "high tech" solution:-)

Was that one that had been "liberated" in 1945?

There were, by all acounts only four machines
liberated from DR (Deutsche Rundfunk) and these
came from Leipzig.

The machine I refer to was owned by a Dutch
film maker in London, who was a friend of my
father's. It fascinated me, and might have planted
the seeds for a career choice much later on.


Iain

In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:
The 1950's were a very interesting time in tape recording.
I can remember a 76cms Magnetophon recorder on which the
erase head got so hot that it would burn a hole in the tape
when the transport was not moving, if you did not put a
match stick between.

Surely the EMI BTR series were around by then - to all intents and
purposes a modern tape machine?

Was the BTR1 a predecessor to the TR90 ?

Yes - although its real successor was the BTR2 which looked very
different to the BTR1. Probably the definitive 1/4" tape machine design
ever for ergonomics if you had to edit, etc. Designed regardless of cost.

The TR90 was a two part device designed for bay mounting, although many
ended up in trolleys as a transportable design - or rather more
transportable than a BTR2. ;-)

I remember well the BTR2, and also the BTR4
which came out circa 1966 (whatever happened to the BTR3?)

Never saw any of the later ones. BBC TV moved on to Levers Rich after the
TR90 then Studer. BBC Radio bought loads of Philips - don't know the model
- which weren't much loved by the operators.


IIRC, the Magnetophon dates from the
early '40s - and was the basis for the EMI BTR1.

Yes. The Magnetophon was the machine that the Allies
brought back from Germany as part of the spoils of War.
It had baffled the Allies for some time that the Germans
were able to broadcast pre-recorded speeches by
Hitler from Berlin without give-away disc noise, and put them
out as supposedly live transmissions, when it was known for
certain that he was elsewhere.

Arthur Haddy stated that the Allies brought back four
Magnetophon machines, two of which went to what became
Ampex in the USA, one to EMI at Hayes, and one to Decca.

The only BTR1 I saw looked pretty similar to the Magnetophon including the
case decoration. But of course in EMI greens.

Nothing beats a real "high tech" solution:-)

I remember a cheap tape deck in the '50s that had no capstan - so the
tape speed varied with the amount on the reels. Disaster if you broke
the tape and had to junk some.

Wonderful!

Iain

--
*Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

David Looser wrote:

few studios still offer analogue recording to those clients who like
distortion, but it is a kind of technological ludditeism.

On Jan 11, 7:58 am, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Perhaps, but it still sounds good, it's still billable, and there are still
plenty of customers demanding it. Equipment and media production have
dropped down to stable levels to support the low but constant demand of
the market. I don't see it expanding, but I don't see it going away either.

I spent some time at CES yesterday chatting with Jeff Jacobs of J-
Corder. He rebuilds and resells the Technics 1500 series recorders,
including updating the electronics for lower noise, more headroom, and
bias and EQ to accommodate modern tapes.. Most of his customers are
high end audio addicts who don't record on them, but some have been
sold to studios and mastering houses. He chose to specialize in this
particular model and a better-than-new one goes in the $4500-5500
ballpark depending on the model, accessories, and finish.

That's more than a thrift shop Sony or an eBay AG-440, but consistent
with how Mike Spitz of ATR Service prices the rebuilt ATR-100s that he
sells (or charges for rebuilding one that you own).

People are indeed buying them. Not as many as are buying pocket sized
flash memory card recorders for sure, but then they're being used for
different purposes.

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
...


I spent some time at CES yesterday chatting with Jeff Jacobs of J-
Corder. He rebuilds and resells the Technics 1500 series recorders,
including updating the electronics for lower noise, more headroom, and
bias and EQ to accommodate modern tapes.. Most of his customers are
high end audio addicts who don't record on them, but some have been
sold to studios and mastering houses. He chose to specialize in this
particular model and a better-than-new one goes in the $4500-5500
ballpark depending on the model, accessories, and finish.

That's more than a thrift shop Sony or an eBay AG-440, but consistent
with how Mike Spitz of ATR Service prices the rebuilt ATR-100s that he
sells (or charges for rebuilding one that you own).

People are indeed buying them. Not as many as are buying pocket sized
flash memory card recorders for sure, but then they're being used for
different purposes.


My comments had referred to the professional, rather than the domestic
market. Whilst it seems bizarre to me to pay $5000 for a tape machine when a
CD player at a fraction of the price sounds better and gives access to a far
wider range of recorded material, I do know that audiophiles have their own
logic. The Technics looks a lot prettier for starters, and that is very
important in the audiophile market.

David.

"Iain Churches" wrote in message
i.fi...

The tape machines were Philips Pro 50s

I liked those. We had several in mixdown and copying
facilities.


Ampex AG440s, both using Scotch 206.

Did you likethe AG440? Compared with Studer they
were pretty flaky IMO. When I moved to RCA we
had an Ampex multitrack. On a big (expensive) session,
we used to insist that a maintenance engineer with hot
soldering iron and a box of spare cards, sat besides the
machine for the whole session.

Happy days....

Indeed. Flying by the seat of one's pants!
It was fun!.

I also preferred the Philips to the Ampex machines. I don't think there was
much difference in performance, but the Philips were nicer to work on. A few
years later I went to work for Ampex, at the time that the ATR100 came out.
That was pretty impressive as a transport, excellent tape handling. I also
recall a couple of years before the ATR100, at Rediffusion we bought a
transport mechanism from an American company that was capstan-free.
Microconic, Miniconic, Microsonic or something like that. We wanted to make
it into a test-tape manufacturing deck, so it had to be very good. Very
impressive machine, but I don't think anything ever came of it.

S.
--
http://audiopages.googlepages.com

"Serge Auckland" wrote in message
...

"Iain Churches" wrote in message
i.fi...

The tape machines were Philips Pro 50s

I liked those. We had several in mixdown and copying
facilities.


Ampex AG440s, both using Scotch 206.

Did you likethe AG440? Compared with Studer they
were pretty flaky IMO. When I moved to RCA we
had an Ampex multitrack. On a big (expensive) session,
we used to insist that a maintenance engineer with hot
soldering iron and a box of spare cards, sat besides the
machine for the whole session.

Happy days....

Indeed. Flying by the seat of one's pants!
It was fun!.

I also preferred the Philips to the Ampex machines. I don't think there
was much difference in performance, but the Philips were nicer to work on.

And much more reliable:-)

A few years later I went to work for Ampex, at the time that the ATR100
came out. That was pretty impressive as a transport, excellent tape
handling.

When I was still a teenager; I was the proud owner
of an Ampex 351 in a broadcast console. My elder
brother was a freelance producer and been working
on a series of records at a studio which was having a
clear-out. I got the Ampex for a fiver, with a remote,
a huge box of spares and about a dozen NAB reels of
tape.

Iain

D.M. Procida wrote:

Wasn't there a thing in the fifties called "GramDek" or something like that
which you put on the turntable of your Dansette to convert it to a tape
deck?

Gramdeck - I'm sure I saw one on eBay recently.

Here's one:

http://search.ebay.co.uk/320332604819

Very cunning.

Daniele
--
Your chance to own a nearly immaculate BMW C1 (Cardiff, UK)
http://search.ebay.co.uk/220341650190

"Paul Stamler" wrote in message
...
"David Looser" wrote in message
...

"Paul Stamler" wrote in message
...
"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Paul Stamler" wrote in message
...

Burstein's book is indeed useful; in fact, I hand out bits of it to my
analog recording classes. But it suffers from a couple of problems.


Do you do classes in acoustical recording as well?

Yes.

Why? who does acoustical recording these days?

The Edison National Historic Site, for one.

We study the technical aspects of acoustical recording, not because any of
the students expect to do it, but because it helps place into perspective
the technical, and social, and economic, and musical issues which have
shaped recording and the recording industry.

Excellent, Paul.

As as student, I was always fascinated by early jazz recording, and
was lucky enough to get a job as a trainee in a record company in the
UK which had been around since the late 20s, and still had access to
an acoustical recording machine, and also to people who had
been recording in that era, and knew all about "shaving waxes" etc.

As a study project, we set up a session with a small ensemble having
the same line-up that Duke Ellington used at that time. I had come across
some "technical notes" written by the engineer at Okeh Records who
had recorded much of Ellington's early material. He even talked about
the piece of angora wool which he used to insert into the horn as an
attenuator. He called it a "pad" a term we use (in a slightly different
context) to this very day!

The analog recording class is an entirely different story. Our students
learn the technical and practical aspects of analog recording because it's
still being done, particularly at the higher ends of the food chain, and a
student who knows not only how to use an analog recorder but also how to
calibrate it properly has a leg up in getting a job in the industry.


There is still demand for analogue multitrack, and companies that
have machines such as the Studer A80/24 with Dolby SR can earn
a handsome rental fee. Many bands want the analogue sound, and
choose to record multitrack, and then have the material transferred
to a DAW for editiing and mixing.

Also, many CD mastering facilities have a stereo analogue master
machine which can be included in the chain, at the request of the
client.

Best regards
Iain

In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:
There is still demand for analogue multitrack, and companies that
have machines such as the Studer A80/24 with Dolby SR can earn
a handsome rental fee. Many bands want the analogue sound, and
choose to record multitrack, and then have the material transferred
to a DAW for editiing and mixing.

Also, many CD mastering facilities have a stereo analogue master
machine which can be included in the chain, at the request of the
client.

I'd have thought it pretty easy these days to provide a digital 'filter'
that gave the analogue tape sound. Although I'd guess that's not the
'magic' those who still use such machines are looking for.

--
*A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article , Dave Plowman (News)
scribeth thus
In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:
There is still demand for analogue multitrack, and companies that
have machines such as the Studer A80/24 with Dolby SR can earn
a handsome rental fee. Many bands want the analogue sound, and
choose to record multitrack, and then have the material transferred
to a DAW for editiing and mixing.

Also, many CD mastering facilities have a stereo analogue master
machine which can be included in the chain, at the request of the
client.

I'd have thought it pretty easy these days to provide a digital 'filter'
that gave the analogue tape sound. Although I'd guess that's not the
'magic' those who still use such machines are looking for.


I've just sort of inherited some CD's that are of quite old recordings
and I'm impressed that some of them sound .. well they don't have that
modern sound on them .. a sort of -vague- harshness..

I'll trade a slight amount of tape hiss for the lack of that!..

There're fine otherwise, top 'n bottom end is there alright!.

And very transparent too, not veiled just very -real- for want of a
better word.
--
Tony Sayer