"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:
Did you really have many problems with dropouts?

Not often. But still one had to listen for them. We had
a third party client who used a British tape (Ilford Zonal)
which was not as good as BASF, Agfa or Ampex.
Copies were often going to overseas agents who
used them to cut disc masters so they had to be pristine.

The answer then is to use decent tape and cut down on the labour involved
in checking copies.

No. The answer is to do it properly. And that's what we did:-)
Every single copy was monitored, and the op (not his/her trainee)
had to sign a QC card which went into the tape box.

You cannot dictate to a customer what tape he uses
for his masters. Some of the material we handled was
from the very early fifties. Ilford was OK from new,
but did not age well. We did not see much of it.
It may also be that the material was not stored in
optimum conditions, and early editing tape oozed
adhesive

We had an excellent score library, and, if you were
doing classical copying, you could order up miniature
scores for the music you would be copying the next
day and these would be waiting in the progress room
for you first thing in the morning. So you spent the first
stage of your recording career listening to masters of
world-class classical recordings on excellent equipment, l
istening to/reading/learning the classical repertoire, and
soaking up the sound. It was amazing!

BTW, if this client master on Zonal had dropouts, just what did your
trainee do about it? (Rubbish snipped)

Every trainee worked with an experienced op who was
ultimately responsible for the material copied in his/her room.
There was also a dept supervisor who moved from room to
room during the day. It was amazingly well organised, and no
doubt very profitable:-)

If there was an anomaly, the progress room manager
was informed. He tried to get another copy, perhaps
from a B master if one was available. Otherwise, the
client would listen to and sanction the copy.
That was standard routine everywhere.

Iain

In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:
The answer then is to use decent tape and cut down on the labour
involved in checking copies.

No. The answer is to do it properly. And that's what we did:-)
Every single copy was monitored, and the op (not his/her trainee)
had to sign a QC card which went into the tape box.

Which in your rarefied world would mean every single commercial recording
was perfect in every way. ;-)

--
*Save the whale - I'll have it for my supper*

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

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:
The answer then is to use decent tape and cut down on the labour
involved in checking copies.

No. The answer is to do it properly. And that's what we did:-)
Every single copy was monitored, and the op (not his/her trainee)
had to sign a QC card which went into the tape box.

Which in your rarefied world would mean every single commercial recording
was perfect in every way. ;-)

What a strange assumption!

It simply means that the copy was a close as
technically possible to the original. Tape duplication
was an important part of studio activity. We had
ten rooms.

It was also a useful place for trainees to learn about
SATs, tape machine alignment, setting the phase
(with the goniometer of course:-) and Dolby
set up. Every master had an "aligngment run" at the
start. Track ID, then 1kHz (level). 15kHz for
azimuth (goniometer:-)). Then bands from 10kH
down to 50Hz for setup, top, mid and lf.

The op recorded a similar set of tones at the head of the
copy tape, using the built-in generator in the console.
That was standard practice in every major record company
in the UK, and so can hardly be described as rarefied.

Iain

In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:
It simply means that the copy was a close as
technically possible to the original. Tape duplication
was an important part of studio activity. We had
ten rooms.

Where was 'we', Iain?

--
*Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film *

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

In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:
BTW, if this client master on Zonal had dropouts, just what did your
trainee do about it? (Rubbish snipped)

Every trainee worked with an experienced op who was
ultimately responsible for the material copied in his/her room.
There was also a dept supervisor who moved from room to
room during the day. It was amazingly well organised, and no
doubt very profitable:-)

Right. So to copy any tape required a trainee, an experience 'op' and a
supervisor. Does this facility still exist? ;-)

Interesting you found my question about what you would do if there was
dropout on the master tape rubbish.

Perhaps you'd have to go to the CEO for that?

--
*I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

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

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Iain Churches wrote:
BTW, if this client master on Zonal had dropouts, just what did your
trainee do about it? (Rubbish snipped)

Every trainee worked with an experienced op who was
ultimately responsible for the material copied in his/her room.
There was also a dept supervisor who moved from room to
room during the day. It was amazingly well organised, and no
doubt very profitable:-)

Right. So to copy any tape required a trainee, an experience 'op' and a
supervisor.

Each room has its own permanent op, and trainees who were
"passing through", learning tape copy, disc cutting, editing etc before
starting as assistants in the studios. These were very important training
grounds in which budding recording engineers could learn the essential
basic skills of their craft.

Interesting you found my question about what you would do if there was
dropout on the master tape rubbish.

I answered in full your question about dropouts.
It was your comment about demanding a new recording that was
rubbish.

Iain