lek wrote on Wed, 11 January 2006 18:43 |
Some other thoughts after 1 day of playing this machine - I assume it's normal for the tape, at various parts, to be sticking out horizontally (as opposed to the perfect flatness of new tape) - and I assume this is why we store it vertically?
- am I to completely cut off the beginning of the tape where the paper/serial code is - will this cause any problems as tape winds over it (it got a little crumpled, and seems thicker than the actual tape?) - I do hear hiss, and I remember Mr. Katz recommended using dolby sr at 15ips, is this still sold anywhere? I have heard however that some people don't like what dolby does to the top end
- overall, sounds great
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Its happily dawned on me we are probably seeing someone moving from digital to analog recording and is dealing with those issues instead of how many of us older folks moved from analog to digital, with all the issues of thereof - anyway, its funny (in a good way) contemplating making this 'reverse' journey and imagining what that must be like...
Recording tails out is mainly for the issue of print through (more a long term storage thing) where its less noticable on a tails out tape as the 'echo' is coming <after> the events as opposed to before,
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Print-through
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Print-through (sometimes referred to as bleed-through) is a generally undesirable effect that arises in the use of magnetic tape for storing analogue information, in particular music.
The close proximity of layers of tape on the spools of a cassette or reel to reel tape causes a weak imprint of magnetic information to be transferred to adjacent layers, effectively shifting a copy of the signal backwards and forwards along the tape. This can sometimes be heard as pre- or post-echo. Thinner tapes are more prone to the effect than thicker tapes, and tapes held in storage for a long period or exposed to a weak magnetic field can show pronounced print-through. Digital tapes are not affected in the same manner as the imprint is generally too weak to change the state of bits recorded on adjacent layers of the tape.
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If you let it play out to the end you get a more even pack, personally I just FF, but for long term storage I should really be letting it play out to the end but so much to do so little time..
I think all machines will have some uneveness in the tape pack which is why you want to store vertical.
The only machine I ever saw that had a perfect even pack, even with FF was an old tube Studer J37 'Beatles' style 2 trk, that was pretty neat to see...
Hiss - welcome to the World of analog
I view that as part of the sonic glue which holds things together..
You could try recording at a hotter level,
Hotter level = less hiss
Lower level = more hiss
Thats when you get into the art of analog tape eg: how hard to hit the tape,
its like a rubber band...
Personally I don't hit the levels too hard, but not too quiet either.
If the hiss issue becomes a problem you could always try NR but that can effect the sound so its a tradeoff..
Good luck!
RM