What's your recording source?

[Eldorado]

There was one thing I've been wondering. It's easy to find people's opinions on the limitations of the various pre-recorded formats available to us. CD, vinyl, SACD, DVD-audio, etc. So for those who use their open reel decks for listening to music, what is your preferred source for recording to blank tape, and, leaving aside relative availability, why ?

[Acoustic]

Mine is taping from FM. Only clean signal non compressed stations. So that means mainly from NPR. I listen to mainly mainstream jazz at home and make tapes that with auto reverse last 3 hours (3600ft @ 7 1/2ips both sides). I feel I have a better than average tuner in my Yamaha CT-800.. wish I had an outdoor antenna but I can't where I live so a dipole does the trick. I was getting very satisfying recordings but did experiment with dbx Type II NR. It won me over on both R2R and cassette. I now have dbx on both systems and the second unit I got has there first gen Dynamic Range Expander... which really works at all volumes but shines on low volume late night listening.
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[niklasthedolphin]

I mainly record borrowed LP's of heavy vinyl or other unik qualities making the LP sounding better than average.

But I also did some masterrecordings out there in the real (reel) world when ever I had the chance to make agreements with bands of taping their live event.
It all started in the late 70's early 80's when I did live and studio mastering for a broadcasting station.

When one of the few remaining radio broadcasting stations with respect for the sound quality have some of my favourite music on the air in live quality, my R2R also comes in action.

I consider the quality of the source media every time I'm about to do a recording and my conclusion will then be:


the best gets on Lyrec R2R 15ips
second best on 7,5ips R2R (I hardly ever use 3,75 ips)
third will be Metal tape on Tandberg TCD 910 cassette
fourth will get Chrome tape on Tandberg TCD 910
fifth will be on digital 24/96
sixth will get some random tape on Revox B710 cassette or TCD 440A
seventh will be on CD
eigth best will be on some compressed digital format and stay on the PC
ninth will be dumped


The best in quality are those maybe 20-25% of the master tapes when the stage set-up succeed.
That will usualy be jazz or classical genres.
Somehow modern playing musicians don't quite have the same flair of making stage set-ups and I rarely interfeer in that.
These agreements with musicians and bands are not aiming at comercial releases hence will only be for my private use, which is why I have to promise or sign documents every time not to pass the material on in any way.

"dolph"

[TheReeler]

My recording source is any... where the music is: vinyl, CD, SA-CD, DVD, FM, MP3, Apple LS format...

[Eldorado]

Great answers. It's very interesting to read those. I think my main source is likely to be CD, though I'd prefer to do SACD and DVD audio where possible. I'll probably also back up all my 200g and 180g vinyl - I don't have more than a few dozen as yet, so it won't be too much of a challenge.

[gamve]

Great answers. It's very interesting to read those. I think my main source is likely to be CD, though I'd prefer to do SACD and DVD audio where possible. I'll probably also back up all my 200g and 180g vinyl - I don't have more than a few dozen as yet, so it won't be too much of a challenge.

Beg Borrow or steal some more vinyl. I am probably missing something here, but why would you want to tape CD's apart from not having your own copy of the CD? I think I saw somewhere on the site that a tape from a CD gets rid of some of the digital harshness. I have probably answered my own question here. If there is some other reason please fill me in.

[utahusker]

Pretty much entirely vinyl, with an occasional cd, but very seldom.

[Acoustic]

I consider the quality of the source media every time I'm about to do a recording and my conclusion will then be:


the best gets on Lyrec R2R 15ips
second best on 7,5ips R2R (I hardly ever use 3,75 ips)
third will be Metal tape on Tandberg TCD 910 cassette
fourth will get Chrome tape on Tandberg TCD 910
fifth will be on digital 24/96
sixth will get some random tape on Revox B710 cassette or TCD 440A
seventh will be on CD
eigth best will be on some compressed digital format and stay on the PC
ninth will be dumped


"dolph"

Excellent list.:-)<- Your experience and expertise is appreciated!!

[Eldorado]

Beg Borrow or steal some more vinyl. I am probably missing something here, but why would you want to tape CD's apart from not having your own copy of the CD? I think I saw somewhere on the site that a tape from a CD gets rid of some of the digital harshness. I have probably answered my own question here. If there is some other reason please fill me in.

One reason, as you say, would be because of not owning the CD. Some of my friends have much larger collections than me - I'm at around 1000 accumulated over 20 years, but no longer have the budget to buy as frequently as I'd like. I can also rent CDs here.

A second reason would be the pure pleasure of recording to and listening to tape - and using the decks. So for that, it doesn't bother me that I already own the CD. Especially for some artists, where it just seems right to have it in a bunch of different formats - Bob Dylan and Neil Young come to mind. Don't ask me to explain that, because I can't.

A third reason is time. I believe 2 and 3 hour tapes are possible, depending on tape length and recording speed. I guess CDs longer than 80 mins are possible too, but I stay away from mp3 myself - as far as possible, even on my PC.

A fourth reason is bootlegs. I've spent the last few years getting hold of hundreds of these (from free-sharing download sites like Trader's Den. I guess these are the Web-based evolution of the old tape trading networks). Sorting out the best of the best of what I have so far (all on CD), I think it would be nice to honour the tradition that made them possible by returning some of them to reel-to-reel tape.

I certainly will continue to pick up more vinyl. I've got a couple of hundred now, but the 180 and 200g is just a small proportion of it - things I have bought new. Most though not all of the rest is secondhand stuff in varying, generally good, condition. I buy new records mostly online, and secondhand whenever I get the chance to hit the shops in Tokyo (not often enough.)

[Rat44]

I have always taped an LP the first time I play it .
I put the LP away and listen to the cassette for daily use.
When the tape wears out I just record a new copy.
As gamve mentioned a tape of a CD can tone down the sound from a bad CD and make it listenable.
A good tape on a good machine is very close to the vinyl version , at least to me.
And I still have a pristine LP to go back to.
Works for me.

[gamve]

I have always taped an LP the first time I play it .
I put the LP away and listen to the cassette for daily use.
When the tape wears out I just record a new copy.
As gamve mentioned a tape of a CD can tone down the sound from a bad CD and make it listenable.
A good tape on a good machine is very close to the vinyl version , at least to me.
And I still have a pristine LP to go back to.
Works for me.

Eldarado, I se where you are coming from and understand better why you do what you do so to speak.

"I put the LP away and listen to the cassette for daily use". This was allways my method many years ago. But being the dumb ol bugger I am, I had forgotten just how good the tapes could be. I am now back into it in a fury. All my mates think I'm mad getting back into tape, but most of em have not heard the results yet ....

[niklasthedolphin]

Excellent list.:-)<- Your experience and expertise is appreciated!!

Well, thaks a lot mate.
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Everybody here is equal part of the holistic experience and knowledge of our common interest in music, hifi and taping.
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Kindly

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"dolph"