What's Recording on R2R Today?

[vinyldavid]

I hardly ever see anyone make references to recording R2R, maybe they just are lurking in the shadows....


Anyway, here's what I recorded today:

On the reel side of things...

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Live on KFUO-FM

"Mozart’s Requiem"

- Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 8pm

Roberto Abbado, conductor
Celena Shafer, soprano
Marianna Pizzolato, mezzo-soprano
Alek Shrader, tenor
Luca Pisaroni, bass-baritone
Saint Louis Symphony Chorus
Amy Kaiser, director

HAYDN Symphony No. 103, "Drum Roll"
MOZART Requiem, K. 626

Unknown tape...it's not a 10.5" Scotch 177 as indicated by the box, and didn't sound that good at 7.5ips, so I cranked the deck up to 15 and it sounded fine...

Tascam 34B R2R (1/4tk stereo at 15ips)
Tascam M50 mixer
Kenwood KT-7500 tuner

The Handel recorded perfectly, but the Mozart ran too long for the reel...so I threaded up a 7" Scotch 175 on my Teac A-3340S (also wired to record), and set it goin at 15ips, during a break in the music. When I went to blank out the rest of the unknown reel, I had 10 seconds left of tape *eyepop*

Got lucky this time. The performances were wonderful, and the tuner did not drift one bit.

[Des-Lab]

It's been awhile since I've actually done any R2R recording. Probably a good three months. I'm basically out of stuff to record. So when I use it, it's mainly playback only. I need to find something to record though. Seems kind of a waste to have 80 miles of fresh tape stored in the closet. *reelspin**reelspin**lmao*

[vinyldavid]

It's been awhile since I've actually done any R2R recording. Probably a good three months. I'm basically out of stuff to record. So when I use it, it's mainly playback only. I need to find something to record though. Seems kind of a waste to have 80 miles of fresh tape stored in the closet. *reelspin**reelspin**lmao*

I've become just the opposite, I gots almost no tape and lotsa stuff to record...St. Louis has numerous live concerts and live radio performances that I listen to, and it would be nice to archive them...

[Des-Lab]

Lucky you. I think another side of it is that I'm spread pretty thin right now with a lot of things clamoring for my attention. So to find an hour or twelve where I can sit and take my time to put something together (and be in the mood to do it) is a synergy that just isn't happening right now. I do have a couple of mix tape projects in mind that I could do. I just haven't sat down and done them yet. I'm also itching to do something on the Tasc 32 on a roll of ATR tape that's just begging to be recorded. But what to put on it?

I hate it when I get creative block.

[DolbySProject]

Putting something on reel is much more difficult for me than putting something on cassette for two reasons: I only have a handful of blank reels compared to hundreds of blank cassettes and, in my humble view, reel to reel is "the grail". It has to be really excellent music for me to crack open an RMGI. I probably need counseling.

[Des-Lab]

I think I might start a new tape in the next day or two: A Stones compilation. I love listening to them but I don't have a tape filled with just the cuts of them that I like. Another I'd like to make is a mix of some Trance/Electronica. That's also been on the back burner for a long time. I could probably get by with those using a Maxell or Quantegy. But the nagging of what to put on that ATR tape using the Tasc 32. It's an interesting contrast of conflict here between myself and David: He's got too much material and not enough tape. I have too much tape and not enough material. And yeah. I feel the same way about cassettes. Those are easy. I got them coming out of my ears as well.

[Kent T]

I am recording some Classic Records 45 RPM sets today to my Otari at 7 1/2 IPS, 1/2 track using CCIR EQ and on RMGI PEM 468. Purpose is to preserve those records and reduce the amount of record changes. Des-Lab, how do you like that ATR tape? I may have to get a sample reel and try some.

[El Monte Slim]

It's been a while since I did any recording on any of my RTRs, except for some "test" recordings for my recently acquired units.

I do have a pretty good selection of RTR tapes that I recorded back in the 70's and I have been enjoying them very much.

I also have 50 10" reels of 1/2 track recordings that were produced by a Commercial Programming Service for Radio Station broadcast use. It ranges from "Oldies" to "Current Reels" from the 80's. Each reel has about 80 minutes of music on it, so that's 4000 minutes, or over 66 hours of music!

I also have the collection of 7" tapes (about 20) that came with the Teac A2300-SX that I bought via CL last year. Some pretty good music there too.

And then I recently have received a small collection of RTR tapes that were "rescued" from the trash by fellow member Flick. He was thoughtful enough to offer them to one of us Tapeheads just for the cost of shipping. I have been listening to some of them as well and so far I have found some well-recorded tapes of music from the 40's. I believe that the original taper put some of his music on tape for the convenience of extended listening. One of the tapes was clearly recorded on a mono RTR, and another one was recorded in stereo, even though the source material was mono.

I still haven't gotten my TTs set up yet, but once I do, that's when I will probably want to put some of that vinyl on reel, the stuff that came out before I started buying CDs and the odd vinyl LP that I have picked up since then.

TO ME, playing music that I recorded on RTR from my vinyl is the best of both worlds. You get that beautiful analog sound of vinyl without all the extra work of playing vinyl. And it sounds the same every time, with no additional wear to the vinyl and the convenience of a longer playing time.

Just one of the many reasons I love my RTRs! *reelspin**reelspin*

[Des-Lab]

The first roll of ATR tape I thought was pretty good. But I discovered about a year later that it was exhibiting symptoms of developing sticky shed. I sent the tape back to ATR where they claimed to have been unable to replicate my findings even though the tape they were supposedly testing was the one I had discovered it with. Anyway, I didn't feel like arguing the point and I know what I saw. A few weeks later, they sent me back replacements and I have to admit that it looks and sounds a whole lot better than the early batch did. So for now, I would have to say yes. Give the ATR a try.

[Kent T]

Des-Lab,

Thanks, will give ATR a try and report back regarding my experiences.

[Des-Lab]

You're welcome. Just FYI, you can read the string of postings and come to your own conclusions.

My ORIGINAL review (http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=1252)of ATR.

The follow up to where it didn't look good (http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=5520).

And the final follow up (http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=5717).