[ARSCLIST]

[Aaron Luis Levinson <aaron.levinson@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Steve-
This was common practice by poor but inventive recordists of the time.
If I am not mistaken, which
is always a distinct possibility, you need the Sony F-1 converter. This
allowed users to take advantage
of the helical scan recording system by using a slightly weird, stand
alone converter box. I was never
able to afford one when they were being used but I would be shocked if
you couldn't pick one up
from the redoubtable eBay for a few hundred bucks these days; the last
time I checked which was
10 years ago, they were selling used for $800. Unless there is a rabid
A to D converter cult surrounding this
device, which I highly doubt, they should still be floating around in
cyberspace in sufficient numbers
that you should be able to track one down.

The other more distant possibilty, though still worth checking is
whether the tapes were made simply
using the stereo inputs on a digital VCR; some high-end VCR's at that
time had separate audio inputs
with potentiometers and VU meters. Some bands/recordists used them as
field recorders and primitive mastering
devices for their home mixdown sessions. My own art-funk band in 1989,
the beloved Gutbucket, used a digital VCR for those express purposes.
It was much better than a cassette and far cheaper than a Sony 3500 DAT
or Otari 1/2 inch deck both of which were the
same price as a Datsun at that time. Ahh, those were the (penurious)
days...

cheers,
aa