Re: [ARSCLIST] 1/4" tape player

[Scott Phillips <scottp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

OK, I see now. That doesn't really limit it much unless all the tapes
are like that. It is quarter track stereo or half track mono for sure,
so if you are only doing this group of tapes then the Technics or an
Otari MX5050 will fill the bill, since they can switch between these two
formats with just a switch on the machine. As I recall, the MX5050 1/4"
machine was record/play half track stereo, and play only 1/4" quarter
track stereo. Those are likely the easiest ways to do it. If you plan on
making a habit of processing tapes like these, then I encourage you to
seek out a full pro machine that meets your needs. 

Scott

-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of D P Ingram
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 11:00 AM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] 1/4" tape player

No, I'm not responsible for these tapes. I wish I had my "child hood"  
tapes but I suspect they went somewhere when I was younger :(

I will also examine the option DL made in his subsequent mail.  I have
already a tape recorder (cannot remember the name at hand) and when you
play some of the tapes you can hear one track on the left channel and on
the right channel (as output to the mixer) it sounds like something
playing backwards. And that was a commercial tape !

Have a good weekend, thanks Darren
On 28 dec 2007, at 18.22, Scott Phillips wrote:

> That limits this some. So you turned the tape over to record the 
> second side, correct?
>
> Were they momo or stereo? If they were mono, then it is likely you 
> need a machine with 1/4" 'half track' heads. If it was stereo, then it

> would be 1/4" 'quarter track' heads....
>
> Scott
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List 
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of D P Ingram
> Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 9:23 AM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] 1/4" tape player
>
> On 24 dec 2007, at 22.09, Cary Ginell wrote:
>
> Thanks all for the various replies that came over the holidays. I had 
> not thought to post a lot of information since it was probably 
> tangential to the list :)
>
> The primary aim is to go through several hundred old tape reels 
> (including, I guess, many "home audio" recordings to save any 
> interesting fragments for the future. So the odd (what's the
> translation) multi track format where you could double up the tape to 
> save tape (I remember doing that in the 70s anyway with the family set

> we had at home whilst recording pop music).  Good output and 
> reliability. The reason for the trolley is that the studio is quite 
> full already and not a lot of space for a large bookshelf unit and the

> trolley would be good to move out as required into store rather than 
> me doing even more back injuries and problems than before :)
>
> Plus, since I am in Europe, I didn't feel it helpful asking for so 
> detailed information in case models were US only (110v) or people 
> would go to trouble of saying "try XYZ in Washington, DC" and the like

> as I am sure the freight would be expensive !
>
> But thanks for the good tips so far :) Cheers, Darren