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Re: [ARSCLIST] PreRecorded Tape Duplicators
Early on in the 2-track days, there was a brief format war between
Magnecord's staggered tracks and Ampex's stacked tracks. Ampex used
its market-share muscle to quickly kill the staggered format, and
Ampex personnel argued vehemently for a standard format in several
industry publications and meetings of the time. I have a few
staggered-format tapes. As long as the tape itself isn't too
warped/shrunken, I've had good success fixing the staggering in
Soundforge, and ending up with a properly-phased stereo image. In
some cases, adjustment was required every 10 minutes or so, but that
was with somewhat warped tapes.
-- Tom Fine
carlstephen koto wrote:
I do have a few staggered heads, 1/2 tracks (The Atlantic) and I'll do
as you suggested and transfer them in my editing software.
Steve Koto
If you have an Otari it is easier than that. On probably all but the
later Mark IV versions (but maybe even on them) the record and play
heads are the proper distance apart (I think it is 1 1/8 inch.) So all
you have to do is put the back track in Sel-Rep and the other track in
Repro and the tracks are in sync. Of course if the tape has stretched
or shrunk it will need further adjustment. That is the reason why the
staggered-head system was rejected by most in the first place!
In the US, I think Ampex owned the "plug and play" duplication
market into the 60's.
Actually the proper phrase from the pre-computer day is "Turn-key". All
the client has to do is turn the key to open his door and all the
equipment has been installed ready to use.
It should also be added to this history that there were some monaural
pre-recorded tapes sold going back to 1951 and possibly even earlier.
RCA Victor had a series of mono pre-recorded tapes that pre-date and
continued to run parallel to their stereo tapes. (I have their first
mono tape and it has a printed leader.) They did not fall into the
trap of making the same recording available in both mono and stereo
tape. If it had been mastered in mono, it was sold in mono. If it had
been mastered in stereo, it was sold in stereo. And there are several
things that were on stereo tape that never made it to stereo LP.
Mike Biel mbiel@xxxxxxxxx