Retiring!

[docb]

Eileen and I will be retiring from the Tape Project in the new year. It's been an absolute gas pursuing this crazy ass idea with my brothers Paul and Romo. Before anyone starts ridiculous speculations I'll say right here that all is very well amongst the three of us, TP is in great shape with lots of albums in stock and a couple of very interesting new projects coming out very soon (one to be introduced at CES), and we wish the guys the very best as TP rolls forward.

Our decision came about from a couple of things -

One is that I felt my main job at Bottlehead was suffering a bit from my divided attention. I've had a few interesting product ideas that I have been wanting to pursue for several years now. The time never seemed to be there to get them done, and I really want to get some of them out next year. We'll be putting out our first speaker kit in 15 years in early 2017 and I am working on some studio oriented kit products as well. We have also experienced a rather startling discovery of Bottlehead by lots and lots of local audiophiles in the past 6 months (after 25 years in the business we became an overnight sensation) and we have been enjoying dedicating time to that local audience with regular audiophile meetings at Bottleheadquarters and frequent, pleasant client visits for auditions and tech support. We've also had great success with our yearly concerts with Jacqui Naylor and Art Khu and I have decided to try that type of intimate concert here with local artists on a regular basis in the new year. So there will be plenty to keep us busy in the future.

The other thing that has happened is Eileen and I actually took a real honest to god adventurous vacation last summer in the form of a trip to Bonneville land speed trials and some camping in some of Oregon's most remote areas. We realized we want to do a lot more of that and it means adjusting our life style from working every week of the year to a stop and smell the roses once in a while approach. And so I need to lighten the load a bit to be able to pursue a little more travel and some other passions.

Obviously I remain a staunch supporter of TP and the entire master quality reel to reel album industry that Paul, Romo and I created eleven years ago. And I will keep my hand in the equipment end of the business. There will be no shortage of tape decks in our listening room system. Thanks so much to everyone who has supported TP over the years. I know many of you have heard my stories of the incredulous looks we would get from people when we first proposed the idea back in 2006. I truly appreciate those of you who got past "you're crazy as f***" and gave us a chance to help people experience just how incredibly good music reproduction can be.

[xcortes]

Wow. 11 years! It was crazy then and still is.

You need to tell me about those places in Oregon. It seems that my San Jose del Cabo to Anchorage road trip will have to be driven in stages though. BTW, maybe I park my Defender a few months in the middle of the road. Does Bainbridge Island sounds right?

Abrazo bro

[astrotoy]

Dan, thanks to you and Eileen for all the work involved in TP.  At the recent RMAF show, Romo was on a panel on tape moderated by Myles Astor. The packed audience gave a great round of applause to Tape Project for getting this who mini industry started a decade ago. A great ride so far for TP and as the world of tape is expanding, the ride will continue, thanks to the big push that you, Paul and Romo gave it.

Larry

[docb]

Wow. 11 years! It was crazy then and still is.

You need to tell me about those places in Oregon. It seems that my San Jose del Cabo to Anchorage road trip will have to be driven in stages though. BTW, maybe I park my Defender a few months in the middle of the road. Does Bainbridge Island sounds right?

Abrazo bro

Sure, we have a massive driveway at my house, big enough for a semi trailer. Lots of extra parking spaces. I'll regale you with the latest stories of keeping my CRT projector running when you drop it off.

The places we went in Oregon were way over on the east side of the state. So they would make for a pretty big detour. But if you want to get away from the crowds and see some beautiful country not many people have seen, it's totally worth the drive. The night sky alone was worth the trip.

[xcortes]

Sounds like fun!

[docb]

Dan, thanks to you and Eileen for all the work involved in TP.  At the recent RMAF show, Romo was on a panel on tape moderated by Myles Astor. The packed audience gave a great round of applause to Tape Project for getting this who mini industry started a decade ago. A great ride so far for TP and as the world of tape is expanding, the ride will continue, thanks to the big push that you, Paul and Romo gave it.

Larry

Ah yes, I was on what I think was the first one of those panels that Myles did, a few years ago. It was great to see the enthusiasm of the attendees. I was also one of first two people to demo with tape at RMAF. The other guy was Ron Welborne, who had seen our tape demo at VSAC 2003. It was the very first one, in 2004. I had an Ampex 934 with a modified Seduction tape head preamp playing into our S.E.X. headphone amp, and a Nagra IV-S playing into the big headphone amp/preamp that is now Xavier's. Paul made up some demo reels for me (still have 'em, great stuff) and we pretty much blew everyone away with the sound. That was one of a couple of very positive experiences that led us to start the project. After we started the project we went back to RMAF a few times, and at least once we were playing our albums and playback electronics in a room that got best sound of the show.

[MylesAstor]

Dan, thanks to you and Eileen for all the work involved in TP.  At the recent RMAF show, Romo was on a panel on tape moderated by Myles Astor. The packed audience gave a great round of applause to Tape Project for getting this who mini industry started a decade ago. A great ride so far for TP and as the world of tape is expanding, the ride will continue, thanks to the big push that you, Paul and Romo gave it.

Larry

Ah yes, I was on what I think was the first one of those panels that Myles did, a few years ago. It was great to see the enthusiasm of the attendees. I was also one of first two people to demo with tape at RMAF. The other guy was Ron Welborne, who had seen our tape demo at VSAC 2003. It was the very first one, in 2004. I had an Ampex 934 with a modified Seduction tape head preamp playing into our S.E.X. headphone amp, and a Nagra IV-S playing into the big headphone amp/preamp that is now Xavier's. Paul made up some demo reels for me (still have 'em, great stuff) and we pretty much blew everyone away with the sound. That was one of a couple of very positive experiences that led us to start the project. After we started the project we went back to RMAF a few times, and at least once we were playing our albums and playback electronics in a room that got best sound of the show.

Yes Dan, you were on the first Axpona tape forum! :) With Greg, Ki, Charlie and Jonathan IIRC!

Sad to hear you are leaving but sure the TTP will continue on setting the standard for reel-to-reel tape! Plus you were a great resource on not just tape but hardware too.

[c1ferrari]

Dear Dan,

Congratulations to you, Paul, Romo, and your families for inspiring the analog, reel-to-reel, tape community.
Long live The Tape Project!

Happy Holidays,

Sam

[ironbut]

I join the rest of the posters in congratulating you guys for creating something of lasting importance!
And good on you for seeing the importance of enjoying life and doing the stuff that has to be experienced first hand to be appreciated.

Happy Holidays to the Schmalle clan and all my fellow TP fans!

[stellavox]

Boo Hoo - There goes the neighborhood!

Thanks for EVERYTHING you've done for us Doc!  We all can/should/deserve to move on.

However, aren't all the dupes made / packaged / shipped from your place?  If so, who will take that over? A move in the offing?

Best (especially of health) in your "retirement".  (BTW - will never forget your last VSAC)

Charles

Keep your heads clean and your tails out

[TomR]

When you guys started this, the LP revival was still in its infancy, and tape was something that I thought we would never see again.....little did we know that we would see multiple producers of tapes, with a wide variety of music, and multiple manufacturers of equipment by 2016.  The Tape Project was (and is) a game changer, and the three of you should be very proud of that.