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Author Topic: A story & a question for Marie  (Read 6042 times)

Offline ironbut

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A story & a question for Marie
« on: August 14, 2008, 11:14:21 PM »
A couple of months ago a posting over on the Tape Trail (audio asylum) from a local fellow that I'd have to call the "King" of the tape dumpster divers ( he repeatedly makes incredible reel to reel finds,.. how about a working Ampex 351 if he could haul it off that day!). He said that the local recycling center had some tapes with Fantasy Records labels on them. Unfortunately before any of us could strike (except for his snagging a couple of dat tapes of music he loves) they disappeared as if they'd never been there. I stumbled across the guy that got them somehow and was selling them on eBay. CV emailed me about them and mentioned that he might bid on some of the Country Joe tapes so I thought I'd just let him give 'em a try. The next week there were a couple more tapes and I spotted one that I thought I'd take a chance on. Now the listing didn't have much info about these tapes except titles and format. The one I bid on was a 30 ips, 1/2 inch tape of two Dexter Gordon cuts. It turned out that I was the only one that bid on it so I got it for $20. I was pretty excited about it. When I got it, the only info was that it was #3 of a set of 3 and the titles included. When I looked at the reel, it was like one of those Hitchcock scenes when the camera zooms in and out. All I could see was those numbers,.. 456! Ampex 456, the very womb of sticky shed.
I few weeks passed without much thought about the tape. I found a couple of other items that I wanted from the same seller (who has some pretty rare items sometimes) and bought some classical lps and "Word Jazz" by Ken Nordine .
Then today, I decided to do a little research on the tape. I looked up the titles, "Lovely Lisa" and "Affair in Havana". It took a while because you can-not be-lieve how many releases Dex was on or led. Well, I found out that they're from an album called " The Resurgence of Dexter Gordon" and was his first after an extended gig with the Dept of Corrections. It was recorded in L.A. on Oct 13 1960,..1960? My heart leapt. Ampex didn't make 456 in 1960! "Maybe it's just the reel!" But then I thought about it. Hell, 1960,.. It would be on acetate and mono. And if it was mono, what's it doing on 1/2 inch? Then I started to wonder, " Why would Fantasy make a large format copy of one of Gordon's less sought after releases? Original Jazz Classics that's why. Fantasy started that reissue series in the early 80's and that's when 456 was all the rage. So I looked up "Resurgence,.." on the web and sure enough, they did do a CD version. So, from what I can guess, what I've got (and more than likely what the other tapes that found their way to eBay) are duplication masters that were slated to find their way onto a digital transfer (that I believe were remastered) that would give birth to stampers for OJC cd's.
So Marie, (if you can stop laughing long enough at my ham handed detective work), is there a way to tell by examining a tape if it is likely to have SSS? I'd love to hear what the sound quality is like on this tape but not at the expense of sending the r2r owner out to pick up the CostCo sized can of naptha.
steve koto
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Offline Marie

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Re: A story & a question for Marie
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2008, 03:06:07 PM »
Great detective work there Steve!  I felt myself cringe when I read Ampex 456!  That tape stock, along with Agfa PEM 469 and Pyral give me an instant sinking feeling, but I do like the challenge of being able to not let them get the better of me ;-)  I would carefully unravel it a few rounds to see if you can see/feel any hint of SSS.  I have more often found that the real trouble starts further in and especially near the hub.  If it feels sticky right from the get go, then you ARE in for some trouble!  Do you have an oven or dehydrator?  Another thing to try on a non-favourite machine is to cover the heads with pellon and run the tape through for a bit at 3 3/4ips or 7 1/2ips (if that is your lowest speed).  Let it run for a few minutes and then stop to have a look at the crud on the pellon.  Depending on how bad it is make your decision to carry on or to stop and bake the tape.  I have had some 456 that has virtually not shed at all and was just a regular 'happy' transfer - this is generally not the norm!  Does the tape itself also have a kind of greasy look to it?  Sometimes I find that to be a good indictor too.  If when you hand unravel some of it and it appears to be 'peeling' itself off the backing layer, then ...........take a deep breath, bite the bullet and give it a shot!

Good luck! 
Marie
Marie O'Connell
Analogue Tape Specialist
Sound Archives/Nga Taonga Korero
Radio New Zealand House, Level 1
51 Chester Street West
Christchurch

Offline ironbut

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Re: A story & a question for Marie
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2008, 09:14:53 PM »
Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a good exam this weekend. I guess on thing that this tape has going for it though is that it was stored by folks who should know how to properly preserve these things.
So speaking of the vaults over at Fantasy Records, here's another one of my home spun theories that I told CV in an email about these tapes (this should give Paul a chance to yuk it up a little).
The reason for thinning the herd over at Fantasy part one;
I would imagine that after Concord bought Fantasy Records that a thorough inventory of assets must have been done. I imagine it would take quite a while to put a dollar figure on something like the original masters of some of the worlds most revered recordings. Concord seems like a pretty slick operation while in contrast, Fantasy always seemed more like an old school company. I would think that the bean counters at Concord would look at Fantasies tape files and consider consolidating them with their other holdings in So. Cal.. Then, the fire at Universal Studios happened and it must've resulted in a huge shake up in the entertainment industry down there. I can see the letters from the guys that insure artistic properties slipping into the mailboxes of every collection that's worth anything.
So my theory, and the theory which is mine, is that the vaults are heading south and whatever isn't deemed unique is heading to eBay (through one route or another).
steve koto
 Sony scd 777es(R. Kern mods)> Vpi Aires>Dynavector XX-2mkll>Bent mu>CAT ultimate>CJ premeir 140>Magnepan 1.6qr(Jensen xover)Headphone Eddie Current Zana Deux>AT ad2000,HD800 ,Metric Halo ULN-2 (battery powered),
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