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Author Topic: Collection of Tapes  (Read 17253 times)

Offline sandman

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Re: Collection of Tapes
« Reply #15 on: January 13, 2009, 11:57:09 AM »
hi all,  I just got back from CES, and was very pleased to see that there were quite a few people playing tape.  I also was able to go to the J-corder room which was interesting.  Some beatiful technics in there.  In regards to selling some of the 2 tracks, I actually may look at selling off some of my doubles, triples, etc.  I counted right at 600 Barclay Crocker recordings alone.  of which there are quite a few doubles.  I will start getting a list together.

Kris

Offline Ben

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Re: Collection of Tapes
« Reply #16 on: January 13, 2009, 12:11:23 PM »
I assume all BC tapes are Dolby.  If you have any non-encoded tapes I might
consider buying some too.
BTW while OT, does anybody know what Digital Dolby is? You see that everywhere
on dvd's and here I thought digital was the perfect medium for no noise.
 
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Offline steveidosound

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Re: Collection of Tapes
« Reply #17 on: January 13, 2009, 12:28:38 PM »
Dolby is a large company which has some of it's operations based in San Francisco. It is named after Ray Dolby (who I actually met once !)
They started off making various forms of noise reduction first for studios, then for consumer goods. Dolby A, B, C etc.
They have branched out into other areas.
Dolby Digital  AKA AC3 is a digital codec for the storage of  6 channels of audio that is commonly used for both theater sound and on home DVDs in the familiar 5.1 format. It is not a noise reduction system as such.
Steve Williams

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Offline Ben

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Re: Collection of Tapes
« Reply #18 on: January 13, 2009, 12:39:22 PM »
Grumbles ... I just want stereo for my TV and movies.
I really wonder how much sound quality is lost in digital processing
your sound for your home theatre speaker set up.
Set 45,Open baffle speakers,Otari 5050,,Pioneer DV-79AVi DVD/CD/SCAD player

Offline ironbut

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Re: Collection of Tapes
« Reply #19 on: January 13, 2009, 01:01:47 PM »
Regarding the Barclay-Crocker releases, they are all either Dolby B encoded or dBx encoded. The dBx ones were done fairly late in their catalog and were also released with Dolby. They never did release any non-encoded tapes. The other variables you'll find is a few were recorded digitally and while the early digital vinyl was just awful (like Denon PCM) these aren't that bad. Another format difference is that there's a handful of BCs that are unidirectional. That is, even though they're still 1/4 track tapes, they were recorded in one direction only (tails out).
These are recordings with unusually wide dynamics and they did these tapes this way to avoid crosstalk.
steve koto
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Offline reel zealot

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Re: Collection of Tapes
« Reply #20 on: January 13, 2009, 09:05:54 PM »
One correction to the last posting.  In the last couple years, B-C converted to dBx encoding at a time when they believed there still was a market.  The first release was a release of previously released Dolby B encoded tapes.  After that, their tapes were only done in dBx, not both.  You don't see these very often has only a few were released and they soon stopped production and closed.
A few tapes were done as a unidirectional tape, but these, too, were encoded and, not really a different format as they, too, were 4 track.
Glenn Yoritomo

Offline ironbut

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Re: Collection of Tapes
« Reply #21 on: January 14, 2009, 01:35:05 AM »
I didn't realize that they released dBx only recordings. Maybe just the last couple? I know of maybe 10 or so that I've got with Dolby B but for the most part, I pass over the dBx releases and I've never really kept up with them. I think that dBx was the last gasp of a few reel to reel efforts. I never liked the pumping (especially on headphones).
We do get a visit here from time to time from one of the guys that worked for them in their production facilities.
steve koto
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Offline Kenkirk

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Re: Collection of Tapes
« Reply #22 on: January 14, 2009, 08:31:16 AM »
There were 2 types of DBX if I recall correctly. DBX Pro which is what I have on my Tascam TSR 8 and my Teac X2000r does not suffer from the pumping sound. I prefer it over Dolby. The DBX consumer version was known for its pumping. I have never owned anything with the conusmer version of DBX, so I don't know how bad the pumping can be. But I hear it sucks.  I wonder which kind of DBX encoders were used on the BC tapes???

Ken
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Offline ironbut

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Re: Collection of Tapes
« Reply #23 on: January 14, 2009, 11:53:55 AM »
Hi Ken, if I recall correctly, it was the 122/124 consumer level ones so it wasn't the multi band ones like studios used (that minimized the pumping). I had a 122 back in the 70's when I had an A77 and although I never had any commercially produced dBx tapes, I used it for live recording and compilation tapes (from lp) and I gave up on it and converted my machine to 1/2 track (which was expensive even back then).
steve koto
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Offline reel zealot

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Re: Collection of Tapes
« Reply #24 on: January 14, 2009, 04:29:06 PM »
It was the dbx II.  I don't recall the pumping, but haven't listened to them in a while.  When I get a chance, I'll list the dbx only ones.  They were on the Philips, Quintessence and Pro Arte labels.  And, yes this was the last gas.  The only others I know that were done in dbx II were from Direct-to-Tape Recordings, who also dubed in 1:1 format, but I believe it was done on consumer recorders.
Glenn Yoritomo