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Author Topic: Stereotape history  (Read 24554 times)

Offline reel zealot

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Stereotape history
« on: January 25, 2009, 08:57:25 PM »
Someone asked if I knew of any documentation on the web about Stereoptape, but I haven?t seen much. So I wrote a brief history.  Please send me any comments, corrections, additions, or questions.

Stereotape started as Bell & Howell Magnetic tape division and manufactured and distributed the WB/Reprise/Elektra, Decca US, United Artists, and others  in the late 60s/early 70s. In 1971-72, they changed their name to Magtec (don?t know if they were sold or just a name change).  They continued to use up old tape boxes and reel labels. Reels style varied widely, but were almost always black as I recall. 

Around 1972-73, they changed their name to Stereotape, division of Magtec.  By this time, they also contracts with Polydor (DDG, ECM, Verve) and RCA.  Again using up old stocks of labels, etc.  However, sometimes they put a label over the old back stripe which identified the tape manufacturer, i.e. below the reproduced lp graphics. Around late 74/1975, they changed their focus, realizing the consumer reel to reel market was getting more and more an audiophile market.  In 1975, they released many discrete quadraphonic tapes, both popular on  the WB labels, and RCA, and classical on RCA.   

After Ampex stopped reel to reel production, they also gained rights to London and Threshold. Also, they started producing all tapes at 7 1/2ips (except for the popular 3hour Airline tapes) and releasing all future tapes with Dolby B.  Given the high duplication speed, this made a major difference in sound quality during the day. 

In 1978, Stereotape was bought out by a reel enthusiast (or group) and became a mailorder (only?) business under the name ?The Reel Society? and continued until ~1981.  During the last year, they shipped some tapes without graphics with the promise of shipping boxes later.  But the boxes never shipped and they closed.  (They had done this previously and did.)

Unfortunately, their quality varied greatly regardless who they were, likely because they did not QA the masters they received from the record copies. (This was something that B-C did on an extensive basis.  This usually caused 2-3 year delay in the release and sometimes them not to release as they could not get an acceptable master.) Probably, best in the late Stereotape and Reel Society days. However, there are many cherished recordings like:

-   Moody Blues (Threshold/Stereotape) ? Discrete quadraphonic recordings
-   Keith Jarrett (ECM/Stereotape) ? Koln Concert and Solo Concert
-   Woody Herman Live at Carnegie Hall (Verve/Reel Society)
-   Rachmaninoff ? The Bells (RCA/Stereotape)
-   Saint-Saens: Organ Symphony with Reiner (RCA/remastered dolby Stereotape)
-   Classic Film Music Series (RCA/Stereotape) ? Discrete quadraphonic recordings
-   Sondheim: Two by Two (RCA/Coverless Reel Society)

Reel Zealot
Glenn Yoritomo

Offline ironbut

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2009, 10:49:57 PM »
Excellent RZ! Thanks for sharing that. Where the heck did you learns so many details about them?
steve koto
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Offline reel zealot

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2009, 07:24:29 PM »
That's what happens you are a tape enthusiast and reel collector for 26 years...:)
Glenn Yoritomo

Offline astrotoy

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2009, 06:17:00 PM »
For some reason, in the over 500 prerecorded tapes that I have acquired over the years, I have only bought one Stereotape. However, I recently purchased 4 tapes, whose records were all on the Absolute Sound Superdisc list. They were all dolby B encoded, 7.5 ips 4 track. Two of them were Stereotapes. I have now played good parts of both. One was a double tape from the Gerhardt Film series on RCA - Gone with the Wind and Lost Horizons. Excellent souind, but not superior. The London Porgy and Bess, however, has really superior sound. I'll have to go back to listen to the other Stereotape, also dolby B - one of the London Gilbert and Sullivan issues, "The Grand Duke".  It was very informative reading the history from reel zealot. SInce I have been buying most of my prerecorded tapes in the recent past from Irvington Music, I'll have to ask whether the tape is a Stereotape.  Larry
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Offline reel zealot

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2009, 07:08:59 PM »
Larry,
Hard to believe that you have only one Stereotape tape.  Do you have any heritage tapes, either Bell & Howell or Magtec? Or predecessor - Reel Society? Who do you have tapes from?
Glenn Yoritomo

Offline astrotoy

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2009, 07:32:26 PM »
Glenn, almost all of the tapes I have are classical - and only a very few are 2 track (other than the TP and some masterdubs). About 120 are Barclay-Crocker, and the rest are mostly London (both the early FFST and the later stuff, including a fair number of dolby B encoded) a fair number of RCA and Mercury (4 tr) and DGG, Philips and some Ampex label. Just about all of them list Ampex as the producer. I have found a few exceptions. I found two more Stereotape issues, a two tape set of the Prokofiev Piano Concerti with Ashkenazy on London and RCA Il Trovatore with Mehta conducting - both dolby B. The RCA doesn't have the striping and labeling that the other Stereotapes have, but it says Stereotape on the back.  I also found one Reel Society DGG tape - Vivaldi Organ Concerti, also dolby B. I also found one Bel Canto released tape - Mercury Respighi the Birds, not dolby encoded.  I have a very few Columbia and Angel 7.5ips 4tr which have solid color hubs, not clear like almost all of the rest -  but with no indication of the source of the tape. One is a CRC which I think is the Columbia Record Club.   

Maybe you can enlighten me on these. Thanks, Larry
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Offline reel zealot

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2009, 08:13:39 PM »
Great...Here some info for you...Hope it helps...
The London tapes are all Ampex tapes unless you have a London tape whose number starts with 1R1, then that was dup'd by Columbia House.  RCA tapes that start with FTC were dup'd by RCA, but those with Exxx were manufacured by Magtec, Stereotape, or Reel Society (with exception of RCA 2tk tapes). Columbia tapes starting with MQ or MR were dup'd by Columbia.  Those with 1R1 are from Columbia House.  I'm not clear whether they used the same factory or different ones as Columbia House was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.  However, the MR or MQ tapes (all with a grey reel) where better in general.  But the best Columbia House tapes with a clear reel were the best.  The rumor is that these were actually duplicated by Ampex, but after Ampex left the business.  Angel tapes starting with Z (or Y for 3 3/4) were manufactured by Capitol.  Those with L or ANG were dup'd by Ampex and those starting with 1R1 were made by Columbia House.  And yes, CRC stood for Columbia Record Club.

Glenn
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Offline astrotoy

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2009, 08:38:12 PM »
Thanks, Glenn.   Larry
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Offline ironbut

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2009, 10:14:05 PM »
That's some great info there Glenn. Have you ever seen a compilation of duplicating facilities?
 If I understand you correctly, Ampex, RCA, Columbia and Capital were labels who had in house factories. And Magtec, Stereotape, and Reel Society were all the same factory which started as Bell and Howell. Was Columbia Record Club part of Columbia House (which was part of Columbia Records)?
Also, do you know anything about who produced some of the smaller labels such as  Cook, Command, Candide, Sonar, Project 3, Everest and Epic?
I guess I'm trying to find out what I can regarding the number of duplication factories, location, what tape they used and the quality of the production.
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Offline stellavox

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #9 on: March 28, 2009, 06:37:36 AM »
Glen,

Stereotape as a brand name existed in the mid 1950's.  They issued about 20 titles in 2-track stereo (for exact title info refer to my tape list in the files section of the yahoogroups reel-to-reel chatroom).

They first started advertising their "wares" (at least in the monthly "Hi Fi Tape Recording" magazine) in late 1956.  their contact info at that time was:

Audio Arts Inc.
5607 Melrose Ave.
Hollywood 38, CA
 

Offline reel zealot

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #10 on: March 28, 2009, 09:16:13 AM »
Thanks - I had forgotten that.

With respect to Steve's questions...

Yes, as far as I can determine, Ampex, RCA, Columbia and Capitol all manufactured tapes, much like they manufactured records for themselves and others.  For example, Colgem tapes were made by RCA, and Angel tapes were made by Capitol.  CRC and Columbia House were the same thing, different branding.  Don't know why they seemed to switch back and forth.  Don't know anything about Cook and Candide. (If their is no markings on the back cover, if the number starts with 1R1 or there is a small CRC on the reel label, they were made by Columbia House/CRC.)  Everest was the record label for Belock Instruments Company and a show case for their products. Project 3 also made their own tapes, but later sub'd to Ampex.  Except later, along with Vanguard, came out with their own quad tapes. Sonar was a precursor to the TP and custom made tapes in realtime in either 15ips or 7 1/2, some in quad or stereo.  Don't recall any 2-track, but someone else might. Epic, I believe was always a division of Columbia, though their early tapes were always different so they may have had their own facility as well.  Does anyone know?
Glenn Yoritomo

Offline U47

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Re: Stereotape history and predecessor to Tape Project(Sonar)
« Reply #11 on: March 28, 2009, 09:33:09 AM »
I once owned the original 30 ips 1/2 inch masters from the old Sonar label. They produced real time dubbed tapes out in 7.5 ips two track and quarter track formats in the 70s on mastering tape in both stereo and quad formats.I vaguely remember some 15 ips tapes, but am not quite sure if they made any.  The 'Quad' tapes were really just stereo tracks with ambiance in the rear channels, so they were much less gimmicky sounding than quad tapes from the major labels. The 1/2 inch tapes had the stereo tracks in the middle and the ambiance channels on the outer tracks, a somewhat unique layout. The recordings were very closely mic'ed. Lots of detail, both extraneous and otherwise. Mostly classical music on this label, solo piano, guitar with Michael Newman(age 13?!), chamber music and orchestral. There are some very impressive organ recordings that have content to 16 cycles that were recorded on a huge organ in Hartford, if my memory serves me. The masters were recorded on Scotch 250 and by the time I played them, the oxide layers were peeling off in huge patches. Luckily, they made back up copies in stereo at 15 and 30 ips. Mitch Cotter was a consultant on Sonar. Not quite sure exactly what he did there.
Speaking of predecessors of Tape Project, one should not forget Sound Ideas. I have a wonderful David Grisman Quintet recording at 15 ips/2 track that is packaged with a copy of the LP on Kalidoscope. Wonderful music and sonics. I think they had other titles as well.


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Offline ironbut

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #12 on: March 28, 2009, 12:04:47 PM »
Wow,.. 1/2" quad! Now that's a pretty exclusive clientele!
Regarding the Candide, I may have been thinking of Crown who were out of Hollywood. I think they did their own recordings of jazz and their 4 tracks are pretty nice.
Cook were classical as far as I know (I seem to remember that CV has a number of them), several I know of were recordings of organ.
Command seems to have had quite a few reel to reel releases and every one I've seen has been on acetate. I've had particularly bad luck buying these and every one I listened to was in pretty bad shape, but I know that a few collectors out there have raved about their sound. Livingston is another label I've had bad luck with.
Sonotape/Westminster, Urania, and other companies that released 1/2 track for the most part, are best served by referring to Charlie's staggering listing which can be found on Yahoo groups as already mentioned. I would imagine that quite a few of those companies duplicated tapes in very small runs in a cottage industry manner and trying to run down much info about their operations would require finding one of the participants.
I've only heard rumors about the Sound Ideas tapes. Interesting stuff, and I'd love to hear that Grisman. They must've been out of the Bay Area I'd think?
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Offline JoeG

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #13 on: March 28, 2009, 01:20:07 PM »
So - I am wondering where the RCAs I have fit in this matrix? They are 2 track, 7.5 ips, with the Chicago Symphony/Fritz Reiner like:
Liszt "Mephisto Waltz"  (ACS-25) and Prokofieff "Lt Kije" (BCS-96), Strauss "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme"(DCS-43), Strauss "Salome Dance of the Seven Veils"(CCS-23). were these all run at the same facility, or does the different code indicate the house that produced them?
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Offline ironbut

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Re: Stereotape history
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2009, 05:03:23 PM »
Hi Joe, exactly the kind of info I'm looking for actually. I think that there should be enough guys and gals out there that know or worked at the "majors" that I should be able to get some fairly accurate information about, location, production, time of operation, and formats produced. At this point I'm trying to figure out what questions I need to ask (which companies, what do we already know, etc.). I guess I should start by digging up the catalogs that I have scattered from one end of the house to the other.
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