Tape Project Forum

General Category => Raw Tape => Topic started by: CanoeShop on April 30, 2011, 01:47:22 PM

Title: SM911 or SM468 for tracking?
Post by: CanoeShop on April 30, 2011, 01:47:22 PM
I've looked through the forum, and I apologize if this has been succinctly answered already. I'm looking into doing some tracking to tape (1/4" 2 track and 1/4" 4 track) and was wondering which formulation the experts here might recommend for tracking acoustic and jazz/style (i.e. not super loud stuff) live music? I'd love to have it end up on the 468, so I can keep my machine calibrated for tape project tapes, and the tapes I complete, but I hadn't come across much for people tracking to 468.

Thanks, as always, for your patience with stupid questions. I enjoy this forum and this community.
Title: Re: SM911 or SM468 for tracking?
Post by: dwilawyer on May 27, 2011, 04:31:01 PM
Sorry I just saw this, here is a link to a review of the RMGI 468 tape


http://www.rmgi-usa.com/resources/Analog-Media/rmgi_dorsey_468review.pdf. 



Take some of that article with a bit of a grain of salt, like 456 losing HF response within a week.  But for live jazz I would think you would want RMGI SM900 for the increased dynamic range and headroom.

Hope this helps, and again sorry I didn't see this sooner.

Travis
Title: Re: SM911 or SM468 for tracking?
Post by: docb on May 27, 2011, 05:54:24 PM
Adjusting the record bias for a different formula will have absolutely no effect upon playing your TP tapes. ATR Magnetics tape is a great choice for tracking.
Title: Re: SM911 or SM468 for tracking?
Post by: High and Outside on May 27, 2011, 11:11:02 PM
Sorry I just saw this, here is a link to a review of the RMGI 468 tape

http://www.rmgi-usa.com/resources/Analog-Media/rmgi_dorsey_468review.pdf. 

Take some of that article with a bit of a grain of salt, like 456 losing HF response within a week. 

Actually that reflects my experience with 456. It sounds different the day after, and way different a week later. The only point on which I disagree with Scott Dorsey is his statement that it's predictable and can be compensated. To my ear it's more than a loss of HF; the sound loses loads of detail and gets very murky and congealed. But at least you can be comforted knowing you have a 10 to 1 chance that it'll turn into brown goo in storage.

Perhaps you can tell I'm not a fan.

As Doc says, aligning your recording side for any tape won't change your playback alignment. That will remain constant for any tape you play back.

The 468, the 911 and the ATR would all be good choices for live recording. The 468 has the longest track record--the Jazz At The Pawnshop tapes (on 468) still sounded pretty fresh last time I worked on them, and they must have been forty years old at the time.
Title: Re: SM911 or SM468 for tracking?
Post by: docb on May 28, 2011, 11:01:18 AM
To my ear it's more than a loss of HF; the sound loses loads of detail and gets very murky and congealed.

This makes sense, as what must be happening is the narrow areas of high flux particles where a signal transient has been recorded are probably magnetizing particles with lower flux nearby, thus spreading the transient information over a slightly longer section of tape. Stands to reason that for a given formula the hotter you record, the greater potential for this happening. If I am not mistaken people don't usually record 468 too hot, and thus it may demonstrate less of a problem partly for that reason.
Title: Re: SM911 or SM468 for tracking?
Post by: c1ferrari on May 28, 2011, 10:50:44 PM
The 468, the 911 and the ATR would all be good choices for live recording. The 468 has the longest track record--the Jazz At The Pawnshop tapes (on 468) still sounded pretty fresh last time I worked on them, and they must have been forty years old at the time.

Hi Paul,

Would you have any observations regarding SM900?  Thanks.

-Sam