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Messages - DRCope

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1
Tape Tech / Safe monitor speaker to R2R deck distance?
« on: September 07, 2016, 05:33:28 PM »
Greetings,

I'm setting up a project studio which is R2R tape (½") centric. Right now the deck is in the center of the recording arrangement with speakers on shelves 3-4' away and about 2' higher than the deck. Is there a rule of thumb to come up with a safe distance to maintain between the deck/tape and speakers? I've never had occasion to have them lined up like this in setting up a purely playback system, so this is new to me.

Thanks in Advance!

2
Raw Tape / Availability and recos for half inch tape?
« on: April 05, 2015, 08:30:35 AM »
I'm doing research on doing an all analog recording of solo cello, and while I could do it on my Otari 5050 with two mics, I'm tempted to go to a four track machine and collect two channels of close/direct sound and two channels of room sound to give me flexibility in post.

This raises the question, "As tape in general gets scarce, does on have to be nuts to go ½ inch?"

(Searching on ½ is disallowed, so I searched on one half and saw next to nothing. Apologies if this has been addressed and I've failed to find it.)

3
General Discussion / Re: VSAC report
« on: June 05, 2008, 12:15:15 PM »
Thanks, Charlie, for bringing the 'Vox down to the Audio Note room. The uninvolving sound earlier in the show was due to the power amps being can-still-smell-the-paint, zero hours playing time new. They progressed steadily throughout the show and were shining by the time you arrived with tapes in hand. They were also the base standard build - IE core transformers, std. resistors and caps. I'm itching to do two thing after this show: (1) get a portable deck for shows 'cause I ain't gonna haul my Otari 5050 around and (2) build a pair of the kit amps with double c-core transformers, tants and Black Gates. Oh yeah, a third thing to do - buy a couple Tape Project tapes for home replay!

Steve Clarke - Great photo of the AN gear. May I "borrow" it, with photo credit, for use on my AN web site?

Too much fun, tooooo much fun . . . .

Dave Cope

4
Suggestion Box / Re: Joan Baez
« on: March 19, 2008, 05:29:50 AM »
I'll throw in my vote for Joan as well. Diamonds & Rust is one of very few albums that gives me the shivers. Gorgeous.

5
Suggestion Box / Re: Dolby SR option
« on: March 19, 2008, 05:13:23 AM »
Adding noise reduction in remastering tapes recorded without noise reduction would get you what, exactly? The noise floor is quite low to start, and, as is the case with random vinyl background noise, after 30 seconds, your brain stops registering it anyway, unless you're focused on noise rather than music. Please don't starting adding coloring and preservatives to the organically grown produce!

6
I'll have to go buy this puppy. Don't know the piece, so I can't say whether it's exciting or not, but since joining a college concert choir, I can say that a lot of choral music I didn't used to find exciting now makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I'm bringing my Otari and the Lord Nelson Mass recording I made last fall to VSAC. It won't keep up with Doc's tapes, but it's DIY performance and recording, and a tube mic pre was involved, so I think it's in the right spirit!  ;-)

7
Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Technics RS 1800 on Ebay
« on: January 05, 2008, 02:51:44 PM »
Quote
Wow! What kind of mic set up did you use? I seem to recall that you are using Gefells. What kind of mic-pre are you using? That must've been some big fun though. There's just nothing like the sound of a live chorus with an orch.( and an organ ta boot!)

The mics (Gefell 930's) were set up ORTF using Audio Note SPx silver interconnect cable to the pre-amp, a Pendulum MDP-1 (http://mercenaryaudio.com/mdvactubmicd.html.) The mics were about 8-9ft up in the air with the Pendulum sitting on a stand at its base in the center aisle of the church, about 1/4 of the way back, then Mogami Gold cables all the way to the left aisle so no one would have to listen to the whirring big reels. Since I was in the choir, I had to run the tape at 7.5 ips so as to get the full concert on one reel. I got the college recording tech to hit the GO button, but I don't think he ever saw a reel-to-reel machine before, so I wasn't going to ask him to change reels on the fly!

Here's the scene of the crime:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2012/2169912654_f5fb3275e8_b.jpg

I lowered the mics take the shot. They're just shy of waist high behind the director.

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Technics RS 1800 on Ebay
« on: January 03, 2008, 08:28:24 PM »
Beefman,

I like the portable and tubey aspects of the stellavox, but the pricey part . . . . not so much.

How did the Otari binge turn out?

I've had a second live outing with the Otari. This time it was two choirs combined - 120+ voices, 19 pc orchestra, organ performing Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass in a large church with cathedral-ish acoustics. Yummy, juicy sound. Analog ever upward!

Doc - Are you and your wonder machines going to be at CES? I'll be at THE Show up the road with Audio Note and have pre-reg'd for CES as well, mostly in hopes of hearing your tape wonderfulness . . . .

Dave

9
Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Otari MX-5050 BII
« on: September 11, 2007, 05:25:05 AM »
Well, I've done my first live recording: The recital for a summer voice master class program which my wife took, taught by a friend who is the director of the college and community choirs we sing in. I used the Microtech Gefell mics, Audio Note Vx cable into the Pendulum mic pre, with Telefunken and Siemens tubes in place of the Chinese dreck it came with, into the Otari. 7" reels of BASF 456 running at 7.5ips in-line. Mics on one stand using AER spacer bar at ORTF distance.

It was a small group, small audience, so everyone was on stage, facing the rear of the stage where the audience sat with its back to the rear curtain facing out toward the main seating. The mics were about 6' high in the center of the row of seats. Each singer was accompanied by a 7' grand piano, lid closed.

The sound is very real, very immediate. Listening is a lot more fun when you're not clenching the arms of your chair approaching peaks waiting for the digits to bite or the stylus to mis-track. When I played it back over headphones I kept jumping when a truck drove by the stage doors which were open since it was a hot August day.

The real revelation came when I transfered the recording to my MacBook Pro via FireBox. Some of the fine detail and more of the life than I care to think about fell out of the recording. I told the director, who always complains about how the recordings the college makes of the concerts don't sound like the concerts to him, that he has to come over and hear the reel-to-reel original.

Long live tape! Now if only the dam* deck didn't weigh about 50 lbs. Wrenched my back hauling it around, which has never happened with my MacBook Pro! ;-)

Those were the results without cleaning, aligning and/or tweaking anything since I bought the deck on eBay. Time to do all of the above and build the NAB/IEC modded Seduction. I also need to sell off a piece of spare audio gear so I can buy a selective sub to the Tape Project! I'll want to be properly equipped for VSAC '08.

(Doc - when do you think the site will be up for registration? I'm leaving for Milan today and would love to get formal commitments from Peter QAudio Note/UK to exhibit.)

10
So, Steve, no has asked the really important question here: What are you going to do with your tape-EQ'd Seduction? ;-)

I'm amassing quite a few 7" 7 1/2ips tapes here, a couple two track in-line, one binaural, but listening is still through my Otari MX5050's standard playback electronics, and that just can't go on for much longer . . . .

Also just bought the Albeniz on LP and the Arnold Overtures on CD to get a feel for the music and recordings. The TP tapes are calling me, but while I believe they are worth every penny, my pennies aren't stacked high enough without major inspiration!!

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Otari MX-5050 BII
« on: May 08, 2007, 07:44:41 PM »
I was going to go to the S'phile show entirely because of the Tape Project machines & tapes, plus Omega Loudspeakers and Red Wine Audio. As it turns out, I'll be in VT with my wife picking up the cello I gave her for her 50th birthday. (I bet the cellos sound more like cellos in VT than in any room at the show . . .)

I'm looking forward to reading your impressions.

My deck should arrive day after tomorrow. After a thorough check-up, the fun begins! Maybe I'll finally find out what my Microtech Gefell M930 mics and Pendulum Audio tube mic pre really sound like!

12
Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Otari MX-5050 BII
« on: May 03, 2007, 12:28:06 PM »
A funny thing happened to me after doing some reading here on the Tape Project. I meant to "watch" a handful of promising decks on eBay and got lazy. Instead of marking something as watched, I just made an initial bid thinking it wouldn't stay on top and I could watch it that way. A few days later I discovered I was the only bidder and now own an Otari MX-5050 BII. Oops, or D-oh! as the case may be. It's shipping from CA to CT today, so it'll get here around the end of  next week and I'll see what I've gotten myself into.

The tape project tapes should be amazing, and I also plan to use it to do live recordings of choirs and classical and jazz ensembles in the area. I've got a great pair of mics and mic pre, but my A/D converter kinda sucks and I just keep thinking it would all sound much better if I stuck to analog.

Started this thread to try to create a magnet for other BII owners to share experiences, especially if anyone is planning to use Tape Project electronics on one.

Dave Cope

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