Reel to Reel

[Pings Bass]

With a regular cassette deck and a DAW you can recover those Fostex recordings.
Put the tape in and record to a stereo track, at half speed.
Flip the tape over and record to a second track, reversed and at half speed.
In the DAW reverse the reversed track. Nudge the start of the tracks to sync them up. And double the playback speed.

If the tape is biased - you'll probably need to adjust EQ to account for it.

Then you can sell the Fostex, I'm sure somebody wants it at least for parts to fix another one.

Yeah, I thought of doing that, but I'm not even sure I have a decent cassette deck anymore!
Anyway, nothing of value but a
demo that I digitally mastered at some point and a bunch of practices.

 

[SubHuman]

The thrill of reel to reel is the fact that every move and performance you make has to be very well thought out and the performer has to be confident in their takes.
No undo or easily comping multiple takes. My son has a semi-pro recording studio with a 1” 24 track reel to reel and ~25% of their clients are booking the analog machine...well pre COVID. Just now opening back up. The client or band does the basic song live and then adds overdubs, new main vocals, sweetners,etc.
You can always record over a previous take and hopefully it was a wise choice! Ha!
They also work with an analog mastering facility that can master to vinyl. Some groups feel the pressure to use tape for their recordings adds a creative sense or tension that transfers into the final recording.
Some pretty awesome songs have been done. The upfront cost is higher because the performer has to pay for the 1” tape up front.
You can still buy reliable tape recorders for a reasonable investment but I think it’s just one more tool in the toolbox.
Their studio also does a lot of hybrid analog tape, Pro Tools digital sessions to give the performer the best of both worlds. Just a reminder that Sgt. Peppers was done on two 4 track tape recorders! My son who is also a performer uses both analog and digital depending on the mood of the song.

 

[Blue]

..

What would you consider "reliable tape recorders for a reasonable investment"?

 

[SubHuman]

What would you consider "reliable tape recorders for a reasonable investment"?

Sorry if I made it sound like they’re easily available but the answer is subjective. How many tracks, how knowlegable are you with mechanical/electronics and what is your budget?
My son bought theirs off CL and it was packed away from an old Studio owner and needed re-assembled. There were spare parts and the heads had been re-lapped and barely used before it was put away. Part of finding a reliable good machine is luck and knowledge of analog recorders. I still have a TEAC 3340S 4 track that works but I hardly ever use. I have several 10” spooled Maxell tapes never opened! I’ll probably donate it to my son.

 

[SubHuman]

I was wrong their reel to reel is a MCI JH-16 24 Channel 2” Tape Recorder with a wired remote. He said they just ordered some NOS VU meters to replace the ones that are currently covered. Probably got pegged too many times! Ha! Their studio is in a 125 year old soap factory and the sandstone walls are all jagged and it's surprisingly a very good sounding room with high ceilings.
They have survived COVID so far and just started booking again. I hope they will survive! They have a passion and skill for finding vintage analog gear to support their analog setup but they also have a full blown ProTools iMac rig, plugins, preamps and vintage mics. My son earned a Sound Design Engineering degree from SCAD. I used to love going up and just hanging out! If the virus ever subsides and they survive I'll get back up there too!

 

[Frank Tuesday]

The thrill of reel to reel is the fact that every move and performance you make has to be very well thought out and the performer has to be confident in their takes.
No undo or easily comping multiple takes. My son has a semi-pro recording studio with a 1” 24 track reel to reel and ~25% of their clients are booking the analog machine...well pre COVID. Just now opening back up. The client or band does the basic song live and then adds overdubs, new main vocals, sweetners,etc.
You can always record over a previous take and hopefully it was a wise choice! Ha!
They also work with an analog mastering facility that can master to vinyl. Some groups feel the pressure to use tape for their recordings adds a creative sense or tension that transfers into the final recording.

Lots of places track on tape, then transfer the tape to the digital realm for editing. Or record digitally, do all the editing, then dump to tape and straight back into digital.

 

[SubHuman]

Lots of places track on tape, then transfer the tape to the digital realm for editing. Or record digitally, do all the editing, then dump to tape and straight back into digital.

Yes it's kind of like using a DI to record a guitar/bass track and then re-amping it.

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

if you live in any major metropolitan are, you should be able to find a competent technician who can maintain tape decks. parts are available for most models from specialty shops scattered around the country.
Once you find a tech you like, then you are pretty much set.

I had pro-tools and a mac in the early 2000's, and got sick of all the singers & guitarists saying, "let's keep that one and do another one." at the end of the day, we had 20 vocal takes and 30 versions of the guitar solos, and then i'd have to go through them and comp them together. It was very frustrating. That, and I really don't like turning knobs on a screen with a mouse.

I sold the mac & pro-tools and bought a 1/2" 8-track Tascam 38 and a couple of decent preamps.
I never looked back.
Tape workflow is much more conducive to good recordings, because you have to commit to the tracking and do it right. much more difficult to edit, so you gotta get it right.

But then once you get to mixing, it's so much easier because there is no editing to do, and the sounds are pretty good, and it just becomes balance and volume.

Yes, it's expensive to get started on tape recording, but once you get a decent signal chain & mixing board together, your only cost is tape, and it will never become obsolete because of a new operating system or software upgrade.

 

[RoadRanger]

The newer Zoom LiveTrak recorders have a much more tape-like workflow than the older "R"series did - they don't support multiple takes on a single track and they can record ALL tracks simultaneously. I have both an L-8 and an L-20 - 32GB cards go for $5 and hold multiple reels of 2" tape worth of tracks .

I personally use Audacity for the final mixdown - no "comping" allowed but does support most plugins. I've used the free tape emulator "FerricTDS" on my bass tracks. Plenty of good free compression and reverb plugins available.

Don't miss having a 1/2" 8 track Tascam at all . But I do dislike recording directly into a DAW.

 

[Sarakisof]

I got my hands on an old Teac 1/4” reel to reel. It sat in a closet for 10 years until I decided to do something with it.

That something was to give it away to a guy who likes to use, restore, and tinker with such antiques.

Wish i was in the guy's place.
If there is anyone based in Europe with same kindness as Jeff, just PM me

 

[filmtex]

I had a four track Dokorder for many years that originally came out of a studio. It took a ton of work to maintain and when it released the magic smoke I said goodbye to it. Other than watching the reels go around I don’t miss the tape years at all.

Those old Dokorders sounded pretty good as I recall. A guitar player friend of mine had a small home studio in Silver Lake (LA) and she made some good recordings with hers. But I also recall them being generally the least reliable of the batch of four track r-to-r machines of that era. I did quite a bit of recording back then with Teac/Tascam and Fostex gear from four track to eight track 1/2" and lusted for a Dokorder for years.