RU recording LPs on Reel to Reel ?

Hi Dennis:

Reel to reel "can" end up being an expensive venture, but it's cool looking and sounds great if done correctly. For quality sound you need to record @ high speed, which uses up lots of tape.

Another consideration is either finding the deck in top condition, or having it properly refurbished by someone who knows what they are doing.

However, if you are only looking for occasional low speed playback/background music for the novelty of it you do not have to be as fussy.

Even though I have not owned a reel to reel for 25 years I still collect pre-recorded and blank tape in the event that I eventually pick up another one for background music.

If you know people in the recording industry, ask around as you might be able to find a nice R2R that is no longer being used.

If you want to try recording LP's to CD you are welcome to borrow our Pioneer PDR-W839. I have never tried it in A/D format (just D/D, so far), but do plan to burn most of our French popular music LP's to CD in the future (along with some Disco cassettes:-).

Another interesting storage medium is Digital Audio Tape. I believe that its use is still popular in Asia. I used DAT pro gear once in 1989 or 1990 (which sounded good), not certain about the consumer grade gear though.

Dennis:

5-10 years makes DAT comparable to CDR's (based on what I have read to date).

For archival purposes I would guess that the LP is first (by a long shot) and then is followed by quality magnetic tape (based on sane but still non commercial storage).

Don't know if they are still used, but 15 years ago there were active vintage archival film storage vats @ 7000 Romaine (Howard Hughes old accounting HQ) which were a trip.

Funny (not) that our modern data storage marvels suck regarding this aspect in that even the El Cassettes recorded and played back @ higher speeds would have been a better/user friendly medium.

While we are @ it are there any brands of tape that are considered to be of higher quality?

Good sources for pre-recorded tapes (LA area) are the county library book sales. Though they have not been rotated many look to have never been checked out (played) and @ the least they have been stored in a climate controlled environment (power outages aside).

The last blank tapes I picked up were 7" reels of Memorex promo/gift packs for non-commercial use. Not certain if they are 1200' or 1800' (they run to within 1/2" of the outside of the reel and still have the sponge holders intact). If it were not for the Inter'l Orange boxes I would have passed them by (mixed in with a pile of old magazines @ a local thrift).