RU recording LPs on Reel to Reel ?

Kublakhan-- The tapes are not mine, but if you are interested email me and I'll give you my father's phone #- if he's given up on some magic bullet to save his tapes, he may sell them (I'm assuming you want them to erase and re-record)

Rec: The tapes used were excellent quality, but you've hit the issue right on the head-- many of them were not played for years (a decade?) and that's most likely what killed them. The tape manufacturers intimated the same thing when he resurrected the reel-to-reel, found the tapes unlistenable, and called them demanding someone's head on a pike.

I have ~750 reels dating from the late 60s to mid-90s. The original reason for recording was to preserve the LPs (particularly when having company over like a party) and they've stood the test of time fairly well. Some of the cheap tape has shed its backing leading to squeal, but for the most part they are still eminently listenable and - in some cases - sound better than the CD version.

As far as finding things on tape goes, I made a database to track everything using the tape number and the tape counter and can cut to the start of any album in a minute or so.

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).

what about cassettes
I have several Nakamichi tape decks that mke quite good tapes with that analog quality all over them

Tom

Hey Kublakhan. Great thread.While I don't have much experience in the digital format,I still record on a vacuum tubed Studer Revox G36 2 track recorder, and have for close to 30 years.It is imperative to record at 15 ips for top quality recordings and... no, I do not use any dolby on my machine.The majority of my tapes recorded from vinyl will stomp all over my digital of that same recording.Some of these tapes were recorded more than 25 years ago! Many years ago I owned a DJ company and had 7 crews out there in wedding halls and parties most every weekend. We used mostly Revox and Tanberg machines.They are precision semi-pro decks that will mirror the input signal without the digititis found in the digital formats.They can be a little frustrating to operate at first but they do not take a rocket scientist to figure out.There are many pro recording studios out there dumping some fabulous analogue recorders for next to peanuts.The Otari 550 pro deck for example. Some of their pro decks that use the 1/2 inch and 1 inch tapes are superb sounding machines and some can be run at 30 ips.Keep in mind the liabilties that go along with the territory...Quality tape reels are hard to find and getting even harder all the time.Proper maintenance is also a must. Revox still has service depots through out North America for all their tape recorders.Here is an even better deal and should cost you less than $100!!.There are thousands of Beta video recorders out there in basements collecting dust.This is the perfect format for recording any medium and the sound quality is absolutely top shelf.Trust me on this one guys,you won't believe your listening to a tape,its great for your treasured vinyl....simpy record and label the tape.Some of the early CD's[blahhh]will be "almost" listenable sitting down[you know what I mean]The better recorded CD's will knock your socks off.Great for parties and casual listening.Just make sure the deck has variable record inputs in 2 channels.I have both a VHS machine and a Sony beta machine and the beta just kills the vhs machine for audio. IT certainly is an inexpensive way to store music, the source could be vinyl,digital or a live band in a local pub. Enjoy.