This is so cute. I am a child of the 60s I remember when this particular model was first introduced to the public. Us recording and sound reinforcement folks almost lost our minds! We literally drooled over the counters where this thing was sold as well as the Akai and even the consumer Pioneer RTR but they TEAC was king. If you were lucky enough to get a TASCAM multichannel mixer, you were king of the hill. This particular model was a god damned work horse that never failed. It was great for live and studio recording. It’s still as sexy and futuristic looking as when it first came out. This is an EXCELLENT breakdown for the lil kiddies out there although I have to admit it’s like watching someone teaching how to tie your wittle shoes. 😂 He did EXCELLENT JOB! The graphics are EXCELLENT and I even learned something. What a lovely time I had watching this. One thing I wished he mentioned was that we used to take a two channel stereo machine and use a piece of photographic negative film over the erase head and re-record with a known 0.5 second or so delay and overdub like that. Ahhhhh those were the good old days. I like digital but it just doesn’t have the dynamic range and warmth of the analog stuff unless you’re at the highest rates. GREAT VIDEO! Cheers!
This is brilliant - you manage to include a huge amount of information in an easy to understand way, without feeling like things are being dumbed down or skipped - thanks for taking the time to do this
This is so valuable to me right now! Thank you so much. Family member passed away and has 4 of these things on mint condition wrapped in plastic, and I need to know what I’m looking at. Thank you for making this!
Thank you so very much for all the info and knowledge you are sharing. After playing bass for over 45 years, I am finally putting together my vintage recording studio complete with the Teac 3340s . I am new to recording, And you were making it all happen thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge
Today is 12/15/2019 making this video 7+ years old. And it is just as informative today as it was 7+ years ago when it was posted! Thank you so much for devoting your time, patience, and intellect! I have a reel to reel on the way so this video is exactly what I needed! One more time-THANK YOU, SIR!!!
Being a teacher myself I must congratulate you for the way you’re explaining this analog stuff. I own 2Revox A77, 4 and 2 track and they are a part of my musical life. Never would sell them. Once grown up analog, always analog. Well done Chris. You’re one of the perfect teachers here on You tube. Your didactic approach invites people to learn more about the past. Keep on doing this way of teaching. Belgian greetings !
Making this comment 11 years later. Today many "real" musicians are going back to tape. They have realized the quality of the sound that tape captures that is unobtainable with digital. If all your going to do is put some samplings together and call it music digital is fine. But tape has a quality and warmth of sound that can't be beat! BTW, new state of the art decks are now being manufactured by the top brands around the world. Also, the manufacturing of the tape itself has been improved tremendously which adds to the improvement of the sound quality and shelf life. Like vinyl records, what was once old is again new.
I just got my very first reel to reel machine after being in audio hobby and restoration for almost 20 years. It happened to be Teac A-4430S. Dude, you are awesome. Your level of explanation is so simple and detailed, I only had to watch the video once. THANK YOU.
"A long, long time ago, you know like the 90's" Chris you definitely make me feel old. You have done a sterling job in presenting this tutorial, well done sir.
I just received a mint condition Teac A-3340S with Metal 10 in tape from my dad. Everything works and his been in storage for its entire life. This video truly helped me understand how to work this machine. Thank you.
You did a wonderful job of describing it all. I'm sure that many people have been brought out of the dark. I learned all that you presented a long time ago, and on a very similar machine. But the refresher course wasn't a waste of time. Thanks again for your presentation.
Thank you very much for your lesson ! All that takes me to my childhood when in 62 ( ? ) my father bought one BASF ; a second one two years later ; so we could record ( 9.5 cm/s - 15 cm diameter reels ) Radio Caroline ( from North Sea ) ; later in the 60's came the Grundig TK 146 and the Philips N4308 to replace the firsts tape recorders ( and came one DUAL stereo hifi set ) , as well as in 70 came the TK 1400 ( portable / report ) for holidays/camping . I began to work and have money in 1973 so I was dreaming of one Tandberg tape recorder ( said to be very high quality ) , but I went in 76 in the new chromium-oxyde cassettes ............I was much more with the LP's ( 33 rpm - vinyl ) on my own Hi-Fi set at home . After my father passed , I was given the Grundig TK1400 ( still working very fine in 2016 ! ) , one TK147automatic , one TK 547 and one SABA TG 674 with a lot of reels and tapes . One Philips and one Telefunken went to my elder brother . Last year one uncle passed ( teatcher in electronics ) and it was gave to me its Grundig TK46 ( 50's old fashion looking ! ) We are 50 Hz - 220 V or now 230 V -> 240 V AC here in Europe / France Tapes recorders ........... : one Era ! ......................... éric : great fan of Minidiscs
I was a teenager in the late 70's and early 80's . I remember regularly checking out the many record. music and stereo stores of the period. there were many reel to reel sets,many over $1000 dollars, they were the Cadillac's of audio play and recording back then, until the arrival of the much hyped compact disc player which quickly overtook the reel 2 reel. When I was playing in rock bands in the 80's and 90's, I worked with a few Fostex 15 ips 8 track reel to reels They were alot of fun These days I have a real time analog to digital CD burner and a pocket high density digital recorder with condenser mic's and computer recorder for my recording needs but its still cool to see these classic 70's reel 2 reel players in action they were the dream recording gadgets of my teenage years.
Mine too... I grew up in the 70's just like you Bro. and I have always been loving them. Their low frequency renditions (the bass) always pumped out with some heavy punch effect when played with one of those nasty stereo amplifiers of those days which were way beyond these days so called 5+1 receivers or what have you. The bass were always very neat, tight and controlled. Just really cool indeed. :D
Excellent instructional, informational video! I have an old reel-to-reel and I wanted to learn more about it and how to thread it. I learned so much about how the technology evolved - I'm also a geek so I found it so very interesting! This is one of the BEST informational videos I have seen on TH-cam!
Thank you so much for this. I knew bits and parts, but I realized how much I was missing to get the whole picture. Now gotta play with my A77. I appreciate this video and all the effort to make this possible very much.
I just used an Uher Report Monitor 4200 2-track 5" reel-to-reel machine to record the birds in Sweden at a camp site, without any roads in proximity(!) Results were awesome! Just using the original Uher M518A microphones with the odd 8-pole DIN plug and BASF Audio Professional DP26 FE LH double play tapes. It's so much fun I'll do this more often! The recorder will run 8+ hours on five NiCd 4,5Ah D-cells which gives me plenty of run time. I even have the original NiCd block battery which still has over 90% of its capacity... good old quality!
Great video. Great teacher, visual aids, love the enthusiasm. I only know digital but your insight is definitely making me want to explore the good ol' analog! Cheers!
Thanks so much for this awesome info! I've always wanted to learn more about this mysterious medium! I vaguely recall playing around with a toy one of these when I was very young (early 70's), but I've never really worked with a professional or even mid-level consumer deck. I AM aware however of their possible sonic attributes, as many of the high-end (2.1 or even 2-channel million dollar systems displayed in Venition Resort Suites during CES) systems used reel-to-reel decks as their sources. Others used vinyl (none used CD or other digital sources). The sound of these amazing systems literally brought tears to my eyes!
Absolutly great video. Anyone should be able to follow & understand the material. This information is exactly the tutorial we need. No background music to distract. Many thanks
Bless your soul man! Bringing this knowledge to a new generation, just waiting on my first reel to reel right now for my studio, can’t wait to send some productions through it! Thanks for this 🙏🏼
Thanks for doing this! A friend was gifted a working TEAC 80-8, Model 5 Mixer (with a companion module that has like 8 more channel strips) plus the noise reduction module. He moved and decided to gift it to me! But I had no idea how to actually use it. This video helped a lot.
my tape story: was into music for a long time, played some instruments. played with a few "bands". my dad said he had a cassette deck in the basement, and it turned out to be a really nice portastudio. with like 12 faders, even some bussing options. I recorded on that for years, now it's all in the DAW. Thanks for finally wrapping how tape works around my head. Also- excellent animations, some of the best I've seen on here, and THAT's what i do for a living!
Subscribed! I queried and indirectly related search on google and lo and behold you broke down nearly my own Teac A-2340R and have recounted the context and history of recording. One of the best videos I have seen! Thank you!
I very much enjoyed your video here Chris. Well done! Threading the tape the way you showed is very easy and very useful. I can't thank you enough. No more ruined tape leads, YEAH!!
So far the best reel to reel video, now a have a good comfort level to go look at this teac and know what I’m looking for so I don’t get into a project purchase, thank you so much
I need one of these for my studio! And this video is very informative! I like how well this guy explains it, I can literally operate one with full understanding also just from watching this video. Well Done!
I am a veteran daw engineer and I have an interest in analog so I found a good deal on an ATR 80. This video really solidified what i thought I knew about analog recording. thank you.
So glad I found this. I'm a very visual learner (former Army medic: see one, do one, teach one). This helped immensely as a refresher for the basics before I start digging into rebuilding and using a Revox A77 MkIII I just got. Look forward to watching more of your videos.
Thank you! I'm so glad you're here :) There's a whole series of Reel-to-reel and analogue recording videos coming out in the next year. :) I hope you enjoy them, have a laugh, and learn a thing or two along the way. :)
Thank you so much for teaching us so much. I grew up in the 60s and my Dad owned an Akat X300 with 15 ips speed and later a Revox A77. I always found tape sound recording fascinating but your lecture is superb Thank you so much.
Great video and explanation. I'm old enough to remember when getting a reel to reel in your home stereo system was the very top of the line for audio quality. I had my first one in 1981 after saving for what seemed like forever to buy it. All joking aside, reel to reel audio quality is probably better than most younger people think it is. It can give a very true representation of music, especially in the low HZ freq. that are true to the master recordings, some feel much better than digital. In fact, I just saw something where reel to reel is making a "slight" comeback in the audiophile world, where some new decks are upward of $10,000.00 dollars now and even more! Wow... Thanks again, great video! JM
Excellent video of reel to reel basics. I'm planning to purchase a reel to reel system as I have recordings back in the 80's so I needed this to get me up to speed. Plan to do a number of reviews as there is a lot here to digest. Thank you Chris for taking the time to do this!
Thank you sir! :) I'm glad you enjoyed it. There's a lot more videos coming in this genre in the near future. I've got a half dozen reel to reels and we're going to do a deep dive in stuff like this.
If I could give you two thumbs up I would. This is my first time watching your channel and you just blew my mind. I'm no stranger to r2r but I still learned something. You rock.
I got a free Sony TC 377 from one of my dads friends. I honestly had no idea how to use it and you showed me the ins and outs. So thankyou very much for that.
Love Love Love my 3340s still have a teac mix down panel from 1978 to use with it Started on a 60's Sony 2 track still have it - The 3340s was a dream working great
I grew up in a house with a reel to reel player, and it was the medium that I was exposed to classic rock on. A few weeks ago, I found a curbside Teac and plopped it in the trunk quickly, only to discover it had a gooey belt that needed replacing. $11 and a few days later, the belt arrived and was replaced (after cleaning the black goo mess). It works now, and my dad handed me some of the recordings I so fondly remember. Man, reliving the nostalgia of that era was worth every bit of the $11 and the time I spent getting the pinch rollers cleaned up and moving freely again after who knows how many years it sat like that. And I got a working X-2000R for nothing. If they knew it was that easy, they probably would have done it themselves. One man's trash is another man's R2R. Lucky me, for once.
Great informative video, i started recording sounds as a teen 50 yrs ago i was lent two ferrographs it was brilliant fun sending sounds back and forth adding new sounds each time next 1979 same person took back ferographs but sold me teac A108 simulsync cassette deck, wow i wore it out but out came Tascam 144 now we are Rocking next tascam 244 next fostex reel to reel r8 trk it's now getting really interesting and like a Dream come true 1986 jump 38 yrs now i went digital with some very expensive equipment spending thousands but because i retired from going to work ive gone back over hundreds of recordings on many formats to 1980 listening to early cassette songs and it's like you've met your 1st love again , The Art of tape recording and all it entails what a love affair it was beautiful moments captured vintage synth sounds , ive had to buy back and fix a A108 244 a yamaha mtx8 Tascam 424 mk1 and others so to re live those mostly forgotten moments. But now i want to go back to recording the old way ! Thank you for your inspirational TH-cam videos ❤
Perfect video! thanks so much for this one. Just tot a Otari MX 5050 Biii-2 of my dad that he had been laying arround over the years. Now its studio time for this baby!
Thank you. Brilliant intro & even I understood what you were saying. Fortunately I stumbled across this as I would have made a serious mistake over a unit I was going to purchase - now that I am better informed I know to seek the correct specs. Brilliant!
thankyou very much for posting all of this information and putting it in a way us non Electrical Engineers can understand the one comment i thought was spot on was our ears are Analog ! i’m 55 years old and i think it’s funny that today’s twenty something year olds are now “discovering some of our old equipment and talking about how great it sounds i kind of laugh as my 27 year old talks like he and his friends discovered something i didn’t know about years before they were born i am looking at buying my first reel to reel player/recorder
I completely agree....great video and appreciate your personality and interesting speaking. Well done. Any plans for more in depth reel to reel instructions? Like to know different tapes you like for recording, brands, etc...
Have no fear! At the height of my collecting, I had THIRTEEN reel-to-reel tape recorders including Grundig (4 different), Stellaphone, Telefunken, Elizabethan, Tandberg, Philips (2 different), Sony, Uher, and Ferrograph.
My palate and veracious appetite has been re-ignited for analogue. Thank you for the thorough offerings and helping me reconnect to the soul of my sonic journey. I am back home. ;-)
I have a shed full of Reel to Reels, Wire Recorders, Cassette multitrack, DATs, ADATs and early DAWs such as Soundscape and Paris etc. TEAC, Tascam, Revox, Fostex, Webster etc. Big restoration job. Great to get a clear and concise explanation of the physics!
This isn´t obsolete. I just got my first TEAC 3340S on its way in the mail and we´re talking 2017. I watched your basic lesson. I spent a decade in front of a reel-to-reel in the 70s but never the higher end 10 inch machines. So good to see you operate the 3340, it prepared me for the upcoming ride.
A colleague recommend me to a guy selling a tape machine because he knows I’m into analog recording. When the guy opened the trunk, I couldn’t help but think of this video when I saw the same exact Teac model. The seller said it’d been sitting around for 30 years, so I knew it would need to be serviced. I took it home and found the pinch roller was gummy and two channels weren’t working properly. I found a local guy who services these, so hopefully we can get her in good recording condition and make some music with it! Thanks for the video, I learned a lot about reel to reel machines and eventually put together an analog studio that we do video tutorials on.
I have never seen anyone explain the technology on how a tape works like Chris on this video. I loved it! I used to have an AKAI M-8 Reel-to-Reel my uncle gave me. I loved every moment I was using it. Unfortunately one time I was recording with a friend and accidentally hit the capstan with his guitar headstock and was pretty much all downhill from there. Thanks Chris for this very educational video. I might have to go and get me another Reel-to-Reel now :)
Love this! Very well done video. I'm acquiring a reel to reel from my brother-in-law this week and plan to record classical guitar and the band too. This gives me some great insight to get started, thanks!!
Great video!!! Exactly how we recorded all our songs in the beginning - and it still sounds good. So much people like the reel-to-reel-sound even today! The analog world is still popular - even if we have apple macs today ... each ear is still analog ;o))
Really cool video. I took classes about 15 years ago on 2inch studers. Never used a single reel to reel after that till now. I just bought a 707 and ready to transfer some new music to tape and show it off to my friends. Thanks
This was a fun video to watch....Good information and production value. Makes me want to get an old reel to reel and start recording some analog tracks.
As somebody who has finally found one of these after wanting one for so long, this video has been very informative in the technology and use, thanks very much :o)
Great explanation! I have been recording since 1962 and I enjoyed your digital drawings on the board. I even learned a few things I didn't know., especially about 4-channel recorders. I am looking forward to seeing your other videos The best recorder I have had is a Tandberg 64X which I purchased in 1968 for a months' pay ($600). It has separate record and playback heads which allow sound-on-sound or sound with sound recording. These features you mentioned with the 4-channel machine you demonstrated. Again, fantastic video.
Thank you so much Mr. Chris Bowden :o)) Even if English is my FOUR language, and I learned it as the last one in my package, I could easily understand almost EVERYTHING you just said about that analog Real~2~Real deck. Definitely ... analog recording has a SOUL, maybe because of its amazing DYNAMIC RANGE available for Hi-Fi recordings at the higher speed. >> Thank you for producing this particular video, about real-to-real analog tape recorders, and the analog technology of recording from the start. Before I left Europe, I had a pretty good quality 4-track real~2~real machine, made in Poland (former ZRK Kasprzak), with 7.5 cm/sec. and 19.5 cm/sec speed availability, and big wheels. The DYNAMIC range on the higher speed was just EXCELLENT, not even comparable to the some vinyl records on the market. The real problem that time in communist Poland, were the blank real2real tapes availability to buy to the regular citizen. You could buy them paying by American Dollars dollars in the special government controlled stores called "Pewex" or on the black market, but ..... who could afford that making max. $25 per month (of being paid by the commie government in previous Polish currency that time). There was no way to do that on regular basis. Group of your friends could gather together,, to buy for you the blank tape, for example "Maxwell", "BASF", or "Scotch" real2real tape, as a Birthday Gift. WoW !!!! That was really something at that times in the 80's of XX century. A good memories !!!! Here in Canada, only the good friend of my, he was a lucky bastard, of buying, on E-bay a real~2~real "AKAI" Japanese made .... a very good recording deck for reasonable price, and also in the mint condition. I am really jealous .... 'cause I can not afford that. Maybe .... one fine day, when I am gonna win 6x49 Lottery right coupon :o)) Amen.
This man deserves a medal. No blaring music, just gave us the facts man, just the facts. This is what information videos aught to be. I enjoyed it.
Dok Bob more. Teac a3340
Explain exactly specifically to stupid people! :))
And.. a lot of love for his subject!
Ok, whoever cut away and did the animated whiteboard...freakin genius. Just had to say that.
even matched the line speed with the squeeks
I wonder if they planned that animation or they just had to do it because the guy just couldn't draw? :-)
@@borayurt66 entirely that
Instablaster
i'm a a late 40's baby, this is the first time hearing this subject explained that any layman understands it.
great job!!
Thank you! :) I'm sincerely glad you enjoyed it!
I'm only just getting into reel to reel and this was so so helpful. This guy's enthusiasm is infectious. 10/10
This is so cute. I am a child of the 60s I remember when this particular model was first introduced to the public. Us recording and sound reinforcement folks almost lost our minds! We literally drooled over the counters where this thing was sold as well as the Akai and even the consumer Pioneer RTR but they TEAC was king. If you were lucky enough to get a TASCAM multichannel mixer, you were king of the hill. This particular model was a god damned work horse that never failed. It was great for live and studio recording. It’s still as sexy and futuristic looking as when it first came out.
This is an EXCELLENT breakdown for the lil kiddies out there although I have to admit it’s like watching someone teaching how to tie your wittle shoes. 😂 He did EXCELLENT JOB! The graphics are EXCELLENT and I even learned something. What a lovely time I had watching this. One thing I wished he mentioned was that we used to take a two channel stereo machine and use a piece of photographic negative film over the erase head and re-record with a known 0.5 second or so delay and overdub like that. Ahhhhh those were the good old days. I like digital but it just doesn’t have the dynamic range and warmth of the analog stuff unless you’re at the highest rates. GREAT VIDEO! Cheers!
This is brilliant - you manage to include a huge amount of information in an easy to understand way, without feeling like things are being dumbed down or skipped - thanks for taking the time to do this
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching! :)
This is fantastic. Thank you, Chris, for explaining and preserving a dying art form. Love that Analog.
This is different from digital...."This has Soul"!
luv it Man!
This is so valuable to me right now! Thank you so much. Family member passed away and has 4 of these things on mint condition wrapped in plastic, and I need to know what I’m looking at. Thank you for making this!
"It's not a brick wall, it's a big soft mattress of happy"
Made my day haha.
Thank you so very much for all the info and knowledge you are sharing. After playing bass for over 45 years, I am finally putting together my vintage recording studio complete with the Teac 3340s . I am new to recording, And you were making it all happen thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge
From this one video, I've learned more about something I'm actually interested in than I have in the last 9 years of school. Thanks for making this :)
+AwesomeRobot15 Let me guess........ Full Sail?
+marcusdolby1 that would be infering that he is in the 9th or 10th grade. aka not college or university
Today is 12/15/2019 making this video 7+ years old. And it is just as informative today as it was 7+ years ago when it was posted! Thank you so much for devoting your time, patience, and intellect!
I have a reel to reel on the way so this video is exactly what I needed! One more time-THANK YOU, SIR!!!
This is one of the best and informative youtube videos I've ever seen!!! Very well done Chris. Thank you.
Being a teacher myself I must congratulate you for the way you’re explaining this analog stuff. I own 2Revox A77, 4 and 2 track and they are a part of my musical life. Never would sell them. Once grown up analog, always analog. Well done Chris. You’re one of the perfect teachers here on You tube. Your didactic approach invites people to learn more about the past. Keep on doing this way of teaching. Belgian greetings !
Plz. Contact me Ivan as I have 1/4 inch tape with recorded project. Want to convert to digital st. Regards John
Making this comment 11 years later. Today many "real" musicians are going back to tape. They have realized the quality of the sound that tape captures that is unobtainable with digital. If all your going to do is put some samplings together and call it music digital is fine. But tape has a quality and warmth of sound that can't be beat! BTW, new state of the art decks are now being manufactured by the top brands around the world. Also, the manufacturing of the tape itself has been improved tremendously which adds to the improvement of the sound quality and shelf life. Like vinyl records, what was once old is again new.
I just got my very first reel to reel machine after being in audio hobby and restoration for almost 20 years. It happened to be Teac A-4430S. Dude, you are awesome. Your level of explanation is so simple and detailed, I only had to watch the video once. THANK YOU.
Brilliant refresher for people going back to a retro setup....
"A long, long time ago, you know like the 90's" Chris you definitely make me feel old. You have done a sterling job in presenting this tutorial, well done sir.
I just received a mint condition Teac A-3340S with Metal 10 in tape from my dad. Everything works and his been in storage for its entire life. This video truly helped me understand how to work this machine. Thank you.
One of the best TH-cam tutorial videos! The materials, preparations, presentation, and animations are really well done! Thank you.
You did a wonderful job of describing it all. I'm sure that many people have been brought out of the dark. I learned all that you presented a long time ago, and on a very similar machine. But the refresher course wasn't a waste of time. Thanks again for your presentation.
Thank you very much for your lesson !
All that takes me to my childhood when in 62 ( ? ) my father bought one BASF ; a second one two years later ; so we could record ( 9.5 cm/s - 15 cm diameter reels ) Radio Caroline ( from North Sea ) ; later in the 60's came the Grundig TK 146 and the Philips N4308 to replace the firsts tape recorders ( and came one DUAL stereo hifi set ) , as well as in 70 came the TK 1400 ( portable / report ) for holidays/camping .
I began to work and have money in 1973 so I was dreaming of one Tandberg tape recorder ( said to be very high quality ) , but I went in 76 in the new chromium-oxyde cassettes ............I was much more with the LP's ( 33 rpm - vinyl ) on my own Hi-Fi set at home .
After my father passed , I was given the Grundig TK1400 ( still working very fine in 2016 ! ) , one TK147automatic , one TK 547 and one SABA TG 674 with a lot of reels and tapes . One Philips and one Telefunken went to my elder brother .
Last year one uncle passed ( teatcher in electronics ) and it was gave to me its Grundig TK46 ( 50's old fashion looking ! )
We are 50 Hz - 220 V or now 230 V -> 240 V AC here in Europe / France
Tapes recorders ........... : one Era ! .........................
éric : great fan of Minidiscs
I was a teenager in the late 70's and early 80's . I remember regularly checking out the many record. music and stereo stores of the period. there were many reel to reel sets,many over $1000 dollars, they were the Cadillac's of audio play and recording back then, until the arrival of the much hyped compact disc player which quickly overtook the reel 2 reel. When I was playing in rock bands in the 80's and 90's, I worked with a few Fostex 15 ips 8 track reel to reels They were alot of fun These days I have a real time analog to digital CD burner and a pocket high density digital recorder with condenser mic's and computer recorder for my recording needs but its still cool to see these classic 70's reel 2 reel players in action they were the dream recording gadgets of my teenage years.
Mine too... I grew up in the 70's just like you Bro. and I have always been loving them. Their low frequency renditions (the bass) always pumped out with some heavy punch effect when played with one of those nasty stereo amplifiers of those days which were way beyond these days so called 5+1 receivers or what have you. The bass were always very neat, tight and controlled. Just really cool indeed. :D
Excellent instructional, informational video! I have an old reel-to-reel and I wanted to learn more about it and how to thread it. I learned so much about how the technology evolved - I'm also a geek so I found it so very interesting! This is one of the BEST informational videos I have seen on TH-cam!
This video was awesome. I've never seen such a great video. Thank you, Chris!
Thanks a lot, the diagram and visuals breaking down the analog to digital conversion was perfect.
I've had a 3340s for 45 years and still learned something from this. Thanks!
Thank you so much for this. I knew bits and parts, but I realized how much I was missing to get the whole picture. Now gotta play with my A77. I appreciate this video and all the effort to make this possible very much.
Honestly by far the best video i've seen explaining reel to reel! You sir are very enjoyable to listen to and also very informative. BIG THANKS!!!
I love this video so much and got a TEAC S 3340 because of it. It's really a wonderful machine. This dude's enthusiasm is infectious.
I just used an Uher Report Monitor 4200 2-track 5" reel-to-reel machine to record the birds in Sweden at a camp site, without any roads in proximity(!)
Results were awesome! Just using the original Uher M518A microphones with the odd 8-pole DIN plug and BASF Audio Professional DP26 FE LH double play tapes. It's so much fun I'll do this more often! The recorder will run 8+ hours on five NiCd 4,5Ah D-cells which gives me plenty of run time. I even have the original NiCd block battery which still has over 90% of its capacity... good old quality!
What a great production value this video has. So informative, to the point... And the animations!
I just scored a mint Akai m8 today. This has been the best vid I've seen so far.
Great video. Great teacher, visual aids, love the enthusiasm. I only know digital but your insight is definitely making me want to explore the good ol' analog! Cheers!
Thanks so much for this awesome info! I've always wanted to learn more about this mysterious medium! I vaguely recall playing around with a toy one of these when I was very young (early 70's), but I've never really worked with a professional or even mid-level consumer deck. I AM aware however of their possible sonic attributes, as many of the high-end (2.1 or even 2-channel million dollar systems displayed in Venition Resort Suites during CES) systems used reel-to-reel decks as their sources. Others used vinyl (none used CD or other digital sources). The sound of these amazing systems literally brought tears to my eyes!
Absolutly great video. Anyone should be able to follow & understand the material. This information is exactly the tutorial we need. No background music to distract. Many thanks
Bless your soul man! Bringing this knowledge to a new generation, just waiting on my first reel to reel right now for my studio, can’t wait to send some productions through it! Thanks for this 🙏🏼
Thanks for doing this! A friend was gifted a working TEAC 80-8, Model 5 Mixer (with a companion module that has like 8 more channel strips) plus the noise reduction module. He moved and decided to gift it to me! But I had no idea how to actually use it. This video helped a lot.
my tape story: was into music for a long time, played some instruments. played with a few "bands". my dad said he had a cassette deck in the basement, and it turned out to be a really nice portastudio. with like 12 faders, even some bussing options. I recorded on that for years, now it's all in the DAW. Thanks for finally wrapping how tape works around my head. Also- excellent animations, some of the best I've seen on here, and THAT's what i do for a living!
I was recently given my uncles collection of 100's of reels and a player, This is a fantastic video that will help immensely..Thanks so much
Love the production quality of the newer videos Chris! They look fantastic :) The animations are brilliant.
A great job explaining a fundamental and important aspect of audio technology.
Subscribed! I queried and indirectly related search on google and lo and behold you broke down nearly my own Teac A-2340R and have recounted the context and history of recording. One of the best videos I have seen! Thank you!
Great video. To the point, thorough, and very watchable. Thank you.
I very much enjoyed your video here Chris. Well done! Threading the tape the way you showed is very easy and very useful. I can't thank you enough. No more ruined tape leads, YEAH!!
So far the best reel to reel video, now a have a good comfort level to go look at this teac and know what I’m looking for so I don’t get into a project purchase, thank you so much
I need one of these for my studio! And this video is very informative! I like how well this guy explains it, I can literally operate one with full understanding also just from watching this video. Well Done!
Just what the doctor ordered. Thank you sir!
I am a veteran daw engineer and I have an interest in analog so I found a good deal on an ATR 80. This video really solidified what i thought I knew about analog recording. thank you.
So glad I found this. I'm a very visual learner (former Army medic: see one, do one, teach one). This helped immensely as a refresher for the basics before I start digging into rebuilding and using a Revox A77 MkIII I just got. Look forward to watching more of your videos.
Thank you! I'm so glad you're here :) There's a whole series of Reel-to-reel and analogue recording videos coming out in the next year. :) I hope you enjoy them, have a laugh, and learn a thing or two along the way. :)
This video has international relevance. A big help, cheers from NZ.
2024 and it still the best video on tapes on youtube
You sure know how to explain things soo clearly, thumbs up, passion driven knowledge transmitted for anyone to pick up
Very awesome demo. I knew most of this already but you did a great job for anyone who doesn't know much about analog.
Thank you so much for teaching us so much. I grew up in the 60s and my Dad owned an Akat X300 with 15 ips speed and later a Revox A77. I always found tape sound recording fascinating but your lecture is superb Thank you so much.
Just bought my first at a garage sale today, this information has helped tremendously , thank you
Great video and explanation. I'm old enough to remember when getting a reel to reel in your home stereo system was the very top of the line for audio quality. I had my first one in 1981 after saving for what seemed like forever to buy it. All joking aside, reel to reel audio quality is probably better than most younger people think it is. It can give a very true representation of music, especially in the low HZ freq. that are true to the master recordings, some feel much better than digital. In fact, I just saw something where reel to reel is making a "slight" comeback in the audiophile world, where some new decks are upward of $10,000.00 dollars now and even more! Wow... Thanks again, great video! JM
Excellent video of reel to reel basics. I'm planning to purchase a reel to reel system as I have recordings back in the 80's so I needed this to get me up to speed. Plan to do a number of reviews as there is a lot here to digest. Thank you Chris for taking the time to do this!
Thank you sir! :) I'm glad you enjoyed it. There's a lot more videos coming in this genre in the near future. I've got a half dozen reel to reels and we're going to do a deep dive in stuff like this.
If I could give you two thumbs up I would. This is my first time watching your channel and you just blew my mind. I'm no stranger to r2r but I still learned something. You rock.
Thanks for sharing. I am buying one of this machines. Didn't know where and how to start. You got me all excited. Thank you. Well done
I got a free Sony TC 377 from one of my dads friends. I honestly had no idea how to use it and you showed me the ins and outs. So thankyou very much for that.
Best... Tutorial... Ever. A lot in a little- done just right; THANK YOU.
Love Love Love my 3340s still have a teac mix down panel from 1978 to use with it Started on a 60's Sony 2 track still have it - The 3340s was a dream working great
I grew up in a house with a reel to reel player, and it was the medium that I was exposed to classic rock on. A few weeks ago, I found a curbside Teac and plopped it in the trunk quickly, only to discover it had a gooey belt that needed replacing. $11 and a few days later, the belt arrived and was replaced (after cleaning the black goo mess). It works now, and my dad handed me some of the recordings I so fondly remember. Man, reliving the nostalgia of that era was worth every bit of the $11 and the time I spent getting the pinch rollers cleaned up and moving freely again after who knows how many years it sat like that. And I got a working X-2000R for nothing. If they knew it was that easy, they probably would have done it themselves. One man's trash is another man's R2R. Lucky me, for once.
Great informative video, i started recording sounds as a teen 50 yrs ago i was lent two ferrographs it was brilliant fun sending sounds back and forth adding new sounds each time next 1979 same person took back ferographs but sold me teac A108 simulsync cassette deck, wow i wore it out but out came Tascam 144 now we are Rocking next tascam 244 next fostex reel to reel r8 trk it's now getting really interesting and like a Dream come true 1986 jump 38 yrs now i went digital with some very expensive equipment spending thousands but because i retired from going to work ive gone back over hundreds of recordings on many formats to 1980 listening to early cassette songs and it's like you've met your 1st love again , The Art of tape recording and all it entails what a love affair it was beautiful moments captured vintage synth sounds , ive had to buy back and fix a A108 244 a yamaha mtx8 Tascam 424 mk1 and others so to re live those mostly forgotten moments. But now i want to go back to recording the old way ! Thank you for your inspirational TH-cam videos ❤
Perfect video! thanks so much for this one. Just tot a Otari MX 5050 Biii-2 of my dad that he had been laying arround over the years. Now its studio time for this baby!
best video on youtube explaining the basics. Thanks.
Thank you. Brilliant intro & even I understood what you were saying. Fortunately I stumbled across this as I would have made a serious mistake over a unit I was going to purchase - now that I am better informed I know to seek the correct specs. Brilliant!
Glad it was helpful!
thankyou very much for posting all of this information and putting it in a way us non Electrical Engineers can understand the one comment i thought was spot on was our ears are Analog ! i’m 55 years old and i think it’s funny that today’s twenty something year olds are now “discovering some of our old equipment and talking about how great it sounds i kind of laugh as my 27 year old talks like he and his friends discovered something i didn’t know about years before they were born i am looking at buying my first reel to reel player/recorder
You are great! I can feel you love this equipment! Thank you a lot for sharing this video!
I completely agree....great video and appreciate your personality and interesting speaking. Well done. Any plans for more in depth reel to reel instructions? Like to know different tapes you like for recording, brands, etc...
I have 6 machines. I don't know how this happened. Please help.
Have no fear! At the height of my collecting, I had THIRTEEN reel-to-reel tape recorders including Grundig (4 different), Stellaphone, Telefunken, Elizabethan, Tandberg, Philips (2 different), Sony, Uher, and Ferrograph.
Me to! But more and big ones ;) ...love thay 16track maschines!!! Or tube tabe maschines! Good gear for rec. ;)
Godfrey Poon you’re a beast. Nothing wrong with that at all!
I think they breed in the dark.
Me too, six Akai recorders and one very old tubu mono two track recorder.
My palate and veracious appetite has been re-ignited for analogue. Thank you for the thorough offerings and helping me reconnect to the soul of my sonic journey. I am back home. ;-)
Thank You Sooo Much For Teaching This Amazing Machine. I Actually Found This Same One And I Purchased It. SOOO MUCH FUN!
Chris Thank You!
"With Analog, it's nnniiiceeee....". Couldn't agree more!
Great job Chris you are never too old to learn :)
Thank you Chris Boden and all the Crew
I have a shed full of Reel to Reels, Wire Recorders, Cassette multitrack, DATs, ADATs and early DAWs such as Soundscape and Paris etc. TEAC, Tascam, Revox, Fostex, Webster etc. Big restoration job. Great to get a clear and concise explanation of the physics!
This isn´t obsolete. I just got my first TEAC 3340S on its way in the mail and we´re talking 2017. I watched your basic lesson. I spent a decade in front of a reel-to-reel in the 70s but never the higher end 10 inch machines. So good to see you operate the 3340, it prepared me for the upcoming ride.
A colleague recommend me to a guy selling a tape machine because he knows I’m into analog recording. When the guy opened the trunk, I couldn’t help but think of this video when I saw the same exact Teac model.
The seller said it’d been sitting around for 30 years, so I knew it would need to be serviced. I took it home and found the pinch roller was gummy and two channels weren’t working properly. I found a local guy who services these, so hopefully we can get her in good recording condition and make some music with it!
Thanks for the video, I learned a lot about reel to reel machines and eventually put together an analog studio that we do video tutorials on.
I have never seen anyone explain the technology on how a tape works like Chris on this video. I loved it!
I used to have an AKAI M-8 Reel-to-Reel my uncle gave me. I loved every moment I was using it. Unfortunately one time I was recording with a friend and accidentally hit the capstan with his guitar headstock and was pretty much all downhill from there. Thanks Chris for this very educational video. I might have to go and get me another Reel-to-Reel now :)
still fresh one day before of 2020... Thank you very much!
Never seen a better tutorial in my entire life. No kidding, great job.
Love this! Very well done video. I'm acquiring a reel to reel from my brother-in-law this week and plan to record classical guitar and the band too. This gives me some great insight to get started, thanks!!
Great video!!! Exactly how we recorded all our songs in the beginning - and it still sounds good. So much people like the reel-to-reel-sound even today! The analog world is still popular - even if we have apple macs today ... each ear is still analog ;o))
Absolutely. Our ears frequency response to sound weren't designed to hear digital sounds. Natural sounds are totally analog based and biased.
Really cool video. I took classes about 15 years ago on 2inch studers. Never used a single reel to reel after that till now. I just bought a 707 and ready to transfer some new music to tape and show it off to my friends. Thanks
Fantastic video. Really enjoyed it, and learned more than I bargained for!
This was a fun video to watch....Good information and production value. Makes me want to get an old reel to reel and start recording some analog tracks.
This is a really good video. so bloody damn well explained. Didn’t have to rewind or fast forward. Got it all in one take! Thank you!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)
As somebody who has finally found one of these after wanting one for so long, this video has been very informative in the technology and use, thanks very much :o)
Great explanation! I have been recording since 1962 and I enjoyed your digital drawings on the board. I even learned a few things I didn't know., especially about 4-channel recorders. I am looking forward to seeing your other videos The best recorder I have had is a Tandberg 64X which I purchased in 1968 for a months' pay ($600). It has separate record and playback heads which allow sound-on-sound or sound with sound recording. These features you mentioned with the 4-channel machine you demonstrated. Again, fantastic video.
Getting a Teac 3440 in a couple of days, so I have enjoyed this very much, it's very well done, great tutorial for a beginner like i am. Thank you!
When Radio shack was THE GO TO PLACE for electronics.
I havent finished the video yet, but this is the best video out there to know about it, thank you very much. Keep it going :)
Thank you so much Mr. Chris Bowden :o)) Even if English is my FOUR language, and I learned it as the last one in my package, I could easily understand almost EVERYTHING you just said about that analog Real~2~Real deck. Definitely ... analog recording has a SOUL, maybe because of its amazing DYNAMIC RANGE available for Hi-Fi recordings at the higher speed. >> Thank you for producing this particular video, about real-to-real analog tape recorders, and the analog technology of recording from the start. Before I left Europe, I had a pretty good quality 4-track real~2~real machine, made in Poland (former ZRK Kasprzak), with 7.5 cm/sec. and 19.5 cm/sec speed availability, and big wheels. The DYNAMIC range on the higher speed was just EXCELLENT, not even comparable to the some vinyl records on the market. The real problem that time in communist Poland, were the blank real2real tapes availability to buy to the regular citizen. You could buy them paying by American Dollars dollars in the special government controlled stores called "Pewex" or on the black market, but ..... who could afford that making max. $25 per month (of being paid by the commie government in previous Polish currency that time). There was no way to do that on regular basis. Group of your friends could gather together,, to buy for you the blank tape, for example "Maxwell", "BASF", or "Scotch" real2real tape, as a Birthday Gift. WoW !!!! That was really something at that times in the 80's of XX century. A good memories !!!! Here in Canada, only the good friend of my, he was a lucky bastard, of buying, on E-bay a real~2~real "AKAI" Japanese made .... a very good recording deck for reasonable price, and also in the mint condition. I am really jealous .... 'cause I can not afford that. Maybe .... one fine day, when I am gonna win 6x49 Lottery right coupon :o)) Amen.
Wow, the animations are FIRST CLASS! Props to Gibroni!
Fun and enjoyable presentation that is packed with USEFUL information. Well done.
Thank you so much! I was given a reel to reel and had no idea how to use it. Now i actually have somewhere to start
Thanks so much for this. It was exactly what I needed!
That was very interesting!! I knew most of it but never had it explained this clearly... Thank you :)