Reel to reel tape deck are very special. I recommend that you do some research and then narrow it down to a few decks. Or you can do what I did: I bought a few decks to compare and contrast between the models before ending up liking Revox, Tascam, and otari 2 track decks. Take your.
Hey Brotha, another great video! I have a few thoughts/questions: First, as you know TH-cam really doesn’t do the audio justice, so it’s important to hear you Describe what you are hearing/experiencing along with what we hear. That said, I found you a few months ago when I received a BR-20T from a friend of mine. That led me down the path to tape machines in general, and I now have that, my father’s AKAI hi-fi, and a TEAC 80-8 8-track 1/2-inch machine (with a Tascam M-35 Console) and the 8-DBX unit. I’ve changed the belts and rollers, and IPA cleaned them all spotless. They all look brand new. The BR-20T played back a tape of my friend’s performance from the 70’s and it felt like we were right there! That said, I haven’t yet bought the MRL tapes for either machine because there’s so many options/variables. I saw your Calibration Completed video on the Studer. Can you use that MRL to calibrate Both machines? If you were to buy a dedicated MRL tape for each machine, what would you get? And if you calibrated both machines to the same MRL, wouldn’t you then be hearing the difference in electronics of the two machines rather than the tape itself? Any thoughts?
Tape calibration can be very confusing to New commers. I have been at it a little while and I am still learning. MRL tapes can be used to calibrate multiple decks if the decks uses the same reference levels: 257, 270, 350, etc. nWb/m. I strongly recommend that you go to MRL website to read up about their calibration tapes. But first, you must get the service manual for your decks. I also recommend that you go to www.tapeheads.net and post all your questions there. Many people are there to help you. These were the steps I took when I got into the reel to reel tape deck hobby.
Thank you Brotha! I have been to both MRL and TapeHeads (and elsewhere), but I appreciate your advice, and I will post more questions after I study up some more. To take another stab at my key question for you: Assuming that you had an MRL for both Decks and got them both Calibrated and the same specs & tape ( say 15-IPS, NAB, etc...) and you recorded the Same signal to the Same brand new Tape ( say ATR Master or RTM SM-900/911), both machines being fully Calibrated specifically to that tape.... What would the differences be in the Recordings? How would the Playbacks sound different immediately played back on the same machine it was just recorded on? And how would this differ if you Swapped the tapes to the other machine and played back? In other words, does Playback on the Studer ALWAYS sound better, due to better Repro Heads or electronics etc? Does one machine ALWAYS record a flatter frequency response or hotter signal, etc? This is all new to me, but I've been an Audio Engineer for 30+ years and I've finally decided to tackle Tape Machines. Answer whatever or whenever you like, but I wanna say Thank you for being so generous with your knowledge and experience. Already, watching your BR-20T video prepared me to tackle mine and that worked out beautifully! Peace Brotha!
Those are some heavy weight questions. I think the people on the forum who has extensive experience in reel to reel decks can provide better answers than I can. Please post your questions on tapeheads.net. I am really not dodging your questions but as a new bee to tape decks I want to point you in the right direction. With that said, Bias and QE settings are paramount in setting up a tape deck, those have to set correctly in accordance to the service manual. Also, the azimuth and alignment of the tape heads must be set to specifications from the service manual. With respect each tape deck has their own sound characteristics but only the listener can determine what is best sounding to them. So I would recommend that you do some experiments to discover what's sounds best to you. And believe me, that's what I did. And I am still learning. 😊
Sorry I am not able to do that at this time even though I have both decks. The Atari is very flexible in that it can play back both 2 track and 4 track tapes. Sound wise I think it is a tossup between the two decks. Both sounds great to me. But the A810 does have a built-in tape preamp in the headlock.
@@almandog Looks like you'r set up to do professional work and definitely get professional results. (Sorry about the delay, I had an issue receiving notifications).
Your speakers deserve better amplification, Mac is for amateurs, I started with Mac and took me a very long time to try something else. Never looked back
Brother that’s a beautiful set up you have there. 👌🏾
Thank you for sharing this tip. I’ve yet to buy R2R, so I’m still learning.
Reel to reel tape deck are very special. I recommend that you do some research and then narrow it down to a few decks. Or you can do what I did: I bought a few decks to compare and contrast between the models before ending up liking Revox, Tascam, and otari 2 track decks. Take your.
@@almandog can I ask you why you ruled out Studer from your top favourites?
Hey Brotha, another great video!
I have a few thoughts/questions:
First, as you know TH-cam really doesn’t do the audio justice, so it’s important to hear you Describe what you are hearing/experiencing along with what we hear.
That said, I found you a few months ago when I received a BR-20T from a friend of mine.
That led me down the path to tape machines in general, and I now have that, my father’s AKAI hi-fi, and a TEAC 80-8 8-track 1/2-inch machine (with a Tascam M-35 Console) and the 8-DBX unit.
I’ve changed the belts and rollers, and IPA cleaned them all spotless. They all look brand new.
The BR-20T played back a tape of my friend’s performance from the 70’s and it felt like we were right there!
That said, I haven’t yet bought the MRL tapes for either machine because there’s so many options/variables.
I saw your Calibration Completed video on the Studer. Can you use that MRL to calibrate Both machines?
If you were to buy a dedicated MRL tape for each machine, what would you get?
And if you calibrated both machines to the same MRL, wouldn’t you then be hearing the difference in electronics of the two machines rather than the tape itself?
Any thoughts?
Tape calibration can be very confusing to New commers. I have been at it a little while and I am still learning. MRL tapes can be used to calibrate multiple decks if the decks uses the same reference levels: 257, 270, 350, etc. nWb/m. I strongly recommend that you go to MRL website to read up about their calibration tapes. But first, you must get the service manual for your decks. I also recommend that you go to www.tapeheads.net and post all your questions there. Many people are there to help you. These were the steps I took when I got into the reel to reel tape deck hobby.
Thank you Brotha!
I have been to both MRL and TapeHeads (and elsewhere), but I appreciate your advice, and I will post more questions after I study up some more.
To take another stab at my key question for you:
Assuming that you had an MRL for both Decks and got them both Calibrated and the same specs & tape ( say 15-IPS, NAB, etc...) and you recorded the Same signal to the Same brand new Tape ( say ATR Master or RTM SM-900/911), both machines being fully Calibrated specifically to that tape....
What would the differences be in the Recordings?
How would the Playbacks sound different immediately played back on the same machine it was just recorded on?
And how would this differ if you Swapped the tapes to the other machine and played back?
In other words, does Playback on the Studer ALWAYS sound better, due to better Repro Heads or electronics etc? Does one machine ALWAYS record a flatter frequency response or hotter signal, etc?
This is all new to me, but I've been an Audio Engineer for 30+ years and I've finally decided to tackle Tape Machines.
Answer whatever or whenever you like, but I wanna say Thank you for being so generous with your knowledge and experience.
Already, watching your BR-20T video prepared me to tackle mine and that worked out beautifully!
Peace Brotha!
Those are some heavy weight questions. I think the people on the forum who has extensive experience in reel to reel decks can provide better answers than I can. Please post your questions on tapeheads.net. I am really not dodging your questions but as a new bee to tape decks I want to point you in the right direction. With that said, Bias and QE settings are paramount in setting up a tape deck, those have to set correctly in accordance to the service manual. Also, the azimuth and alignment of the tape heads must be set to specifications from the service manual. With respect each tape deck has their own sound characteristics but only the listener can determine what is best sounding to them. So I would recommend that you do some experiments to discover what's sounds best to you. And believe me, that's what I did. And I am still learning. 😊
mr. gooden, where can i find the wooden sides with handles that i see attached to your BR-20? thank you for all of the videos over the years.
Hello: You can get them from me.
Could you do a comparison of a810 vs Otari?
Sorry I am not able to do that at this time even though I have both decks. The Atari is very flexible in that it can play back both 2 track and 4 track tapes. Sound wise I think it is a tossup between the two decks. Both sounds great to me. But the A810 does have a built-in tape preamp in the headlock.
Head Block.
@@almandog thank you for the reply, maybe in future then :)
@@Justas-M Thats a challenging one. Both are excellent machines. I like the otari for its playback flexibility. Thats as far as I will go.
Impressive videos...do you run a business? If so, how can I contact you?
It is all a hobby. Not a business. But I might be able to help you find what you are looking for.
@@almandog Looks like you'r set up to do professional work and definitely get professional results. (Sorry about the delay, I had an issue receiving notifications).
Your speakers deserve better amplification, Mac is for amateurs, I started with Mac and took me a very long time to try something else. Never looked back
To each his own. It is a personal choice.