recording old reel to reel audio

[devdev]

hi

i have to record a few reels of reel to reel audio and given the numerous tape breaks and change of speeds, i was wondering what people might recommend using to do the job?

i have a cd recorder but it only uses audio cdrs but which are pricey but more importantly i cant erase any bad sections before finalising

ultimately, i need to deliver the clients material on cd though

cheers

[hech54]

Record ALL of the audio and edit out the unwanted parts later on the computer.....simple.

[zoobie]

audacity works for me...and it's free

[Cornucopia]

Ever heard of "1/2 speed mastering"?

It's what engineers used to do in the days just before CDs, where they would play the tape at 1/2 speed and then they would engrave the LP glass master with the lathe running at 1/2 speed as well. When the record was played back at normal speed, all would sound at the correct pitch, but the noise signature would have shifted upward into less powerful areas and (MAINLY) the frequency response would be almost double! So, since those original master tapes had VERY GOOD frequency response (>30-40kHz sometimes), you would be able to encode that onto an LP master. Now, granted the pressing process and natural wear-and-tear would lose that extra bit very quickly, but if you had a great Stereo system (w/MC-cartride turntable, preamp, etc) then your 1st few listenings would be much sharper.

Well, guess what?!! A similar thing can be done with modern technology...

1. Get a real well kept up Reel-to-Reel machine (one where you can optimize the playback head azimuth, etc, and one where you have MULTIPLE SPEEDS). Clean it before each playing (using proper chemicals...)
2. Play your material at 1/2 the speed it was recorded in (If originally 15ips, use 7 1/2; if 7 1/2, use 3 3/4...)
3. Have the highest quality A-to-D conversion chain you can get a hold of (external A-to-D boxes have less EMI/RFI interference than regular sound cards).
4. Set your recordings to 88.2kHz/96kHz (if you can--standard 44.1/48k if you don't) and hopefully also set your bit depth to 24bits.
5. Record & save the file (to uncompressed LPCM WAV/AIFF)
6. Use a special RIFF editor utility (or HEX editor if you can't get one) to change the designation of the sample rate from 88.2kHz-->176.4KHz, 96kHz-->192kHz, 44.1kHz-->88.2, or 48kHz-->96kHz. Save the change. For all intents and purposes, this is now a higher rez/higher sr master. Just like if you had originally recorded at that rate/depth
7. Open in an audio editor that supports those sample rates & bit depths, do all your cutting, fading, mixing, filtering, effects, etc on this file, and then...
8. Export a final copy that is downrezzed to 16bits (with gain optimizing & dithering) & downsampled to 44/48 (with linear FIR pre- and post-filtering) and your final WAV/AIFF will sound amazing!
9. Then, if you want/need a compressed copy, make an MP3/AAC at this point. They'll sound better too.

Scott

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
edit: It might do to rent a machine from someone who has a good one (rather than buy one or fix one),
or
take your tape to an engineer at your local college/university Music Department. They're bound to have R2R equipment lying around, getting less and less used, but hopefully kept up (Mine does).

[devdev]

been out of action for a bit so sorry for late reply but thanks for responses - very handy indeed!