open reel to reel tape

what we offer

transfer

Quality is important to us and a good transfer starts with a good analogue playback machine, clean, demagnetised and calibrated. We use Studer A80 RC, Sony APR 5003 and Tascam BR20  for transfers. All our machines are kept in excellent working condition and regularly calibrated. We own test tapes, tension gauges and test equipment so calibration and repair is easier to achieve.

Tapes are checked for condition, and laced onto an appropriate machine and listened to. Playhead azimuth can be adjusted for the best quality plackback. Quite often tapes are sent where the owner has no information about the speed, track format or content. We are happy to view and assess tapes like this.
Tapes are recorded via Benchmark ADC1 external high resolution converters to  RME HDSP audio interfaces into one of our MacOS X based PowerMacs or Linux based audio servers. . At this stage any other editing or digital processing for restoration of the tapes can be performed if necessary.

reel to reel tape formats supported

We can transfer all quarter inch reel to reel tapes to high resolution audio file or CD Audio.

• We have the correct repro heads for the following track formats:
  • Mono
  • Half track Stereo NAB
  • Half track Stereo DIN
  • Quarter Track mono / stereo
  • 4 track discrete
• We can transfer tapes recorded at the following speeds:
  • 1⅞ inches per second (ips)
  • 3.75 ips
  • 7.5 ips
  • 15 ips
  • 30 ips
• We can decode the following types of noise reduction:
  • Dolby A
  • Dolby B
  • Dolby C
  • dBX

Open reel tape can be quite old and be in poor condition. We can cope with broken, tangled, poorly stored tape and tape exhibiting the signs of ‘sticky shed syndrome‘. Tapes with sticky shed need careful and slow heating, usually referred to as tape baking which we can offer.

Costs

As there has been such a variety of tape reel sizes, speeds and tracks formats of the years, we charge by the hour for transfers. Costs can be higher for reel to reel transfers as the tape and transfer process often require more time to setup and supervise. Quite often old splices break due to the splicing tape breaking down which need to be respliced. Also we often receive reels in poor condition with twists, breaks, badly wound on broken reels in addition to the potential of some brands of tape to develop ‘sticky shed syndrome‘ over time which needs specific attention before a transfer can be made. These issue need to be addressed before a transfer is made which takes time and adds to the basic hourly transfer cost.

Please feel free to contact us for a free and friendly discussion about your tapes.