The most expensive music format (in the world)

[@Techmoan]

There are links in the video description text box if you need more information on anything covered (or not covered) in the video. You can also skip past the history section and get straight to the present day high end-tapes by jumping to 15:01

[@simonsaysrewind]

Techmoan have a brilliant Christmas and I look forward to more brilliant videos next year 👍 💿 🎶 📺 📻 🎧

[@themroc8231]

Had you missed the opportunity to insert a "Can't slow down" joke I would have been soooo teribly disappointed, I might have had to consider unsubscribing. But you delivered, as always. On a more serious note: happy holidays to you!

[@ColdSphinX]

@Techmoan what's your thoughts on HiRes audio above 192kHz? Like 352,8kHz and 384kHz? Also im still looking for some 384kHz examples as I only found some 352.8kHz on 2l.no/hires

[@dsdvinylrec1428]

Techmoan actually there is a company who makes new reel to reel machines. It is called Ballfinger. Check out their website and this link: manofmany.com/tech/ballfinger-release-new-reel-reel-tape-player

[@Techmoan]

@ColdSphinX At a certain point to me its more about the type of music and how it was originally recorded and mastered than the end format. Its like the old phrase says, ‘You can’t polish a turd’.

[@saulgoodman1390]

"Getting into reel to reel tape, eh?" "Yeah, what really attracted me was the cost and inconvenience "

[@nathanboulton2066]

reely!!

[@joboo7143]

Yeah I found a nice mint condition Panasonic reel-to-reel on a remodel job the new owner didn't care told me to throw it away or keep it so I thought everybody collects records maybe I could start collecting reels as a hobby. So I looked up reels and I see Black Sabbath Paranoid for about $500 and I thought to myself yeah it's not for me.

[@RetNemmoc555]

@@joboo7143 Wow, I had that one (and a dozen or so more pre-recorded tapes) and just threw them in when I sold my 4-channel Teac for $50. I also handed over hundreds of hours of rock interviews recorded from KLOS in the 70s.

[@korbenbutterworth3479]

@@joboo7143 I got a dead Panasonic and a semi working Phillips recently they are nice even if they where cheap

[@Maddz-Thee-Bee]

This is why I'm getting into 8-track. I found three huge boxes of them on the side of the road

[@douglaskalberg8899]

"The machine only plays One Direction" was a scary way for me to mishear.

[@abousono1]

LOL, that's funny!

[@dead_art]

per machine :)

[@MrWombatty]

That's worse than a zombie-apocalypse!!!

[@sheepboy32785]

So... a One Direction "album" then

[@oleo007]

Best comment ever....LOL

[@SorinNicu]

In former Eastern Block, the "western" LPs were not officially imported. You can smuggle one of the newest "western" LP's but the majority of people didn't have access to relatives living in "west" to bring those in (we were not allowed to travel in that direction). Some EMI records pressed in India would trickle in the stores, very expensive and you needed to "know" people to able to buy one. So the reel-to-reel were extraordinary popular for pirating those rare LP's, and every youth dream was to own a reel-to-reel (like Czechoslovakia's TESLA or USSR's MAJAK or later ROSTOV). Basically you would pay somebody to make a copy from their LP to tape. A copy of that "master" copy was still well-regard. Even the third gen copies were still OK, at 19.05 cm/s (7-1/2 ips). Blank tapes were of marginal quality (mostly East German ORWO) and who could get a hold of an AGFA or BASF were lucky.

[@michachemowski8518]

Depends on the country. They were quite widely available in Poland

[@thechosenone9965]

​@michachemowski8518 bulgaria too. western labels like Phillips licensed their music to Balkanton, bg's state owned label. a lot of people were working abroad so western music wasn't that rare

[@Alorand]

Being an audiophile seems like a masochisticly expensive hobby...

[@TheStarclipse]

Audiophiles Are Going to Extremes: //kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnutqmmMf9uGec0

[@Honsanmai]

I've seen speakers the price of a car

[@Honsanmai]

although if you don't aim for the most cutting edge technology, the highest of high fidelity and the obscurest of obscure formats, you can find something decent at a reasonable price. also a lot of old tech can sound decent even by todays standards, so you might get lucky when browsing fleamarkets.

[@henrikpersson4698]

@@Honsanmai A good car, too

[@Honsanmai]

@Dalle Smalhals I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you mean with that. I'm just saying that a lot of old audio equipment is still capable of producing decent sound and can even be combined with current stuff.

[@xcvsdxvsx]

21:12 That is just about the highest quality sounding sound I have heard come out of a youtube video.

[@AfferbeckBeats]

KZbin's audio has improved a lot in recent years. Look up a song that was uploaded in like 2008, then compare it to the same song uploaded in the last couple of years by the presumably automatic KZbin system where the uploader is the artist as a 'topic'. They sound pretty damn good indeed.

[@RCAvhstape]

Yes, 2112 is a fantastic album! Oh...wait...you were talking about this tape thing...

[@Carl-vm8ej]

I had the same thought :')

[@javaking1000]

Zcooger Second Channel, you are THE BEST! That is some great info that I had no idea about - thank-you!!

[@caloss2]

Right Click the video and click stats for nerds, this video is at opus 251.

[@PhilipLeitch]

I've got a vintage pair of ears that seem to be the limiting factor in my audiophile system. They haven't made ears like mine in over 40 years.

[@kkfoto]

Mine are a bit older. Even poor quality MP3 sounds good to me now :(

[@robertdaly9162]

I've had my hearing checked a few times (tinnitus and eustachian tube disfunction). They give you a graph showing which frequencies you have reductions in. I suppose, in theory, one could adjust their equalizer to compensate.

[@lbowsk]

Try on some 60-year-old ears that have spent the last 32 years flying airplanes for a living. Oh, and blasting The Who (etc) through huge amps and Klipsch speakers. ;)

[@daviddrake7003]

Steve Like Klipshhorns?

[@AngDavies]

@@robertdaly9162 that's how hearing aids tend to work right? It's why they're not transferable between people. I'd imagine they still clip the audio to safe levels, wouldn't want to mess around with that much in case you end up damaging your ear at those frequencies even further

[@Jurlan]

While seeing this video i've realized that my speakers were plugged the wrong way. Thank you!

[@glalevbg]

And because of your comment , I realized that sound channels of the video are not reversed, but rather my set up, thank you :)

[@jamste1977]

I had my wireless headphones on the wrong way round

[@largeowl6024]

Me 3

[@miesesomar]

My cheapo ear buds don't have R L marks. Thanks, I got that sorted now.

[@Mantzy_AUS]

Thanks to this video I realised I was upside down

[@superotterboy1737]

Tape is honestly one of my favourite formats. It's a shame that it's become so expensive and unattainable for most casual listeners. It was such an elegant and yet simplistic platform.

[@ericolens3]

Oof. I hope you are referring to casette tapes or the 8 tracks, VCR casettes, beta casette. I just want to find you house and show off my neodymium collection of magnets.

[@neoasura]

@@ericolens3 Lol don't worry, weather humidity will do it's job just fine on those tapes.

[@av.punk.801]

ugh, preach mate... as a cassette fan, I blame Stranger Things. Give ot some time for the hype to die off and we'll go back to the $2 a tape glory days. As for 8 track, beta/vhs, those are thankfully stable in price these days

[@Padraigp]

There a reel to reel portable for 120 quid looks like a 1950s submarine thing...in a suitcase...I have reel to reel tapes but I wonder should I buy it to play them. I figured they would be bad by now cos my cassettes are bad. Not sure what era they are. I've got shellac records and so much pianola rolls and all sorts of sheet music and records and tapes and goodness knows what.

[@socksumi]

Use a HIFI VCR. Tapes are cheap in comparison to reel tapes and the recording quality is superior... meaning it sounds more lifelike to the source. So yes it's true... the audio quality of VHS HIFI (a good machine) is superior to even the most expensive open reel decks, and is a fraction of the cost. There is your solution.

[@evilspoons]

Sweet, sweet dynamic range 10:00 This is entirely possible on digital but of course we get LOUD as the mix instead.

[@nickwilczynski3684]

You know, that's actually a really good point. I wish people would talk more about this...

[@cdreid99999]

Actually you get compression and quantization. Rick Vito and others cover this. Corporate tax notice that super popular pop songs we're very compressed and quantized so they made that the standard. Rick Vito has a demonstration of this before and after and the difference is stunning. They take genuinely beautiful music and remove the dynamic range so basically you take Master tape quality audio and reduce it to AM radio quality and release it it's insane

[@Bassalicious]

The loudness war is definitely a bad thing the digital age brought us.

[@bmhater1283]

@@Bassalicious What should I say? That war sucks.

[@AutPen38]

The loudness war began at least as early as the late 1950s when Berry Gordy wanted to make his 7" singles sound louder than rival tracks on jukeboxes. (It's why Motown had its own mastering lab with "top secret" technology). Louder songs earned more money in jukeboxes and they were requested more on the radio. It became a stupid arms race that led to the ridiculous "square wave" tracks around the year 2000, but it all started a lot longer ago than most people think. These days, there's a "loudness war" on social media. Whoever shouts the loudest usually gets the most attention. It's refreshing to see someone more mild-mannered (Techmoan) getting lots of attention without resorting to too much clickbait nonsense.

[@wanderer_87]

The irony of listening to this video through $4 ear buds is palpable...

[@briansmith8967]

wanderer_87 or on an iPad without earbuds 😉

[@baltofarlander2618]

Amateurs... I listen it on earphones I found on the street, no joking.

[@lbsiuk]

@@baltofarlander2618 No joke, I first heard this video on my tour guide earphone from the road in the Vatican city. Talk about being cheap!

[@basedbattledroid3507]

You paid for your headphones? Maybe that's where I've been going wrong.

[@lbsiuk]

@@basedbattledroid3507 I didn't pay for mine, they were free.

[@55billmarshall]

This brought back memories. I was a (mostly live) sound engineer in the 70s and Revox were the standard for semi-pro (and a lot of pro) work. I couldn't afford one so bought a Tandberg, which was surprisingly good and which I used to record live gigs from the mixing desk as well as using it for sound effects for theatre. Ws almost ready to buy B77 when of course Revox brought out the 700 series which was superb but way out of all our pockets. The quality of all these decks was excellent - largely because of the wide dynamic range - none of the compression and Dolby-ish processing which made cassettes sound so boxy unless you had a Nakamishi. It's the recording capability that I miss the most - for a while you could use Mini-Disc which worked pretty well and was a lot easier than lugging a Revox to a gig! But I also miss the sheer quality; I don't think the younger generations realise how poor the quality is from their highly compressed MP3s. Even with my lower hi-frequency response on my ageing ears I can hear a big difference, and I find I don't listen for pleasure anything like as much as when I had my old analog hi-fi rigs (I moved abroad and couldn't take them with me). Now re-learning electric guitar and catching up with technology but oh how I miss the old days. (Incidentally it was great to see the Revox with the built in tape-splicing block on the right hand side - used a standalone block frequently back then to make edits.)

[@U014B]

Only slightly less expensive than getting the artists to perform live at your house.

[@monzarace]

That would be the neighbor's cat screaming from from the wooden fence then... Cheers.

[@LittlePixelTM]

I just renovated my Dad's Revox B77 for him; new paint, capacitors, VU bulbs - such a fantastic machine

[@harrygaul4475]

Littlepixel™ That Revox is probably still worth a small fortune; they cost more than cars in the 70's. Cheers for your efforts refurbishing it. Harry

[@LittlePixelTM]

It's certainly not a mint one - my dad used it for editing in the 80s and the heads are prettty worn so it's never going to command the prices of some of the minters you see on ebay. It's academic really - one day I will likely inherit it and I don't really plan to sell it if it does come my way.

[@paulcoddington664]

A friend of mine at high school had a B77 in the family home stereo. It was amazing. I've always wanted one. Had the opportunity to pick up one for cheap some years back, but it looked a bit worn. I still have some reel and cassette tapes that could do with transfer to digital at some point (audio recordings of family events, garage album) - will have to figure out a way to get it done someday (hopefully the tapes are still OK, no assurance that they will be).

[@KarlAdamsAudio]

If anyone's wondering why tapes are stored 'tail-out', it's so that any magnetic print-through from layer-to-layer causes a post-echo, rather than a pre-echo, as the former is relatively benign, while the latter is very distracting indeed.

[@miketaylor247]

Interesting..thanks. I have many compact cassettes with the 'print through' symptoms - like a very bad delay effect!

[@darkstarnh]

Correct. In my days as a sound engineer in TV storing tapes 'tail in' was almost a sacking offence!

[@johnmichaelrichards]

Spot on. indeed there was at one time a move towards using archival tape media which had a much thicker base and sometimes a composite base, to lessen the effect of bleed-through. For the last five years some of my colleagues have been archiving a massive collection of BBC Radiophonic Workshop recordings and similarly making digital copies too. The bleed-through on these old tapes, most of which were always appropriately stored tail-out at RPWS at Maida Vale, is none-the-less very noticeable. For those of you who have good quality compact cassette decks, bleed-through is even more apparent. And if you really want to hear it, leave a healthy ten second lead in time, such that not just the leader tape, but also the magnetic tape portion is blanc and you'll hear the muffled bleed-through. Moreover, the effect of post-bleed-through and, more especially, the manner in which most audio sounds generally decay in amplitude versus time, is the prime reason why so very many high-end copies are not only half-speed mastered, but often reverse-mastered too, so the tapes are rolling backwards - this actually ameliorates issues of tape head over-saturation. The technique is equally applicable when making either tape or vinyl copies. Pre-echo bleed-through is almost akin to the disconcerting effect one hears when playing a recording backwards. This is why post-echo is less intrusive.

[@johnmichaelrichards]

The tapes received were a mixture of those which had been kept at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop at Maida Vale, so not archived by them, but clearly, someone had discipline therein and thought to look after them. i can't comment on the rest of the BBC in London, though in my work occasionally works in BBC radio they were not at all disciplined and there was an ethos of devolving all such responsibility to the BBC Sound Archive, so this meant that many were the worse for wear or utterly destroyed before the archivists got their hands on them. The very large number of tapes which went to Mark Shaw and his colleagues at the University of Manchester, was from the private estate of the late Delia Derbyshire. She sadly became an alcoholic later in life after the BBC unceremoniously dispensed of her expertise, but she was a compulsive hoarder and the old reels were found in the attic and all over her house - thankfully they didn't end up as landfill.

[@johnmichaelrichards]

Indeed. Such a tragedy so much material has been lost through inept storage and lax handling

[@mosespray4510]

My dad had a stereo reel to reel recorder in the 70's and 80's and I used it constantly in my pre-teen and teen years. The controls were really satisfying to use, with two big rotary levers that you would turn with a mechanical "chunk." I would love to have one again, largely because it reminds me of him. Thank you for a great video on this subject!

[@kfl611]

Classic audio is supposed to be heavy - solidly built, no plastic. It is supposed to clunk and maybe if you are lucky have tubes / valves.......

[@mosespray4510]

@@kfl611 You're preaching to the choir!

[@exiletomars]

If someone is doing digital copies of master tapes tbh I'd prefer the digital transfer of the original master tapes.

[@stevewilson8540]

I know, right? I see no point in further complicating the signal chain by recording it on a different format. You introduce so many more variables. It's more like gear fetishism.

[@newjamisonia]

There are some SACDs that claim to be digital versions of original master recordings. Not super hard to get SACD files onto your PC now.

[@leajiaure]

Gear fetishism is 50% of music for me! The other half is, uh, the music

[@lightningblender]

newjamisonia I find it highly amusing that companies spend millions on copy protection schemes and most times they get broken within a week or two. And within a year it’s a hassle free experience...

[@SirNarax]

@@lightningblender If I may explain the why to that? It is done because the first few weeks of a launch are usually the most important. So they are just trying to delay the inevitable long enough rather than prevent it completely. Although with the music industry it is hard to tell they are a bit silly. That is what it is like for software though.

[@lancelot1953]

Hi Techmoan, fellow engineer here - I just wanted to thank you for your outstanding videos about the history of Hi-Fi and your excellent nostalgia-laced reviews of well-known (and lesser known) audio milestone equipment. Your productions are very informative especially for "older" (actually mature) audiences like me. I wish you and your family Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas. Thank you again for thoughtfully documenting all these components for the benefits of younger generations. Ciao, L (from Maine, USA and Québec, CAN)

[@paulgascoigne5343]

That dynamic range was absolutely awesome! My subwoofer nearly made the plaster crack on the wall.

[@thebones]

being a producer in a former life, I've had the pleasure of mastering onto 1/2" 30ips, now that sounds truly great. Make a copy onto DAT is preferable to a hard drive to my ears. One problem with buying old tapes, is that they are falling to bits and ungluing themselves by the hour!

[@arielrivera4051]

Your videos never cease to amaze me. I'm with my mouth open from beginning to end.

[@fiftystate1388]

1:43 That's how I explain my ~2014 plasma TV. The companies keep improving their premium product lines right up to the point where they cease production. I somehow think even in 1981 today's trend applied somewhat: the buyer ends up with the 'best ever,' at the best price. Just back then we weren't _soaked_ in electronics and spoiled by the competition quite as much. IOT? The _what_ of things? We're living like alien royalty compared to '81.

[@user-74652]

That 1957 tape you played sounded amazing. For some reason, I never thought I'd ever hear such high quality audio come from that era. It's kind of jarring to hear people talking in that accent with such clarity and no distortion whatsoever.

[@marie-ramaghurburrun9204]

In the 1950s, British company Quad designed and built an electrostatic loudspeaker (Quad 57, later improved upon with the Quad 63 - I believe the number relates to the first year of production) that even today is not easily "beaten" on sound quality, unless you spend well into 4 figures! I have a pair of 63s and I can tell you that partnered with a suitable/appropriate amp(s) and dac (eg: Benchmark) you will have to spend into multiple tens of thousands of pounds to gain greater insight into a recording.

[@derekheeps1244]

@@marie-ramaghurburrun9204 The number related to the year in which development started . I sold many pairs of ESL 57s and the ESL 63 only came out , from memory , in the early 80s ; I did eventually get a pair , which I still have , and just last year took them back to Huntingdon for a full rebuild , which cost me about as much as the speakers did when new , but I'm told they are now good for another 30 years ! The great thing about Quad is that any product they made can be serviced and restored back to as new condition by them .

[@MegaBakerdude]

Even on my crappy laptop speakers - those snippets sounded the best they ever have. Another excellent video.

[@BlighterProductions]

11:05 This quite literally blew me away on headphones. I did not expect such a dynamic range, especially coming from a KZbin video.

[@Akyuu2608]

Digital has much more dynamic range than analog mediums. But modern mastering for music compresses and limits the hell out of the signal removing dynamic for louder volume.

[@BlighterProductions]

@@Akyuu2608 I've came to learn that reel-to-reel tapes of good quality have a dynamic range of 110 dB. That's 14 dB more than the 96 dB noise floor of 16 bit digital audio that we're used to from CD's. Compressed audio like KZbin Opus, Apple Music's AAC, or Spotify's MP3 usually have slightly less dynamic range due to the compression algorithm. Only thing is that those reel-to-reel tapes self-erased at 20 kHz. Take a look at a spectrograph of a tape-mastered song for example.

[@geekdomo]

A year since I saw this video. 3 new Reel to Reel decks and hundreds of tapes. I now have a Teac X1000-R from '82. Restoring these things has become a new passion of mine. Thanks Techmoan for the new addiction.

[@micheltremblay4774]

I still have a TEAC X-1000RBL with DBX that I bought new in 1984-85, it just sounds wonderful. I still have a few original tapes, 4 AKAI EE-150-10M and 2 MAXELL UDXL 35-180B and I play them at least once a year. They are loaded with Big Band and Classical music recordings from High End analog sources.

[@francisaugistino701]

geekdomo I pick up a Teac A 5300 and need to learn

[@jijzer3284]

I have the same problem 12 26cm decks later

[@SolidEyeYEG]

That "intro to stereo" artwork looks quite modern and clean, yet it's so old.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

18:32 Which begs the question: why bother making the tapes at all? Why not just copy that digital master? Now you know why “digital” is a swearword among analog fans ... because it leads to questions that they would rather not answer.

[@jimbell3821]

A high school friend had the ultimate one-up over this-a quadraphonic reel to reel, to go with his Marantz 4400 quad receiver (complete with wired remote) and his four Klipsch floor speakers (think they were Heresys, but not sure after all these years), and a quad turntable, just to top it off. No surprise, music selection was limited (and pricey), but it was light years ahead of its time. He had close to 8K in the entire set up in 1974.

[@yommish]

Good lord. Nice neighborhood?

[@leokimvideo]

looks like there is hope that VHS will be back in again soon

[@josugambee3701]

VHS HiFi! Up to 8hrs of uninterrupted near-cd quality sound on a T-160. Then again, you could just save all your CDs to FLAC files and listen to them that way, and it is technically superior, but not nearly as fun. Plus, there's something strangely pleasing about the buzzing noise you sometimes get from a wrinkled tape.

[@macnerd93]

BetaMax Hifi is what I use far better than VHS HIFI

[@la-ia1404]

Only in hipster land.

[@jhonw8682]

Apparently VHS hd is possible or was planned be being canned.

[@Zcooger]

Imagine PAL region E-300 tape with EP speed with Hi-Fi sound haha! Up to 10 hours or more because of tapes being longer by 5% in PAL system.

[@adslf874yti3q7u4hf83]

My dirty secret: I don't subscribe to you or to 8-bit guy either, because like you said it always comes up as a recommended video. I have now subscribed.

[@jamiemarchant]

I have also had the same thing happen with other KZbinrs.

[@chrysanth.5700]

Mark, there is a special place in Hell for people like you have not been subscribed. The four track demons will come and gobble you up. It'll be a sad day. Either that or they'll understand the deal with KZbin's algorithm and just congratulate you on subscribing.

[@oleo007]

The best "nerd" channels of youtube !!

[@webchimp]

The only one I've not got around to subscribing to is Scott Manley as most of them are game related which I'm not interested in.

[@siouxmoux3]

KZbin autoplay feature is worst thing Google has forced onto the public. I Just subscribe to Channels like to watch.

[@j.b.708]

the ringing in my ears sounds even better on that 15 ips tape!

[@ShiftingDrifter]

Informative video. Still, mis-information is afoot among hi-fi buffs all these decades later. The primary reason why reel tape album speed slowed to 3 1/4 in the mid 70s was largely due to improvements in tape manufacturing and "High Bias" recordings applied to the tape's magnetization curve - with the introduction of cassette tape about 1973. People who could afford reel-to-reel tape players noticed a considerable difference in fidelity when they played a 3 1/4 tape with "high bias" produced after about 1973, but they were playing the slower high biased tapes on their older 1969 reel-to-reel using standard normal bias. By 1976, reel recorders started to include a button or switch for normal and high bias tapes, and some fancier machines like TEAC and TASCAM had a bias sensor that auto-detected and adjusted for the required biasing (along with the latest Dolby options). In short, tape speed was no longer an issue. However, cost WAS an issue and all these efforts to keep the reel market afloat eventually failed with the introduction of CD (which at the time seemed like a godsend).

[@tylorrutyna_8462]

I’m 15 and just got my grandfathers 1968 teac a 4010s and fixed the belts and break pads on it and it sounds amazing have a bunch of Elton John billy Joel journey Rolling Stones Beatles Led Zeppelin Michael Jackson tapes It me and my dad listen to them together

[@nicktendo69lmao99]

Op 65458 That’s so cool! What Beatles and Michael Jackson tapes do you have!

[@tylorrutyna_8462]

The Beatles let it be sergeant peppers and please please me And MJ is off the wall thriller the Jackson 5 third album and abc by the Jackson and there first album

[@nicktendo69lmao99]

Op 65458 Wow! Michael Jackson’s Thriller goes for 300 dollars online but off the wall would go for at least 1000 dollars or more! Beatles tapes go for at least 100 dollars or more if you want to know! Also is Please Please Me in mono? Because if it is it would sound even better! Same goes for Sgt Peppers!

[@brianbassett4379]

Make sure when you record anything that you burn it on the highest speed possible for the best sound and it looks cool as shit kid.

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

OMG, you have a dad?

[@cogspace]

"In my opinion, which is the only one I've got" I love this. I am definitely using this.

[@zvast]

I had to smile, when you said "how good is my hearing" :-) Because by the time we learn about all this and have enough money to buy such a equipment, from the tape, amps and speakers, our ears are so old, can we really hear such a fine sound?

[@ChaoticAphrodite]

Y’know it’s weird being someone in her mid 40s whose hearing range is better than most teenagers and whose sensitivity is akin to a toddler’s. I am fortunate that I took care of my ears back in the day without realizing it.

[@andrewluchsinger]

I still use and own a reel to reel. I have used them for over 35 years now since I have worked in radio and audio production. Now with all the computer editing programs out there. Reel to reel is looked at by many of the younger crowd in broadcasting as too old school and will never come back. Now I just use my reel to reel to play old tapes and to turn all the audio in MP3 files or into other formats. I have been very surprised to see how many people out there still have some old reels. The fun part is I can still cut and tape.

[@hanswichmann5047]

Pioneer RT 707 STILL sounds awesome with my Sansui components... 40 yr old recordings from Germany (US Army) still rock me today..

[@andrewluchsinger]

@@hanswichmann5047 Great to hear your enjoying your R 2 R as well as I am.

[@StopChangingUsernamesYouTube]

1:41 What a strange tagline for an ad. It's like a sports team chanting, "We're number two!"

[@jahlaune]

My dad had a reel to reel that thing played hours of hours of music . I still have some of those reels and a few commercial jazz releases . I think his was by Apex but I’m not sure . Plus he had a portable one took a crap load of c batteries

[@vicinvesta8349]

Keep it and pass along to your children.

[@martynhowser8142]

Went to toilet, left video running.. MASSIVE ship noises coming from my speakers - sorry neighbours! I know its 2am! And I've just peed all over my floor in rush to turn speakers down

[@Rutherford_Inchworm_III]

well done, sir

[@venichen1]

LOL same, I usually have something playing on the TV while I do stuff on my computer. Had this video playing and I wondered why I'm hearing ship horns. I quickly went and lowered the volume as it was 2 am.

[@thehunterofdeath2180]

😄😄😄😄😄😄😄

[@AnSim78]

🤣

[@normfromga]

I went the other way...I heard the sound effects through my crappy flat screen speakers, so I reran the segment through my Teac receiver with a couple of satellite speakers, plus a powered Yamaha subwoofer. Back in the day, anybody with a decent stereo system HAD to have a sound effect tape/record to show it off, preferably with planes, trains, or automobiles zooming across your living room! (It was 2PM on a Sunday afternoon, so the neighbors were more forgiving. ;-) )

[@tinasparkle3974]

Absolutely love this guy. Informative, down to earth language, and very dry humour. Really looking forward to visiting the next UK hi-fi show with my newly acquired knowledge of open reel machines.

[@Gainn]

Having a clearout during this lockdown a couple of weeks ago and in the corner of the garage all boxed up were my dad's old pair of Ampex ATR-700's with another box full of brand new reels. So that was a good day.

[@BitcoinWillFixEverything]

This is one of the highest quality videos I've ever seen produced on KZbin. Great job.

[@BrianBattles]

I only listen to wax Edison cylinders with a mechanical acoustic megaphone. None of this crummy modern electric, digital crud!

[@stephenfiore9960]

*......I only listen to ELO-the Electric Light Orchestra-dubbed from CD to Edison cylinders while in a Maxwell time machine...*

[@robshekelberg5315]

Brian Battles you're not a special snowflake because you listen to music on overpriced acoustic waveguides and tube amps

[@mogshade66]

Brian Battles Very funny 😊😀

[@cartnhorse]

MorbidManMusic: What is the source of what you are listening to on tape?

[@dustinwheat4096]

rob shekelberg someone doesn’t get the joke

[@jakeagusta]

9:48 onwards with headphones is an absolute must. I really enjoyed listening to that whilst watching the left and right VU meters.

[@fakiirification]

Alot of the reason for the loss of dynamic range is how audio is mixed these days. Blame the sound engineers, not digital hardware/software.

[@Solitaire001]

I strongly agree. No matter how good a format is, the final result is only as good as the process that goes into it. As an example, the Loudness War has resulted in many bad sounding CDs. Its not a fault of the CD format but of the process that went into making the CD.

[@phazonlord0098]

Indeed, the loudness war pretty much destroyed the reputation of the CD and Digital Audio in general, even tough many CDs from the late 80's before this loudness trend sound absolutely fantastic with full dinamic range.

[@unfa00]

Yeah, that's a huge pity. I hate that I can't really find decent electronic dance music that isn't stupidly smashed against a limiter. I'm a producer myself and my last album "Suppressed" measured -14 LUFS integrated after mastering. I wish Noisia and other electronic acts would give their sounds more transients - it's such a loss that all the audio they publish looks like a sausage - and also sounds restrained to me because of that. I've heard an argument however that the dynamic mixes and masters don't work too well on club and stage sound systems - but I cannot confirm this myself. I also think that clubs and venues just play the music way too loud for it to be pleasant. I can't really go to any concerts without stoppers, as it's just painful to stand there - which is again - a huge loss.

[@GraveUypo]

i actually hate overly wide dynamic ranges. specially in movies. in one scene you're turning up the volume because you can't hear the goddamn characters whispering, the next BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM a helicopter explodes in the screen and takes your roof with it. that said i also hate overly compressed dynamic ranges. moderation in everything.

[@FloridaManRacer]

It's the format they choose. MP3 goes through tons and tons of compression to fit the consumer grade output devices. Lossless audio formats would full up a terabyte hard drive in just a few songs. It's not really feasible for consumer grade audio to be in a lossless audi oformat which thins out the sound no matter how good the audio mix is done in the studio.

[@olik136]

Since real documentations on TV are almost all gone- replaced by shitty staged doku-soaps- I can't stress enough how much I like techmoans channel (and a few others) and I am also glad that he didn't get stuck with the dashcam reviews.

[@watershed44]

Oli K Bravo! Well said, and 100% accurate statement, quality documentaries on regular TV outlets are almost extinct, we're lucky we have YT, DM, VO, and people like Techmoan to take their place.

[@neoasura]

I agree, if there's any people that deserve Patreon donations, it's people like this that put this much effort into their videos. I have no problem donating like that.

[@777jones]

I haven't watched TV in years. Doing that would cut into my KZbin time.

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

Yes, Techmoan is awesome, so informative and entertaining (especially the puppets, IMO :) ), most especially in comparison to today's staged-for-drama televisual dreck as you appropriately mentioned. I myself have been watching his channel back in his dashcam days, and I was totally delighted when Matt took a slightly different direction (not that I didn't like the dashcam reviews, I enjoyed those, and it made me go out and buy one) and started reviewing obscure and obsolete media technologies--a great fascination of mine. :)

[@TomokoAbe_]

I love reel-to-reel. I have a very nice system, AKAI, and the sound is marvelous. You can make your own tapes and transference is flawless; reel-to-reel is very forgiving about volume. The sound is incredibly rich and with texture that you will not get with MP3s, LP records, cassettes, or other. How much was the AKAI...don't ask. Far too much, but worth it. Mine does not play backward the reverse side. I have to load it all manually but it still sounds great.

[@vicinvesta8349]

But.... if you copy from LP, CD it does not sound any better than original!

[@stevet7487]

For a short period just before DAT, some recording studios were using ED Beta vcrs to record audio as it had a vastly superior signal to noise ratio.

[@jmuench420]

I can't see it being better than SACDs or high-res (24-96 or higher) FLACS or DSD files. Get/make reel-to-reel or vinyl rips if you want a particular sound.

[@Geopholus]

I worked as an Audio Electronic engineer for most of my life. Around 1981-2 , I worked at Cook Labs . The founder Emory Cook, born in the 1890's was one of the 1st Audio electronics "inventor innovators" to make several contributions to Audio, these include Binaural Recording (circa 1950) superior and predecessor to stereo. Binaural uses two microphones in an "idea listener's head" position, so it records the phase information we hear when listening to anything. RCA ripped him off, with stereo, a different idea. He also innovated the stereo record cutting head, half speed and reverse mastering. and multiplay records with several spiral grooves, so depending on which groove the needle impinges on You play different tracks (used in the "Chatty Cathy" kids dolly). He was one of the first to bring the german recording system to the USA after WWII. The Germans innovated using bias (hi freq signal put on the recording head to linearize the hysteresis curve of magnetic media). Yes there were many track configurations speeds tape formulations etc. Now that I think about it I should do a couple of videos on the subject as its complicated

[@HMinot]

Emory Cook was brilliant!

[@Geopholus]

@@HMinot Harry Minot, I often listen to Your radio show on WPKN, (greatest radio station in the world), small world ! Yes Emory was brilliant, I feel so lucky to have had a few discussions with him, on how to improve Hi End audio and recording technology. I feel like I vicariously got to experience the excitement of major defining moments in early audio history. Expect me to call in on one of Your shows.

[@steveschu]

I heard my first reel to reel recorded audio as a teenager during the CD is king era. The tape was the Miami Vice soundtrack played at the 15 ips quality through a very nice sound system and my mind was blown. To this day the quality and warmth of reel to reel is superb.

[@KozmykJ]

Revox and Studer machines were a joy to work with. I used to use them for studio work in the 80s and 90s. Even the so-called "semi-pro" Revox B77 could produce high quality masters, especially the ones with 1/2 track heads. The best part though was the smoothness of their transports. A lot of thought went into the design of their motor control and braking. Many's the time I've just sat and waited for them to spool, gradually speeding up then slowing down so as not to stretch the tape. Thanks for the memories...

[@RyanSchweitzer77]

I used to work at a public radio station that still had their old Studer B67 2-track machines in their studios --this was in the mid-2000s, long after they went to digital hard disk & CD-R recording/playback and were just about calling it a day with using 1/4" tape (they were only using it to record NPR promo feeds at the time). I used to futz around with those B67s then (bought new when the station first signed on the air in 1981), playing back old tapes I'd found around the station to curiously listen to during downtime on my shifts there. The B67s were removed sometime around 2007, luckily bought by a tape deck collector after the station put them up for sale. I would've taken one myself, but living in a small-ish apartment at the time, I just didn't have the room. I did save the Studer 169 8-channel mixer that was in the same studio though when it was upgraded to a Mackie. :) The B67s too were great machines that sounded superb and ran smoothly. I've read that BBC Radio used B67s in the 70s and 80s as one of their main production/on-air decks.

[@stan.rarick8556]

$$$$$$$ 😁

[@tomgreen663]

I wouldn’t say The B77 was semi-pro either. Radio studio workhorses.

[@ivanj.conway9919]

21:48 - You know, I don't know what "technically," outstanding is supposed to be, but I'm listening to this on my laptop, with very, cheap, dollar store, headphones, and I assure you, it sounds ABSOLUTELY, OUTSTANDING! It never ceases to amaze me, because it's as if I'm right there, in the room, with my headphones plugged right into the stereo system itself. Awesome. Utterly, awesome. My Best. Out.

[@yeudoi66]

funy hahaha to the bank

[@michaelanderson2881]

I got a 4-track Teac 2340-SX in 1979 and it was so exciting. My friend and I recorded every day after high school, on the weekends, sometimes skipped school and walked to his house after his parents left for work just to jam and record. I now have a DAW with unlimited channels and effects, and it's just nowhere near as fun.

[@themountain5644]

9:47 It REALLY feels like travel in time in your head. Sounds extremely great.

[@fakshen1973]

Before you run out and buy a used analog tape machine, you have to know what you're buying. Tape physically runs across a tape head. So they wear out. The alignment of the head is CRITICAL. It can be misaligned in three axis in every possible way as well. There is also the business of playback and record levels. Different tape configurations can handle different absolute volume levels. Generally, the hotter you record to the tape the higher your signal to noise ratio is (along with other downside factors too long for this post). As far as audiophile playback goes, you have to match the exact specs of the record machine with the playback machine. In pro-audio, we would print test tones to the beginning of the tape so the machine could be set-up again in the exact (hopefully) specs... or if the tape had to travel to another studio. I love tape. In a world where budget and time were of no concerns... just so, so yummy. But boy is it a pain in the arse to do RIGHT.

[@davek5968]

well unless you were mucking with it heads were aligned by the manufacturer from a calibration tape and hopefully recording deck was also calibrated and material recorded at proper levels. But recording/playback levels - usually analog playback amp can handle quite a bit of overload so its not so critical as lets say head azimuth. all you can do is to get calibration tape, multimeter and adjust high frequencies for best gain :-) and hope recording machine was calibrated as well. And lets not forger head demagnetization (even though that matters for recordings mainly)

[@terryofford4977]

Demagnetizing is a good idea, I usually do this task every 20 hours of playing, , if top quality tapes are used everytime, there's not likely to to be much of a problem. When I worked at AWA Electronics in the seventies, we had every item of test gear known to man and were able cross check the cross checking gear. only THEN did we check on a random basis for faults in what was then expensive Stereo Gear for the consumer, I'm speakingof AWA New Zealand betweent 1965 to 1973, when AWA, sadly closed down in NZ. As did our competitors Phillips.Not sufficient business in NZ for Quality products those days.

[@terryofford4977]

Fakshen 1972. You are correct on many issues there; as ex Radio Broadcaster for forty plus years and also playing in LIVE Bands (i.e without all the electronic enhancements which appear to be required today) sound is an individual thing, like Motor cars, Pay a lot, get a lot, buy s/h at ten bucks a boxful, you cannot reasonably expect to hear GOOD sound. After reaching 21, ALL Humans loose varying frequencies of their hearing, dependent in many cases to what did they do for a living, e.g. Riveters are almost totally deaf after thirty years in a Shipyard, one must remember that COST is a prime factor which concerns all Good Quality sound gear and frankly, GREED also comes into the formula. I have seen and listened to say, a Set Of Speakers costing Ten Thousand Dollars, I was impressed not with the price but rather the quality of sound from a pair of B & O's as somewhat less of a price...hence cost flew out the window however, a close aquaintance felt the Bang and Olufson's were 'Flat'and he preferred a pair of what I heard as 'Squawky 'high top, uncompensated Mid range' jobs at twice the price. he was one of those guys who was impressed greatly at the cost, rather than what he heard.....or was he. ALL humans may have a similar hearing range at set spatial difference however,hearing is a personal thing and therefore the whole discussion is pointless really.

[@jana1934]

fakshen1973 ¿

[@dimensiongamer534]

I love the old way they used to advertise new technology "the sound of reality" is an awesome way to advertise stereo.

[@mcfats7652]

Weird, I'm watching this for the first time on new year's eve and the stereo demo was the sound of new year's eve. Perfect timing!

[@patrickm.4310]

"you listening to a stream digital File and the whole Idea of this thing is that it is the best analog source possible" Im listening to the snippets using my 9yr old worn out mac book speakers. I am also a studying sound engineer... I now question myself and my existence. However I love your videos and the amount of (background)knowledge you're researching. Keep on the good work!

[@nheng6913]

Always craved a Revox and finally found an A77 for $150 (early '80s) with capstan servo speed out of control. A coupling capacitor for $0.20 and a half day of effort and I was in heaven. Thanks for an interesting view of these machines and sounds.

[@LaatiMafia]

Techmoan videos have such a high production quality! Very nice of you to warn the viewers of the high volume differences! :)

[@orchidhouse297]

The local school let me have a big broadcast quality Xerox that could run at 15 inches per second. The sound quality was as good as anything I had until mini disks appeared. It was a 'loan that might be forgotten' as it was too heavy for the lady teachers to move around, so it had been replaced with a record player.

[@derekheeps1244]

1/2 track at 15 ips is far higher quality than super compressed Mini Disc .

[@paulgascoigne5343]

I hope we get a Christmas puppet video.. Pleeeease

[@jensrobot]

PUPPETS!!!! PLEEEZ

[@peterjanssen4730]

Paul Gascoigne LLC

[@josuelservin2409]

Pretty please!

[@taitheguy85]

$1800?! In 1980? New Ford Mustang was like $5k

[@wolfyklip]

Some were even more!!

[@chieftenbets2114]

I bet this deck still performs 100%. The 1980 Mustang ? well.............??? Let's just say it was scrap metal by 2000 lol

[@777jones]

My dad used to buy stuff like this reel to reel, 1970s Nikon cameras and early computers with his extra money. I guess you could say Tech Moan is my dad.

[@finaltransconfigurat]

@ZZ UP you probably live in an area without road salt.

[@finaltransconfigurat]

@ZZ UP ive seen 2011s with rust

[@brandonrizzo5129]

Miles Davis' 'Kind of Blue' album is some of the most perfect music for this format!

[@ronmartin4212]

And probably a $600 piece if it's an original'59er!!!

[@VilladsHoffmann]

"Lionel Richie, despite the fact he says he can't slow down, he has done" best line!

[@jimswonger8111]

I use to record and edit on Otari MX-5050B II’s. I still have the splicing block. We used them for theater playback with an autocue to stop the tape between cues. I don’t miss the overnight re-recording/editing of tapes during tech rehearsals.

[@BogoEN]

Just bought one. Love it so far, especially the ability to choose tape type and track type ( at least for playback).

[@E3kHatena]

The “Intro to Stereo”’s packaging was pretty modern-looking with the gradient shapes and its lowercase font. Crazy we came around to that again.

[@carrollshelby8690]

In case you haven't noticed, the world's been on a retro binge since at least 2000.

[@Daijyobanai]

@@carrollshelby8690 It's a simulated universe that became abandonware, the dev team got reduced to a skeleton crew, then in 1999 the simulation was hacked and now we're stuck in a universe with corrupted files. It's why they made a new Matrix film for 2021.

[@TazioN]

The Revox B77’s main home was in theatres for sound for shows. I still have three in my theatre I can’t bear to get rid of. Though having seen the prices they go for I’m tempted. When preparing the sound designs for shows very often you would have different speed machines for different effects. For example music and very specific effects on 15ips, background atmosphere that may run under entire scenes on 7 1/2 ips. Amazing to think we stopped using them as Minidisc was cheaper and faster to work with. Now we use Apple computers with QLab software that means we can easily do things that would have required multiple Revox playback machines and geniuses to operate them.

[@Air_Devil_Leader_One]

Hello Friend, you are so right with this kind of machine. I purchased an RT-1011L Pioneer unit from my audio store in 1973 and after a few belts replaced it still runs great and plays all my tapes and it is a 101/2" NAB system as well. I will NEVER sell this machine until I know I am leaving this world and I love this machine. I also have 2 1200 Yamaha cassette Tape Decks and a lot of new spare tapes as well because I knew this material would easily approach a very high price someday. I also have 101/2" extra tape as well. I also got a great buy on an excellent Yamaha 800 cassette deck as well. The 1200's just need some belts as they are a job to replace but play well also. Since the cassettes are dual captain closed loop the belts are hard to get at but I have manuals and service manuals for everything thank GOD. I run a natural Sound big Yamaha System and found cd player as well that has digital capability also. I also bought the Yamaha Tuner, and main amp new as well. My speaker are Infinity RS-2 with the solid Oak cabinets and I rebuilt them as well because the cone parts rot out after about 30 years, but they are perfect now as well after locating the parts to rebuild them very well. I use the solid virign copper monster cable as well. I found Marantz direct drive turntable model that is linear cheap as it only needed a belt and new cartridge & stylus. I have a collection of the MFSL Master Series vynil albums and found a brand new UHQR of Supertramp Dark Side of The Moon which is unreal. I have a second turntable that is direct drive Denon DP-33F which is a great turntable. It is in mint as well. The belts on the rt11l seem to age quickly in the heat as I do not like much A/C in my home. I am from Jersey and got to hate cold, LOL Nice video friend. I have good hearing still and good headphones as well so enjoy music very much. I wish I had a UHQR of Supertramp on a 101/2 NAB Reel. I have it in every other possibility. I have all others but no reel to reel of that one. Ray C. Florida

[@tigersharkzh]

I did my apprenticeship at Studer Revox and made many of the parts for the B77 and assembled many of them. Awesome machines.

[@greenaum]

Wow, Techmoan has found a new best friend!

[@pigknickers2975]

I worked in the service dept of Tascam/Teac in the 80s. We used to do a mod for the ministry of defence so they could record 24 hours on a 10.5" spool. We sold lots of those to them which seems crazy now. I went on to work in studios and mastering, can I just say there are plugins availble that emulate tape that well that I wouldn't bother use real tape now.

[@777jones]

pigknickers it’s not only about the sound. It’s about the creative process demanded by the old tools. The strict creative process yielded better songs. Better music.

[@pigknickers2975]

@@777jones that is true too

[@rootbrian4815]

Never had a reel to reel recorder or player, however, I definitely appreciate the quality nonetheless.

[@oc2phish07]

I still have a lot of Hi-fi from my enthusiast days in the 1970s. Including a Linn Sondek LP12 with Valhalla and Nirvana upgrades, an SME Series III arm and among others, a Stanton 881S cartridge. Add to that my Quad 34 pre-amp and 405 Power amp, RAM 200 speakers, Technics RSM63 3-head cassette and Akai 400DS MkII 3-head reel-to-reel. This was a really interesting video.

[@BrentBlueAllen]

I love stereo demo recordings. They're all so funny, like a 3D video that intentionally pokes things out at the viewers.

[@tvicic]

never thought about reel-to-reels as a player of prerecorded material: they were for recording first.

[@jamesmiller4184]

In the mid to later 50's we had playback only decks made by Viking. One stood upright, featuring a pretty polished gold face leaning back like a picture frame. Look in the Lafayette and Allied cats of the period and you'll see some. It was a fun time of all-new things appearing audio-wise. Some might not know but re S.B.Marantz vs. McIntosh in the amp/preamp domain, the first was likened by rather many to Rolls-Royce, and the latter to Cadillac. True! The truth was and is-still that they both offered their own unique styles and types of vacuum tube beauty. . : .

[@frostmediaprod344]

And that's what makes it 100% analog and organic.

[@jamesmiller4184]

@chris younts Ah man! Pah-leeeez Chris! Well, assuming we do not 'go-commie' full-bore here, there is always hope for revivifications appearing. (Tho that said, the USSRians did or do-still make some nice tubes, as I recall so, maybe under a new Dzerzhinsky Checka system, valve devices might still prevail?) R-R audio always did have PUNCH to it, that we did not always get from our beloved LP's, no? I've got a big collection of 7.5" half-trackers from Victor. Gee's - the sound!!! . : .

[@jamesmiller4184]

@chris younts Wow Chris, you are a young guy! I still have my first R-R (please don't laugh while I do -ha!) it is a SONY 262D, the very first stand-alone deck they made. (I can maintain it because a machinist and instrument mechanic.) Believe me, those big $$$ machines are not necessary to the sound; extras and convenience goodies, oh yeah! The Marantz 7c had a "Tape Head In" with trimmers to get the NARTB just on-the-mark. Sound was splendido - with none of the machine's electronics in the way smearing things. (Simple being usually best.) Most of my 7 1/2 half-tracks I got from Joe Tushinsky's things (Marantz/Superscope Chairman) after he passed away. Some great stuff, he had, having played most everything only once. Sony and Superscope really were instrumental in getting tape going here. (Got to meet Akio Morita at his home in Tokyo once. Cool guy; spoke English perfectly!) Great analog days and mems. Thanks for your correspondence, news and views. . : .

[@michaelopnv634]

"But, listen to it now in stereo!" *BOOM*

[@RobConstantine]

Art Gilmore Narrates the Stereo Demo :-) Sounds like June Foray at the bowling alley :-)

[@murrfeeling]

I was wondering if that was June Foray.

[@elhistoriero1227]

11:23 I can't believe that recording is from 1957 it listens as if you were there.

[@armorer94]

The womans voice on the demo was June Faray, voice of rocky from rocky and bullwinkle. She was the female Mel Blanc in everything animated for nearly 50 years.

[@tonyzed6831]

The dynamic was amazing!

[@calescapee9642]

June Foray is on the Capitol demo tape

[@Nukle0n]

Quite a lot of hiss but that's to be expected from recordings of this time.

[@johnrogers9481]

FA.... The machine PLAYS, YOU do the listen part.

[@hoagy_ytfc]

Well, if the meters at 10:20 etc are accurate, and the audio has been uploaded accurately, then it seems I have the left/right swapped around on my speakers!

[@hoagy_ytfc]

Well well well, the test at kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIW6e5R8eZuFaNU showed I DO have them wrong, oops!

[@adrienfourniercom]

the Capitol stereo demo reel is very strange to me. in school, I learned that the mono by default channel in a stereo equipment was the LEFT channel, and during the 15 years I work on audiovisual, it had been constantly the case. But, here, the mono demo is on the RIGHT channel! What happened? Is that a norm on some country or something??

[@Techmoan]

This was their very first stereo tape from 1957...I suppose just like the pedals in a car things took a while to standardise.

[@Laurentix1701]

Its a stereo recording, they choose to put the voice in the right channel. What you are talking about is stereo equipment that will record the same signal on both channels when only the Left input is connected.

[@Emptiness_Machine_2001]

Maybe it is on the right Chanel to Show it is a stereo tape where one half doesnt have a Signal on rather than a mono tape where the Audio would be on the left channel

[@Shermanbay]

This was a demo for the phenomenon of stereo, a new concept. Putting the voice in the middle would not have made as dramatic a demonstration of the stereo effect. This was in the days of left-right ping-pong sounds.

[@denshi-oji494]

Here is a fun fact... One not uncommon way to place the early stereo speakers was Front to Back, NOT left and Right as we are used to now. Now, if you positioned your speakers, Front and Back... for this demo, the front would be the LEFT channel, so the bowling "scene" would sound correct. Also notice then, that the LEFT channel could be considered the MAIN channel used then for FRONT in a front/back speaker setup! I think this is pure coincidence here though. As far as I am aware, it was never actually considered a "standard" form of speaker placement, it was more a case where people had a hard time deciding where to place, and fit an additional speaker in rooms in the early days of Stereo. Often, at the beginning of Stereo, people would buy an additional MONO HI-FI amplifier and additional speaker to connect to the new stereo source they just bought.

[@RobertKarlBerta]

I am a 73 year old musician who also had a recording studio in 70s-90s. The real issue is that people don't record for whatever format they are using. Whether direct to disk, tape, high end cassette, HD digital, etc. you need to have the mikes and methods balanced and equalized for that format. Worse is to master on one format and than convert to another without planning for the final format. I have owned Revox, Sony commerical reel to reel, plus DAT recorders, Nakamichi Dual and Tri tracer cassette, digital to HD in various standards, etc. Until recently I played vinyl on a Thorens TD 125 transcription turn table. While excellent....I still hate any non-music noise such as any dust pops, scratches, etc. That is one of the advantages of digital....you can clean up old recordings. And as long as you go with high sampling rates and speed...not the crappy "standard' most commercial recordings use today, you can get damn good recordings I have gotten outstanding recordings with all of them when properly miked and also some stinkers. You have to know how to record various instruments, voice, soloists, groups, etc. In my day a group was recorded all at the same time. Today they record various instruments and singers at different times and in different rooms....and than combine later. Sometimes that works out but it kills the real time audience experience. For instance...every jazz performance is different and unique as all of the musicians play off each other. To take a jazz group and put them in one of those studios that does the "different rooms for each musician" it would ruin that jazz...."moment in time" performance. Stereo recordings for a long time meant bouncing the sound around the sound stage and it was used as a gimic (like the first examples in the video). As a musician I want the sound to sound like it would if I were in the audience in the "sweet spot". I don't care for tricks in sound movement. I also value the longevity of a recording....I want to preserve the original as pristine as possible. A big advantage of digital is that you can make identical copies of a recording so I don't have to worry about wear and tear on a record or tape. Tape recorders with properly aligned heads are important but there are issues with slight speed variances, and newer tape itself has a big problem with the durability of the substrate and oxide coating. I believe the older tape around 70s and back was superior to the newer material used in tapes. Storage is also important....one should never rewind a tape until it is ready to play. This is called tails out storage....rewinding puts stress on the tape and unless you make sure you have thicker tape you may get print through...(the sound migrates from one tape to the tape on top of the other so you get a very faint echo of that recording). I also hate what compression does to a recording. That is one advantage of DAT tape which I still use sometimes. I finally sold my Thorens turn table, and all my reel to reel recorders....but still have two DAT recorders and my Nakamichi 550 dassette recorder....waiting when that becomes the next "must have" audio device ;-) Still have a collection of direct to disk records and most importantly....my mixer and all my mikes. And I mix every thing now to HD or DAT tape.

[@jobygrantlandsnvrwntrmusic]

I have a small private studio and everything you said is spot on. My dad also had a studio and ADAT was his format of choice but I am purely digital simply for the convenience.

[@meemee1357]

I have a reel to reel player and I actually like somewhat worn-out tapes, the slight warping and background noise. there is something I just love about changing the reels too.

i bet there is a plugin for mp3 player which does that for free

[@ernieball2324]

Best explanation on understanding reel to reels on the internet. Thanks for this.

[@Mikeywil0003]

why did i read that "in the world" in Jeremy Clarkson's voice?

[@OfficialVoluntary]

The most expensive music format .... (pause).... In the World

[@eldafint]

Fuck, just made the same comment now

[@xnonsuchx]

Mikey - Because you like douchebag voices in your head? ;-)

[@ViperMD]

My first thoughts exactly. lol

[@bareknuckles2u]

You make amazing videos! The footage, editing, background research, sound, etc is so great. Most importantly, however, is YOU! You are so well spoken, intelligent, and thoughtful. Thank you for these videos!

[@thrunsguinneabottle3066]

When I was a child, in the 1950s, my parents bought me a reel to reel tape recorder for Christmas - probably as the result of a lot of pestering on my part. I really don’t know what I thought I was going to do with it. It was an “Elizabethan”, and had a “magic eye” - a green light which flickered in sympathy with sound levels. The strange thing about it, was that when it idled, it appeared to pick up, and reproduce radio waves (I assumed). But this was not like any radio channel I had ever heard. It always sounded like two (male) persons having a conversation. Their sentences were always short, and they seemed to be angry with each other. I never understood what was being said. It may even have been in a foreign language. But I did not doubt that it was people speaking loud and clear - through a device which was not a radio. I soon lost interest in my Christmas present - as I had already done with my Meccano set and my model trains from earlier Christmases. But in later life, I read about “spiritual mediums” who received messages from “the beyond” in the white noise of untuned radio receivers. And could apparently understand them. So in retrospect, I find my experience spooky.

[@richardgrant5105]

Snap! My parents, at Christmas too - an Elizabethan with magic eye. With my friend, same age 12 or 13, we made up scenarios with our own special effects added. A lot of these opportunities are no longer available - later I put car engines together - points, timing, valve lapping, piston rings, bearings - etc.....

[@dough3063]

At the start I wasn't sure I had the attention span for this vid. Once I got into it, I wanted more. Something teachable here. I'm listening to this KZbin vid on my PC with some ok PC-grade Harmon Kardon speakers. Everything sounds fine. When he plays his tape samples, again through KZbin and through my PC, those samples are jaw dropping in their velvety analog way. (I am a long-time audio hobbyist caught up in higher end audio in mid to late 70s.) These samples took me back in time to the days of the Sheffield Labs records and such. His source made my modest setup sound exquisite. I must learn more. Thanks for the post.

[@duaneadam]

I love analog, have spent years in studios recording analog multi track, but once it's transferred to digital, it's digital and there's zero upside to recording it back to tape unless you're using it as an effect. Those who are spending $500 for a tape of a digital masters may be the ultimate cork sniffers.

[@twistedyogert]

If digital sound is done by storing an analog waveform as a stream of numbers, but when you convert the numbers back to an analog waveform to drive a loudspeaker, do you loose some of the original waveform?

[@frydac]

@@twistedyogert yes, it introduces some noise, but it should be far below any perceivable level. If you' d digitize these tapes with proper modern gear, I'm pretty sure that 99.9% of ppl would not be able to tell the difference with the analogue original source in a proper ABX test. But don't underestimate the placebo effect, if you think it sounds better, you like the physical action of it, the anticipation when doing so, the inability to go to the next song on an impulse, it all has influence on the enjoyment/perception.. so, why not ;)

[@SkigBiggler]

@@twistedyogert depends on bitrate and format. PCM recordings store data in a way that effectively allows you to perfectly recreate the waveform back from the source. The higher your sample rate is, the bigger your files get, which is why more common formats like MP3 are not as high quality due to lossy compression and purposely cutting out wavelengths that humans generally cannot hear

[@miawgogo]

​@@frydacthat really depends on the bit depth being used, but beyond 16 bit, the quantisation noise is going to be well below the noise of the tape itself

[@kraagaard]

High end reel machines is Tandberg from Norway!

[@dattallaudiophile236]

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, you clearly have fine taste.

[@Peppermint1]

The only reason you would want one today is for the looks. These have many wear parts, are very expensive to service, and original tapes are rarity.

[@SilverfoxDE]

This is very interesting since I've only yesterday had my Revox A77 machine (purchased in 1970) fixed so I can play the tapes I used to record my group's music on during the 1970's. Brings back many memories! My Revox has been idle for 30+ years but now sounds amazingly good 😃 Thanks for your KZbin

[@carmovision]

18:00 -- ah yes, because nothing says "preserving audio quality" quite like a Hit Clips cartridge

[@ionbladezofficial]

came here to say that. miss my Backstreet Boys miniclip.

[@govinda102000]

Mid 70s finding a two track reel to reel unit was such a treat to me at 12 years old.

[@snichelsticks8653]

dang. if I may ask what was your parents job at the time? no need to answer if you don't want to

[@govinda102000]

Blue collar but raised in Darien CT where people/organizations threw out the dangest things. Example late 70s/early 80s , I would scavenge/find many PA tube amps when tube amps were getting replaced for transistor. They were tossed out from schools and social clubs and were better for guitar than using the aux function in a home stereo.

[@darkdave1998]

having worked with these in an archive, I was blown away, love these

[@jefrey5578]

I dont know about in the UK but in the USA there is a wealth of good quality reel to reel tapes for between 3-10 and the quad tapes running around 20 bucks at thrift stores and flea markets. Garage sales alot of times even cheaper. Ive been making alot of money selling machines and tapes on ebay lately.

[@MrAtlantis95]

Be aware that in case when you get the change to listen to old tapes manufactured in the 60's/70's it could be one time change to listen to them. ten years ago I was digitizing tapes from 70's and the tape where just loosing the magnetic layer before my eyes. I was just digitizing the tapes and I was glad I could archive all the tapes.

[@Chris68558]

I have reel-to-reel recordings of my Grandmother and my Mother talking and singing on various spools, I have tranfered to computer hard disk because of the same problem.

[@goodun2974]

You can bake the tapes in an oven to dry them out prior to playing them into a digital format. The information on how to do this is available on line. It will get you one play without the oxide shedding off of the tape. Some reel to reel tapes are so badly deteriorated from time that if you play them for just 5 minutes the machine starts squealing from the build-up of oxide on the tape path.

[@goodun2974]

@@Chris68558 , Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the digital format you recorded them on or with will still be readable in 10 or 20 years. Digital is not forever, and the software manufacturers usually stop supporting their programs after 5 years or so. No patches, updates or fixes....

[@goodun2974]

@chris younts , The idea of and basic process for baking reel to reel tape is well known. Look it up online. According to Radio World, use a convection oven set from 135 to 150 F ( many ovens won't go that low). Electric oven only, not gas! Remove flanges from tape reels (use metal reels only, not plastic!). Verify oven temperature with an accurate separate thermometer. Bake tape in reels for 3 to 8 hours. And athough subjecting the tape to a vacuum is an interesting idea, as far as I know, nobody has tried it. I don't have a high vacuum pump in my house come do you? Virtually every home has an open however. Maybe every 10th home has a convection oven capable of doing what you need?

[@SteveSteeleSoundSymphony]

I gave away a Panasonic DAT machine and a reel to reel about 15 years ago and boy I regret it. Sure would love to have both now. The DAT for pro use, the reel to reel for fun and some pro use.

[@charlesludwig9173]

I got rid of my Sony 766-2 but held onto my Sony PCM-7010F time code DAT Recorders. I still fire 'em up monthly. The batteries are still good for time and date function although the units are know over 20 years old. I have retained my DAT Recorders having not heard anything to date that sounds as good..

[@weeg91]

99% of dat had horrible digital linear phase filters (now accepted as being inferior) to mini mum phase , where listening is concerend. DAT was shit.

[@davidpatterson9840]

I have three machines at present, a Revox PR99 (essentially a B77 with balanced I/O) in half track high speed, an MCI 1/2" four track, and an old Wollensak portable dual mono. The only one I use regularly is the Revox. Back in the 80's I used to make party tapes, a 10" reel lasts about an hour at 7.5 ips. These days I only use the Revox as a 2-track compressor. I like to run my mixes through it at elevated level on the way into the computer. Tape saturation is a lovely form of compression. The tape speed and formulation result in a different flavor to the results. I've never bought a pre-made reel tape, but I still have plenty of Ampex/Quantegy blank tape. Perhaps I need to create some more party tapes?

[@MGTV1]

Actually, your playback proved alot to a trained ear. You recorded the output, and it was encoded in your video....then youtube did their encoding.....then it came out the tiny speakers on my tab 4....it sounded like bose speakers on my end. I can only imagine what it sounds like in person...headphones are nice, but an analogue rack with preamp and eq along with some nice old school amped speakers would sound phenomenal. Sadly, there are a great many who have never heard music that way, and don't understand what is meant when people say today's music sounds like crap. It's not necessarily the music genre itself that is being criticized, but the actual sound quality.

[@ASMRPeople]

So if they make a digital copy off the master reels what's the point of putting it on tape for the consumer. Just give me that digital file.

[@SpearM3064]

Because not every consumer wants the digital file. Maybe you haven't noticed, but some people are sort of old-fashioned and set in their ways. My mum (87 years old), for instance, still pays her bills with cheques! She doesn't need and doesn't *want* a smartphone or a debit card. It really upsets her that some companies are moving away from accepting cheques, and she frequently wonders what she's going to do if they stop accepting them altogether. The same principle can be applied to tapes vs digital. Not everyone has, or wants, a device that can play back digital samples. As long as those people are willing to pay for it to be put on tape (or vinyl), someone is going to provide it.

[@ASMRPeople]

SpearM3064 I guess. Just seems funny to me is all. I have a nice vinyl collection. If for one second I thought the digital file was equal or better quality than I would have no use for vinyl.

[@Solitaire001]

I think a factor in using the digital copy of the master (as mentioned in the video) is that you avoid wearing out the original. Another issue is that the original analog master recordings likely to have a limited lifespan. As an example, the master tapes of the most recent original Beatles albums are over 45 years old. From what I understand analog master tapes eventually degrade over time with issues like the magnetic coating flaking off. So eventually those original master tapes will be unplayable. But making a high resolution digital copy (say 192kbps at 24 bitdepth) will allow you to preserve all of audio information in a way that won't degrade. I looked at some Beatles recently released vinyl albums and noticed that they were made from digital master tapes. When it comes to musical formats, if someone wants the music on a specific format why not provide it as long as they are willing to pay the price? Vinyl is making a comeback because some people still want LPs/45s. As SpearM3064 mentioned some people may not want a smartphone. I'm one of those people, I have a flip phone that perfectly meets my needs and I don't want a smart phone because often they have so many features that the two functions I do need (making/receiving calls and text messaging) get lost in the mass of features. Plus, I don't have to worry about a cracked screen (I seen so many that I expect to see one when I see a smartphone).

[@TerryClarkAccordioncrazy]

Because the whole point is that people like fannying about with their music playback equipment. There's no reason why vinyl should sound better than FLAC and many reasons why it should sound worse, especially if the record was produced from a digital master then the whole analog argument is void. But playing records is tactile and the equipment looks cool. It gives people a sense of being involved in the process of making the music in a way that clicking a mouse on a file doesn't.

[@Scotchy_Scotch_Scotch]

To get someone to pay 450+ Euros for it rather then .99 cents for the digital copy

[@carlosdlc1664]

Very informative, I also have a Pioneer RT-909. Thank you.

[@ronaldr9911]

I came to a big lover of music in the 50’s first records I owned were 78’s. Then in the ’60s had Records and Tapes. Was very happy with my LPs and whatever live music I could hear while living in Adelaide then NSW. was working in music and 1970 moved to England and started working for a large Sound Company that was the pioneer in those large outdoor systems and manufactured the first Road Desk on the Market. I then went on to work as a Roadie but whilst working Part-time at Hi-watt amplifiers scored a Roadie job with an up-and-coming band and while working with them they were recording an album and the studio was a lot more than the 2 I had spent time at in Adelaide. When the Album was finished and the Master Tape was played, I was blown away. The Band had left the equipment had gone in the Van and I said to the Engineer you will be off soon? He said no I have to make the masters for the record plants, What Copies of that tape and he said sort of but have to reduce the Sound so it will fit on an Album comfortably so the needle can handle it. So, I stayed and he worked away and when he was finished, he put it on to play and it did not have the Punch the master had and for Decades listening to that Vinyl album was always a disappointment to me. That Original Master tape was Gold and 2 copies had been made before it was locked away one for him to work with doing the plant masters and then the other that was used to make copies for the members of the group who had professional tape units at home. Most of the guys in these Groups had Professional Tape Machines at home and they were able to obtain tapes from other top Groups so they listened to a limited amount of vinyl at home. I now have my music at the quality of that Master Tape and no ridiculous costing Tape or CD or Record Player. No overpriced Amplifier but the replacement cost of my main speakers is $16,000us. And none of those bullshit high-end cables that make no difference to what you hear. All my music is now high-end digital and also has my large Library as MP3 @320. Not only does my music sound better but playing my music is a pleasure don’t have to turn the album over at around 20 minutes with my collection on Hard drives including small portable ones plus have q high-end pocket player with great headphones, The software in that player and on the Computer makes it enjoyable. 1. Can playlists I have created, Random off all albums in a folder, or random of the whole hard drive playing music to suit the mode I am in. If I want a particular tune, artist, or album I just say the Command. Plus, can carry my whole collection in my shirt pocket. Not a room full of shelving. Just recently walked into a music store and it had Vinyl clearly on display and I notice Darkside of the Moon standard pressing $70. I started laughing and the guy who owned the store asked what’s so funny and I said people falling for the scam to pay $70 for this. I bet you have it on CD for a much smaller price for a better sound. The last copy I bought of Dark Side of the Moon is in 7.1 Surround sound and is mind-blowing. All the great Albums have been remastered giving you digital copies of those great Master Tapes.