I think he's recording to tape... and pulling the signal from the play head... as it's recording, thinking that no wow or flutter is involved in the original pass...
Well, now, don't get me wrong. I knew this was a risky statement. There will ALWAYS be wow and flutter involved in a signal-to-tape-to-reproducer situation. However, the effects are DRAMATICLY reduced to virtually no measureable amount, provided the deck/transport is setup well and functioning correctly as well as having good quality, fresh tape, however not necassarily virgin.
IMO, this "invisible tape" effect is mainly contributed to no rewinding and repass of the tape through the transport (i.e. there is nothing conditional about the playback), no discernable temperature or thermal differences between time of print and time of playback, and more generally speaking the transport (as well as the rest of the machine) is performing EXACTLY the same way at the time of print and at the time of playback, lol.
I mean most of these tape "problems and conditions" are really only apparent or are problemary with cheaper and/or poorly adjusted equipment as well as bad or "less than" tape. A good deck with a fresh tape that's setup correctly will always yield good results. It's just that my method is much more time efficient, a little more versatile, and saves money on tape
. Plus, what with 24 bit digital formats, sending a reel of tape to a mastering house seems a little pointless.
Just some thoughts.