non-backcoated tape...

[Ding Dong]

I curious about trying some non-backcoated tape for a few sessions. I'd like to hear what it sounds like first of all, i assume it sounds more "vintage" if that means anything... Also, is it true that it doesn't suffer from sticky shed? that would be a huge selling point for me. I'm also assuming that it would be thinner and easier to pull through my aging TSR-8.
what should i watch out for? I hear that bleed-through can be a problem, but ill be mixing down right away and probobly recording over the tapes later. can anyone recomend a particular tape to try out first? or can anyone tell me why i shouldn't try it?
thanks guys!

 

[Flangerhans]

I've done quite a bit of tracking on non-backcoated stock, and can tell you that it works very well indeed. Don't be scared of print through, this is more likely if you are recording at very high levels, which is not how to use this tape. My understanding is that it does not suffer from sticky shed, and I have never encountered it. It seems to run very smoothly through my teac, doesn't stretch, and sounds downright wonderful. I wouldn't describe the sound as vintage so much as just clear. The drawbacks are mainly that you don't want to push the levels, it doesn't really add tape compression,which is not a concern if you are not using a wide format machine anyway. Ampex 641 is my choice. You will want to set up any machine you use for the tape you choose, which can be tricky in some instances, but there's a great deal of information here about how to go about doing that, if you can't find what you need I would be happy to share what information I have with you. Hope this is helpful!