Reel To Reels..Please Help Me!!!!!

Village Idiot

Village Idiot

The Love Butler
Back in the early 80's I recorded some tunes I had written in two different but very professional studios in LA.

Somehow around 1991 I lost these tapes, and haven't ever seen them again.

Until now.

My buddy found them in his closet, got them to me right away.

This is incredibly awesome news for me, but in this digital age, herein lies my problem...

Who would possibly have Reel-To Reel machines anymore that could play/track these correctly, so I could have these on CD forever?

The tapes are in excellent condition, as they have been inside their "cans", and tucked away in a breifcase all these years.

If anyone can help me, here is some info on the tapes...
1. Two of the reels were recorded on Ampex 456 Tapes, on 8-track recording units.

2. The other reel is on a Radio Shack (!) 10 inch reel.
I have NO IDEA what was recorded on that one, or where...

If ANYONE can help me out, it would be appreciated so much.

Thanks!

VI
 
Well, either buy a Tascam 38 & M30 mixer, or maybe find someone who has a similar set

F/I, you could post the reels to me, and I'd probably be competent enough throw together a decent mix. Or, someone local, so you can be at the mix sessions. Maybe Rats will buy you a 1/2" reel-8-track for your next birthday.

It is 1/2", isn't it? Well, I have 1/4" 8-track too. I'm versatile.;)

If you could quote the model of the original recorder,...;)

Anyway, find that, or PM me to make any arrangements./DA
 
What about the notorious 456 sticky shed or are tape cans a good defense??

Could this be an easy bake oven moment?????

I' know I'll tune in with fingers crossed to find out.
 
Well, you just can't tell until you mount the reels and run them.

I think it would be reasonable to think they might shed, but not necessarily. And, a tape that sheds may stop shedding, when it's had enough wind time.

Anyway, it in all likelyhood is good tape, until proven otherwise, and sticky shed or not, if the guy wants his mixes transferred, they'll surely hold up for a few more sessions.

Bake the tape if you want, on other's recommendation, but not mine, I wouldn't do it. I'd just minimize the problem by first fast winding a few times, cleaning individually, then run the tape. Do the remix session. Just clean thoroughly between each pass of the reel. There's no magic defense on that one.;)
 
VI,

If you have the stereo, two track master in there, maybe the Radio-Shack reel is it? That would be the ideal reel to transfer to a CD burner.

The 8 track, multi-track masters would have to be remixed completely as only the raw tracks would be on there un-mixed.

What are the thicknesses of the tapes?

You mentioned the reel size but not the thickness of the tape.

If the 8 track ones are 1" tape, you'll need to find someone with a matching recorder to handle those reels.

Cheers! :)
 
I'd see if I could find a pro studio to just transfer the raw tracks to whatever medium you CAN use (maybe .wav files or whatever). That way you can mix and remix and remix your hearts desire.
 
Thank you all so much for your advice and input.

Reel Person: Sounds like you are quite skilled in this area.
And I'm glad guys like you are around here to share advice.
The Ampegs (The ones I care about the most) are on a 1/2" tape.
If you think you can decipher these, PLEASE e-mail me. I will send you the tapes Fed-X, and I will pay you for your efforts.

Rocket Bay & Track Rat: I believe I have now called every studio in the Detoit-area about this, and they tell me they do not have reel-to-reels lying around anymore on their studios. :(

Ghost Of FM: Thank you for your comments. I didn't even think to look at the thickness of the tape. And I would be happy just to get the tracks dry or not transferred to .wav files I can work with myself in Sound Forge.

Thanks again for your advice, you guys are great!


VI
 
VI,

No!!! The fostex is a 1/4" machine!!!

You need a 1/2" machine like a TASCAM 38, 48, 58, TSR8 or an ATR-60-8. All of those ones are 1/2" machines. If the 8 Track masters you have there used dbx noise reduction, you would need those units too on top of the machine.

Maybe it might be easier and pain free to just send your reels to A Reel Person and let him have fun with the stuff. I know him to be a straight shooter and an analog expert in many regards.

Cheers! :)
 
Sure, you could post the tapes to me and I'd take a shot at 'em, por nada.

Just for fun, really. I could consult you with mixes remotely by shuttling you some mixes on CD for your approval. Mp3's maybe, too. It could be done, if you were into it. If it didn't turn out how you wanted, you could archive my mixes and move on to another solution, if you wanted. I wouldn't be offended, and I'd do that for you in my spare time, just as a friend. It could work, long distance, that is.

I mean, a 1/2" 8-track setup could run you into some bucks, but of course I'd always recommend doing that, if you could.

Anyway, what's with these so-called "studios",... with NOT a reel-to-reel lying around anywhere? They've been caught with their pants down on this one, IMO.;)

Your tapes, your choice, but my pleasure!
 
I mean, I do have the 1/2"-8-track, AND the 1/4"-8-track,...

if push comes to shove, and compatibility is your concern. I can do it all. Also, I have the half-track mastering machine, if you wish to have another tape mixdown. I mean, you're obviously trying to migrate these works OFF of tape, but I could help.

Track Rat's right, though, that if they're 8-track multrack format, then if you had the 8-track reel deck AND an 8-input recording soundcard, f/i the M-Audio Delta 1010, then you could run ALL the tracks to a COMPUTER AUDIO FORMAT IN 8-track discrete format, THEN work on the mixes on your own computer, until your eyes fall out!

Okay, I'll put up the REEL DECKS, if anyone wants to contribute an 8-IN-SOUNDARD, then we'll be STYLING! Again, thanx to Track Rat for that brilliant idea. Maybe we could pull it off that way, and in the long run, it might be advantageous to go that route.

Let's see if we can put it all together!

Maybe I should go to my local GC for some NEW AUDIO GEAR! ;)

TASCAM FW-1884, HERE I COME!;)
 
There is a guy advertising in "Electronic Musician" who claims to do this sort of thing. I don't remember if he is advertising 1/4" or 1/2" though.
 
Reel is doing a great job with this thread, and I don't want to step on any toes, but I have a solution for you also, that I just wanted to throw out into the idea pool.


If all else fails, I know a guy who rents 1/2 inch machines closeby and cheap and we can get one over to my place for the 4th of October, and you can just simply bring your tapes with you, we can load the stuff into Pro Tools and you can walk away with the stuff on cd-r.... We could even do a few rough mixes while your there..

Lemme know

Joe
 
If all you wnat to do is listen to them, buying a deck is over the top. If you want to get hold of the material, your most easy solution is to find somebody that can transfer it to a format you like. Like 24/92 wavs or something.

Buying a tape deck is only useful if you want to USE the actual tapes. And if they are shedding, that won't help you either, you'll still need to transfer them.
 
Well, yeah, it's a matter of mating up a reel 8-track to an 8-in soundcard,...

and dump away. The more you preserve the at-once track format of the 8 tracks, the better you'll be. That's if you're destined to just record on your puter, then that's ideal.

I'm still happy working with tape, and I have not exhausted all the possibilities of analog, so you know how that goes.

I'm sure there's someone between Detroit and Ontario who could lend a 1/2"-8-track, eh? Maybe one that's just lying around? Take it voxvendor's way, & he could do that too, given that a reel-8-track materializes out of nowhere. That's what I had in mind too, 'cept I have no multi-soundcard.

WAIT, rereading, voxvendor says "RENT A REEL DECK". Ah, yes, that's a great idea. Then, just hop up there, do the job, and take home Protools format files. So, there'ya go.

PS, you'll need an RCA-to-1/4"-8-track SNAKE.

I smell,... ROADTRIP!
 
Anyway, FWIW, the Tascam FW-1884 may be a bit of overkill for me & my bank account,..

but I've scoped the Delta 1010LT, and that looks like a good unit for my needs, for the price, and better, I CAN afford it! Anyway, a soundcard's tentative, TBD, but I've been shopping them, right now, as we speak.

M-Audio seems like a practical, stable solution, to me, from my 'newbie' standpoint, that I can afford, [which is always a great feature].

Like I said in PM, I think there's a niche market out there to transfer all old reel and analog formats to new 'puter formats,... so all things considered, there might be a fancy soundcard in my future! Maybe soon!;)
 
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