2" tape users, anyone?

[Muckelroy]

So, I have a quick question regarding 2" recording techniques.

Is it common practice to duplicate the master tapes, and only use the duplicated tape to mix with? I've seen studios with two tape machines, and I suppose that duplicating tapes wouldn't be a bad idea if it were possible w/ 2 machines on hand. (Makes sense, because if you screwed up the "slave" tape while spot-erasing, then you could go re-duplicate the original tape and start all over again.)

-callie-


although this could apply to ANY format of tape, not just 2".

 

[Raw-Tracks]

It's not unheard of to make safety copies of masters during the recording process. I wouldn't say it's common though, on 2" that is. You certainly wouldn't want to mix off of the safety dub, that would be a generation down and therefore noisier. It is quite common to use the 2 machines in sync for 46 tracks of recording, you lose one track on each machine for timecode. In that situation, you usually will sync the two machines together after the first reel if pretty much full and bounce a reference mix over to the "slave" reel. Now, you don't need to run both machines at once while overdubbing. It's a real pain in the ass to run 2 machines in sync while overdubbing. When it comes time to mix, you then have to run both machines in sync.

 

[Muckelroy]

Yeah.

A safety dub would be a good idea, maybe, if you're practicing your final mixdown process. It would be AWESOME to have a safety reel, and to have equal timecode on both, so that you could use the safety reel to set up all of your automation points on your console, if your console had automation. Then when you're finished, pop on the original to mix down with. Sounds schweet.

That way, you wouldn't risk losing sound quality from having to pass the master tape across the heads so many frikin times in practicing mixes. It would minimize wear and tear on the master.

Very cool. At the Firestation Studio, we only have one tape machine (or, HAD one tape machine. It's on the fritz now.) So we would just have to deal with the original tape from start to finish. Just curious.

-callie-