Beginner stuff..

[treidm]

New to RtR, so bear with me.

I will probably be buying a 1/4 in, 1/2 track, 15ips deck for mastering not tracking. So if anything relates to that.

Some questions are just for my information, not related to what I will buy, I'm just curious.

Terms I've read, but can't find a good definition with a search...
Butterfly Mono Head
Butterfly Stereo Head
Cross-Field Head
SYNC Head

Next a question about NR
Dolby vs DBX?
No NR at all, better?

Advantages or not:
Better to have a direct drive capstan over a belt driven one?
Servo controlled spool motors?
Tape tension Electronically regulated or physically regulated?

Should you only record once on a tape or will fidelity be exceptable after an erase. If so, how many times, in general?
If related, Bulk eraser or erase heads?

Storage of tapes at a home studio?
Vertical or Horizontal?
Temperature(My house normally kept at 68-70 degrees F), Humidity level(My house normally kept at 45-50%) , Light(Need to be in complete dark?)?
If needed, I can regulate the studio room(ex-bedroom)'s Temperature & Humidity independantly.

And last, when I look at specs on RtR's, of the following catagories, what is the range I should be looking for in a quality deck?
Distortion
Signal to Noise Ratio (weighted or not)
Crosstalk

Please feel free to offer any additional thoughts as to what are important factors to consider.


....Reid


.

 

[MCI2424]

New to RtR, so bear with me.

I will probably be buying a 1/4 in, 1/2 track, 15ips deck for mastering not tracking. So if anything relates to that.

Some questions are just for my information, not related to what I will buy, I'm just curious.

Terms I've read, but can't find a good definition with a search...
Butterfly Mono Head
Butterfly Stereo Head
Cross-Field Head
SYNC Head

Next a question about NR
Dolby vs DBX?
No NR at all, better?

Advantages or not:
Better to have a direct drive capstan over a belt driven one?
Servo controlled spool motors?
Tape tension Electronically regulated or physically regulated?

Should you only record once on a tape or will fidelity be exceptable after an erase. If so, how many times, in general?
If related, Bulk eraser or erase heads?

Storage of tapes at a home studio?
Vertical or Horizontal?
Temperature(My house normally kept at 68-70 degrees F), Humidity level(My house normally kept at 45-50%) , Light(Need to be in complete dark?)?
If needed, I can regulate the studio room(ex-bedroom)'s Temperature & Humidity independantly.

And last, when I look at specs on RtR's, of the following catagories, what is the range I should be looking for in a quality deck?
Distortion
Signal to Noise Ratio (weighted or not)
Crosstalk

Please feel free to offer any additional thoughts as to what are important factors to consider.


....Reid



.

Different heads are different designs. You will not be concerned with a SYNC head if you are not multi-tracking. Direct drive is a must (as far as I am concerned). Belt drives have higher flutter and belts just don't perform as well, for as long as direct drive units. Tape tension should be servo regulated (as all good units will be except for the early 70s designes). Tapes can be re-recorded many times if the deck is maintained, de-magnatized and aligned often. You should buy an alignment tape and learn how to align your machine with a good manual. Tapes should be stored in a place where the temp is reasonable and low humidity. Also, store tapes like books, vertically and TAILS OUT. Before storing tape, wind (don't rewind) and place in box. Before your next session, rewind the tape slowly (any good deck should have a slow-rewing function for this purpose). Don't worry so much about specs, worry about quality and what you intend to use it for. All the machines you are likely to find, or are recommended here, will do a good job BUT, if you intend to do recording everyday, and foresee alot of use, go with a professional deck (MCI, Studer, Otari, Sony, 3M ) as they have better electronics, higher headroom, easier servicing for alignment, any part can be removed in minutes and they have higher quality heads,usually 3 heads where the record and playback heads can be optimized for their jobs, beefier transports...............well, you get the idea. Go 15ips min and no noise reduction using new tape and you will be fine. TASCAMs, Fostexes etc. will be the right choice if you are not really using the machine heavily. These units sound fine, but you give up all the listed benefits of the pro machines above.

The "specs" really are just favorable measurements done in a laboratory and will not serve to decide what to choose. AT this point, you are looking for a used machine and staying in the area you choose (pro vs. non-pro) will dictate what you look for. Pro machines will be more notorius for headwear and transport abuse than the common home machine. Get knowledgable about the machine you are interested in and learn what the faults/weak points/wear items are. The last thing is the hardest, but pro machine sellers will be much more likely to have a head report from the last re-lapping than home machine sellers. This report will show, among other things, measurements of remaining headwear. If no report is available, the heads can be removed and sent to JRF for a report. This IS a BIG part of how pro machines are sold. Sellers know that a head report is everything because heads are the whole thing! (read here: http://www.jrfmagnetics.com/tapeheadintro.html) If you buy a machine that has worn out heads, the heads will cost twice what a used machine will.

Good luck!