Mixdown to Sony BVU-800 3/4" U-matic

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DigitalDon

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Just read an article in ArtistPro magazine. It talked about the big boys in mastering mixdown to the Sony BVU-800 3/4" U-matic video machine. I'm assuming this is analog tape but I don't have a clue. I know very little about tape (analog or digital). Then they use a Sony 1630 to add a "PQ burst" to the unused channel 1 two minutes before the audio begins. This allows mastering directly from the U-matic tape. Sounds a lot like a DAT. Is anyone familiar with this piece of equipment? The BVU-800 has been around for awhile. Just curious. This is ArtistPro's first issue - just came out.

DD
 
The BVU-800 is a pro level Video deck, that uses 3/4" U-Matic videocassettes. The Sony 1630 is a converter that takes two tracks of audio and converts it to a video-like signal, that can be recorded onto the BVU-800 just like recording onto a VHS machine. Since the BVU-800 IS a helical scan video cassette machine, and the DAT machines ARE sort of a shrunken VCR, your assumption was pretty close. BVU, in Sony's terminology probably stands for Broadcast Video Unit, or possibly Broadcast Video U-matic. The BVU/1630 combo is still going strong, but seems to be losing ground to things like Exabyte tapes, etc - probably because you can't get a new 1630 any more so there needs to be a replacement that's as reliable... Steve
 
Steve, that is an archiving format though not a mastering format, right?
 
Quote from ArtistPro mag

"The PCM-1630 is a modulation format recorded to 3/4" videotape. It was, formay years, the only way one could deliver a digital program and the ancillary PQ information to the factory for pressing and is still widely used for CD production. At the replicator, glass mastering from U-matic can only be done at single speed so it's usual to transfer the audio data to another media (like DDP Exabyte) for higher speed cutting (which is not necessarily a good thing to do from an audio standpoint)." And from Bob Ludwig "And if you send it to a replicator that still has a 1630 and insist on doiong it single speed, you might get a CD back that sounds something like what you sent to the plant."

Just seemed kinda interesting.

DD
 
Just saw the footnote for this article. It's excerpted from The Mastering Engineers Handbook by Bobby Owsinski. The publish date is 1999. :eek: Oh well.....

DD
 
Don, If you are looking for a good digital mastering deck many mastering houses are using the TC Finalizer as the playback/recording deck. It will even save CD's in 24bit format. It would be a good high end mastering format with good compatability.
 
TRK, is there a DIFFERENT TC Finalizer that actually records? The only one I know of is their mastering PROCESSOR, which is a 1-unit do-everything-you-want-to-do-to-your-mix - Don't recall seeing a unit by that name that records. Could you be thinking of the Alesis Masterlink? Just curious... Steve
 
I think I am getting the two mixed up. Thanks.

Check out the Masterlink.
 
Nowadays one of the easiest ways to submit your 24 bit mixes to a mastering engineer is to simply burn your stereo mixes as data files (not audio) onto a CD or two. Check in advance to see if they prefer WAV., AIFF, or Sound Designer format. Most places can handle at least one of those.
 
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