need someone to transfer a 1" tape to digital

[Lt. Bob]

I'm finding this out for a friend so she can surprise someone.

I believe it's 16 track though she vaguely said it might even be 24 track. It is 1" though so I'm thinking it's 16 track.
What she'd like is to transfer it track by track so he could load the stuff up into his recording rig and mix it himself so they don't want a mixdown, they'll just want the raw tracks.
One easy way would be to record a click at the start of the tape across all 16 tracks and then transfer it 2 tracks at a time to CD and then he could use the click to align all the tracks.
But perhaps there is an easier way to put all the files in some 'puter friendly format for him so just tell me if there is because I don't do 'puter recording so I don't know about all that.

I realize I'm gonna have to get some more info out of her, but just to get started, is there anyone here that can do that and how much money we talking about here?

 

[cjacek]

Oh man, I think that even with a click track, when you line 'em up like that, one track at a time, it's gonna be off. You really need to get all tracks in there, at the same time. A tape recorder (whether digital or analog) has very small speed fluctuations and, unless you dump all the tracks (simultaneously), you're going to have problems with accurately lining them up. I guess it's worth a try but I question the end product. I think that when you're dealing with linear systems, it's best to dump all tracks at once. I know that doesn't answer your question but I don't want your friend to be under the wrong impression.

EDIT: I don't know, but is there a 16 / 24 input digital interface or sound-card on the market? Anyone? Me thinks even an 8 input / output could be good, even if that means aligning 2 sets of 8 tracks. You could probably make is sound OK as most of the tracks would be in sync, as they would have been dumped at the same time. [Thinking out-loud]. Either find a sound card / interface like that or hopefully someone here will know of a place who does this sort of thing.

 

[jpmorris]

If it's 1" 16-track, it could be a Tascam MS16 (or close relative) or an Otari MX70/MX80 which did come in a 1" 16-track version. There's an outside chance of it being an ITAM recorder, but I think those are the only real options.
There may or may not be noise reduction on the recording, mind.

If it's 1" 24-track, the recorder would have to be either a Tascam MSR24 or Fostex G24S. There is a problem in that the MSR-24 shipped in two versions with different (and incompatible) noise-reduction. It would either be Dolby-S (like the Fostex) or DBX. I don't suppose the box says which kind of noise reduction it used?

 

[Tim Gillett]

Hi Bob,

Isnt there a 2 track mixdown of it somewhere? A lot easier.


Cheers Tim

 

[jpmorris]

Hi Bob,
Isnt there a 2 track mixdown of it somewhere? A lot easier.
Cheers Tim

It sounds like they were specifically asking for the multitracks so that they could re-mix it.

Finding someone with a compatible recorder is going to be the first issue. Digitizing them is likely to be easier - although most interfaces are 8-channel, it is normally possible to link them together. Failing that, two or three 8-channel sets would be easier to line up than 8 or 12 stereo pairs.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Lt. bob,

Are there any liner notes from the engineer on the box of the reel or on the track sheet notes to indicate the format, speed and NR if any? Without that info prior, its a crap shoot.

Cheers!

 

[jpmorris]

Lt. bob,
Are there any liner notes from the engineer on the box of the reel or on the track sheet notes to indicate the format, speed and NR if any? Without that info prior, its a crap shoot.

The track format is going to be the big issue. Speed can be adjusted digitally. If you don't have the right noise-reduction on the machine, record it without - I've heard rumours of software DBX and Dolby implementations, an in the worst case you could play it back (digitally) through a standalone DBX or Dolby rig and re-digitize it.

Note that the tape may require baking if it's more than about 10-12 years old.

As for getting it done, Richard Hess does this sort of thing, although the only 1" format he doesn't seem to be able to cope with is the Tascam/Fostex 24-track (which the reel might be).

All the same, it might be worth asking him:
http://www.richardhess.com/tape

 

[Lt. Bob]

Thanks a lot guys.
Obviously I'm gonna have to get some specific info from her to be able to help them do this if it's even doable.
JP has it right ......... they would like to be able to mix the original tracks themselves.
Apparently the tape is from when he was in some recording school or something.
Things are complicated by the fact the she'd like it to be a surprise. that may not be possible since it could be that only he has the info.
Thanks for the link ...... I'll follow thru on all this and let you know what happens.

 

[Beck]

Yep, what Ghost said about the format, including NR. If she knows what school he went to and when, she could call them and get a better idea of what it was recorded on. It would be nice to know what type of tape it’s on too. It could even be digital. With what info we have so far it’s pretty wide open.

If it’s analog the noise reduction possibilities alone would be problematic … Dolby A, C, S, SR, DBX… maybe something else or nothing.

Maybe there are some notes in or on the box that would appear cryptic nonsense to her but we could tell a lot from that info.

 

[Lt. Bob]

Yep, what Ghost said about the format, including NR. If she knows what school he went to and when, she could call them and get a better idea of what it was recorded on. It would be nice to know what type of tape it’s on too. It could even be digital. With what info we have so far it’s pretty wide open.

If it’s analog the noise reduction possibilities alone would be problematic … Dolby A, C, S, SR, DBX… maybe something else or nothing.

Maybe there are some notes in or on the box that would appear cryptic nonsense to her but we could tell a lot from that info.

More good questions ..... and some helpful suggestions for trying to figure it out .... thanks, I will try all those dectective methods to see if I can help them get this done.

 

[analog guy]

1" transfer

We can do the transfer direct to Pro Tools and have all the noise reduction formats.

Let me know if we can assist you.

Regards,

Bruce Maddocks
Cups 'n Strings

 

[Lt. Bob]

We can do the transfer direct to Pro Tools and have all the noise reduction formats.

Let me know if we can assist you.

Regards,

Bruce Maddocks
Cups 'n Strings

Very cool. I'll let her know.
Last communication we had ..... she wanted to know if it was bad that it had been in his trunk for a couple of years!

lol ............ how could anyone think that was a good idea?!