Sources and Prices of 1/2" Prerecorded Tapes

astrotoy · Mar 27, 2016

Other than Tape Project, where are people buying 1/2" prerecorded tapes (15ips 2track)? What are prices?
I'm preparing for my new machine, coming in a couple of weeks.

Thanks, Larry

Tom B. · Mar 28, 2016

Larry-

MTSL (Master Tape SoundLab) lists 'other formats' (1/2" 30 IPS...15 IPS?) availability here: http://mastertapesoundlab.com/MasterTapeSoundLab/Products_and_Services.html

Yarlung Records also offers 1/2" versions of their titles: http://www.yarlungrecords.com/analog.html#a2

Whether or not you're getting material sourced from a 1/2" master is the question, I don't own tapes from either studio. Could be that a large number of the 1/2" tapes you're likely to come across were done from digital masters. Heck, I even have a few that were recorded from DSD downloads and they'll knock your socks off....

Tom

astrotoy · Mar 29, 2016

Thanks, Tom. I have the Yarlung tapes, but on 1/4". Don't have any of the MTSL tapes however. I'm emailing them for pricing. Much appreciated. Larry

Philip O Hanlon · Jun 7, 2016

astrotoy said:
Other than Tape Project, where are people buying 1/2" prerecorded tapes (15ips 2track)? What are prices?
I'm preparing for my new machine, coming in a couple of weeks.

Thanks, Larry

Larry,

I don't know if you got a chance to hear the second Vanessa Fernandez album When The Levee Breaks over the weekend, I gather it was played in a few rooms. Groove Note will make four copies of the album on 1/2", two of which are still available as of Sunday for sale. Sorry I don't know the actual $$ price.
PM me & I'll put you in direct contact with Ying Tan from Groove Note. I ordered a 1/4" copy ($600), these are due to ship around the end of the year.

I hope you continue to enjoy your NADAC

Philip

astrotoy · Jun 7, 2016

Thanks, Philip, will do. The NADAC is working great. I was at Steve Williams' place on Thursday and got to hear part of the Vanessa Fernandez album on vinyl. If Led Zeppelin sounded that good, I might have become a fan. Larry

Mike Lavigne · Jun 7, 2016

astrotoy said:
Thanks, Philip, will do. The NADAC is working great. I was at Steve Williams' place on Thursday and got to hear part of the Vanessa Fernandez album on vinyl. If Led Zeppelin sounded that good, I might have become a fan. Larry

well Larry......sounds like you need some LZ tapes to fix that. they did/do sound that good.

c1ferrari · Jun 10, 2016

Mike,

Are the Zep tapes verifiable AAA dubs

Philip O Hanlon · Jun 10, 2016

c1ferrari said:
Mike,

Are the Zep tapes verifiable AAA dubs

Sorry for the confusion, we are referring to the Vanessa Fernandez album When The Levee Breaks - LZ cover album from Groove Note, an original analogue recording.

Ciao,
Philip

Mike Lavigne · Jun 10, 2016

c1ferrari said:
Mike,

Are the Zep tapes verifiable AAA dubs

no 'grey market' tape is truly verifiable. they are all sourced from CD's.

if you have the secret handshake then you get the story about their provenance. and you Sam, have the secret handshake.

Tuesday night i'll play this particular tape at the local audio club meeting in my room. I seriously doubt anyone there will need to verify anything; they will just need to trust their ears.

c1ferrari · Jun 11, 2016

Hola Philip,

So, available in 1/4", 15 ips or 1/2" 30?
Sorry, if I misunderstood/-stand...appreciate your taking the time to clarify re: V. Fernandez.

c1ferrari · Jun 11, 2016

Mike Lavigne said:
no 'grey market' tape is truly verifiable. they are all sourced from CD's.

if you have the secret handshake then you get the story about their provenance. and you Sam, have the secret handshake.

Tuesday night i'll play this particular tape at the local audio club meeting in my room. I seriously doubt anyone there will need to verify anything; they will just need to trust their ears.

Haha, Mike -- good one!
You folks in the PNW have ALL the fun.

garylkoh · Jun 11, 2016

Mike, can you play 1/2" 30ips? I just received the master of Anne Bisson's next album on tape from Bernie Grundman. I could bring that on Tuesday for a spin.

c1ferrari · Jun 11, 2016

^^^
Yup, those guys! Ugh

Philip O Hanlon · Jun 12, 2016

c1ferrari said:
So, available in 1/4", 15 ips or 1/2" 30?
Sorry, if I misunderstood/-stand...appreciate your taking the time to clarify re: V. Fernandez.

Sam,

My misunderstanding; Groove Note only plan on selling ¼" 15ips dubs. Around Dec / January @ $600.

I ordered a copy already. Should be llaying over the holidays; drop by fir a listen.

Regards,
Philip

Mike Lavigne · Jun 12, 2016

garylkoh said:
Mike, can you play 1/2" 30ips? I just received the master of Anne Bisson's next album on tape from Bernie Grundman. I could bring that on Tuesday for a spin.

yes I can; but the EQ for 30ips is slightly different from 15 ips when I use the King Cello output. should be no problem. if Ki shows up he can do the adjustment with the stock output circuit on the Studer A-820 I think.

I've never made that change; i'll take a look and try to call Ki to get some coaching.

c1ferrari · Jun 12, 2016

Philip O Hanlon said:
Sam,

My misunderstanding; Groove Note only plan on selling ¼" 15ips dubs. Around Dec / January @ $600.

I ordered a copy already. Should be llaying over the holidays; drop by fir a listen.

Regards,
Philip

Greetings, Philip,

That would be lovely. BTW, we owe you dinner.

c1ferrari · Jun 12, 2016

Mike Lavigne said:
yes I can; but the EQ for 30ips is slightly different from 15 ips when I use the King Cello output. should be no problem. if Ki shows up he can do the adjustment with the stock output circuit on the Studer A-820 I think.

I've never made that change; i'll take a look and try to call Ki to get some coaching.

Hi Mike,

According to MRL, AES/IEC2 is the current standard for 30 in/s recording.
Curiously, for 7.5 and 15 in/s recording, NAB is also referred to as IEC2 (http://mrltapes.com/which-cal-tape.html).

garylkoh · Jun 14, 2016

Mike Lavigne said:
yes I can; but the EQ for 30ips is slightly different from 15 ips when I use the King Cello output. should be no problem. if Ki shows up he can do the adjustment with the stock output circuit on the Studer A-820 I think.

I've never made that change; i'll take a look and try to call Ki to get some coaching.

Ki said that he will do his best to be there. I'll meet him for lunch and hand him the masters.

bonzo75 · Jun 14, 2016

Larry, are you finding enough quality tapes to whet your classical appetite?

astrotoy · Jun 14, 2016

bonzo75 said:
Larry, are you finding enough quality tapes to whet your classical appetite?

Hi Kedar,

Short answer: no. Long answer: I did buy a BIG collection from someone who was getting rid of his tapes and machine. It did contain over 50 reels of 1/2" tapes and 130+ reels of 1/4" tapes (all 15ips 2 track). However, fewer than a dozen were classical. My main source of classical has been Ed Pong's UltraAnalogue which are all chamber music recorded in his home studio. Remarkable tapes, but fewer than 40 so far. I also bought almost all of the Opus3 classical tapes (9 albums 18 reels) that they are offering. Tape Project has released 12 reels of classical so far (6 albums), and Horch House-Lutz Precision has released about the same. There are a handful from others (Yarlung, Open Reel, ABC Int'l, Jonathan Horwich, and I got Todd Garfinkle to release his fine Goldberg Variations album on Tape on his MA label.) That's it. I have been working on another company who does very high quality vinyl to do tapes. It has taken close to three years, but I have gotten some encouraging signs. I do have a large number of 7.5ips 1/4 track classical tapes (maybe 500+) which range from poor to excellent, the best still fall far short of the super high standard of the typical 15ips 2 track tape.

One indirect source is Bob Witrak (High Definition Tape Transfer) who has been digitizing tapes for several years now, many of which are 15ips 2 track tapes, typically 1/4", but sometimes even better. He has recently been doing DSD256 on many of them, which sound quite fine. Most of his releases are classical.

At this point I am hoping that Chad Kassem will be able to license the RCA Living Stereo albums he has been releasing so he can offer them on tape.

Extremely unlikely ever to reach even a small fraction of my vinyl collection.

Larry

Sources and Prices of 1/2" Prerecorded Tapes

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