Tapedeck Rant

[bootray]

I've been here for years and never posted anything. Now I CAN'T STOP...

I recently remastered around 50 of my master recordings from the last 50 years. Many will be posted here. My main tape deck, a beloved Sony tcd5 died after 35 years and I was unable to repair it.How many of you guys use tape decks regularly? Have you tried to buy a new tape deck lately? You can't buy a good cassette deck today, they're all cheap Chinese knock-offs with the same cheap transports and electronics. Dried rubber, lack of replacement parts,Dried out capacitors,*Worn heads, and technicians who either can't or won't repair them. My Sony's idler wheel went out and you can't buy a replacement part for Love or money. You can take a chance on a used tape deck on eBay but it may need repairs or restoration if it's 20 to 30 years old. I have some really old cassettes that are holding up very well ,40 year old cassettes and they play great. 40 year old cassette decks are dropping like flies on the other hand. Cassettes May outlive the machines we play them on. That's why it's important to digitize your tapes soon. In another decade fine quality cassette decks will be a medium of the past. Is your cassette deck still running, or does it have problems? I'd like to know how you guys around here are negotiating with your tape decks? Or perhaps, you have a secret technician that we all need to know about. With my Sony cassette deck down I was lucky to have a nice Denon cassette deck with no miles on it so my recent remasters of my master cassettes came off without a snag. How's your cassette deck treating you? I think this is a serious problem 4 old tapers. Everything is digital now and there may not be a need 4 cassette decks very soon.
Whadda ya think?*Thanks guys.*

[Unidecker]

ive done all my tapes cassettes and dat's and sold the decks and desk i used to call my workstation #9 so glad that's all over what a nightmare of a project but its all on hdds and double backed up. one offline one online in my drobo

glad to see im not the only one doing this..

hello 2020

[bootray]

It took me over two months 2 dub all my cassettes 2 digital. You're so right, a tedious nightmare. And that doesn't include all of the remastering in audition and all of the processing of the files in addition to the torrent end of the business. I did 1644 and 2496 versions so that doubles the work again.I agree it feels great to have it behind me. What are you doing with your master tapes? One does not really need them after this point but they're like my children, I love them.I've gone digital just like you, redundant backups and now hopefully all of these shows will spread on the web forever.I may find a young collector and gift my briefcase full of Masters to someone who can appreciate them.

[GRC]

Originally Posted by bootray

I did 1644 and 2496 versions so that doubles the work again.

Surely you could have done 24-96 with a software conversion to 16-44?

[Unidecker]

i have sold alot of my tapes to a close friend an archivist but i did keep the ones that were the most special to me. and had the most meanings...

and also ones that i cant get rid of unless i burn them that's all i can do with them

thanks in part to being friends with the sound man and having the master dsbds and sbd masters

as well as fob's i made myself i just cant seem to sell off or want to


also it took me almost 7 years of spinning decks solid 24 hours per day to get them all done correctly
and mad hdd space to boot


also i clean my own decks and have them repaired by the oade brothers as they are my peeps
and have done so since the 80s and still today only have one dat deck and one casette deck left and sold off all the others to other tapers
to do the same with..

[bootray]

Originally Posted by GRC

Surely you could have done 24-96 with a software conversion to 16-44?

You are correct that's exactly how I did it. What I meant to say is the 16-44 conversion adds an extra step, when multiplied times 50 masters to process it adds up to mind numbing tedium. Finishing the job is very gratifying.

[Unidecker]

took way too much time as it is and it was a hell job to do those casettes and dat's alone

need to get all the video tapes done still but they are all good and will be fine

[bootray]

Originally Posted by Unidecker

also i clean my own decks and have them repaired by the oade brothers as they are my peeps
and have done so since the 80s and still today only have one dat deck and one casette deck left and sold off all the others to other tapers
to do the same with..

The oade brothers! I forgot all about them. Do you know if they repair
Analog?? They modded a fellow tapers Sonic Studios mics many years ago. But it's academic if there are no replacement parts available.
A friend suggested 3D scanning to manufacture another idler wheel
but that may be cost prohibitive considering 3D scanning,SolidWorks file prep and 3d printing as well. I bet it might work but imagine the expense
of engineering.
But to be realistic I may never need my Tcd5m again, except for listening
to tapes occasionally. It's such a fine deck, I'll never find better.
Stereophile magazine called it the only audiophile portable recorder.
My Denon is great but,the Tcd5m is better.
As far tapes are concerned, to quote Frank Zappa:
"No way to delay that trouble comin' every day"
Ray

[Unidecker]

they can do analog and digital

call doug or jim anytime in thomasville ga and they will be sure to help

if not lmk and i will refer you to another place

enjoy and good luck

uni

i have a friend with a 3d printer as well and a wheel might be fairly easy to remake.