The round-pin power cords used on older Hewlett-Packard and Dolby equipment uses a connector called the PH-163. I think I have enough to last me. I bought my last batch in the early 2000s. As of 2024 these cords are becoming more and more difficult to find…but they still keep appearing in small quantities. In …
This document discusses the speeds used for most analog magnetic tape recording. See the tape timing chart to convert speeds and lengths into times. Note throughout most of the rest of this document we are using the correct ISO form of in/s instead of i.p.s. which is the traditional way of stating "inches …
In order to make this manageable, we have divided tapes into the following categories: Analog audio tapes (reels, cassettes, cartridges) Sprocketed magnetic film is addressed with film Analog audio on videotapes (VHS HiFi, Beta HiFi) Data tapes Dedicated digital audio tapes (reels, cassettes, cartridges) Digital audio on videotapes (PCM-F1, dbx 700, 1630) Instrumentation tapes (analog …
A variety of noise reduction processing was used This processing was a double-ended system where the record processor boosted certain frequencies and portions of the dynamic range while the playback processor provided a complementary reduction of the signal. These systems are generally referred to as companders for compressor-expander. Two different manufacturers of companders achieved high market …
This format dates from 1963-1964 and did not gain wide acceptance. It utilized two 70 mil wide tracks per channel (the same track width as 4-track 1/2″ and 8-track 1″ tapes). In addition to the electrical performance improvements described below, the 3M team introduced the Iso-Loop tape transport which substantially reduced scrape flutter and other …
At the top level, we are not making a distinction between cassette, cartridge and reel tapes. We will start by creating sub-groups for the different tape widths. While similar tapes were used for instrumentation and logging purposes, they are addressed on their separate pages and are not discussed here. There is further discussion of equalization, …
Remember, this transfer that you (or I) are about to undertake may be the last time (and hopefully the best time) that the original is transferred. Here are some suggestions:
The question seems to regularly arise on mailing lists and chat rooms about Dolby and dbx plug-ins. I don’t think it will happen and I added that comment and some hopefully helpful operational hints to my noise-reduction page, here.
It seems some people new to tape are confused over how to align a tape recorder. This is the abbreviated version. If you want to record on a tape recorder (and I do not recommend doing that these days as you’re just generating more tapes that will need to be transferred later) the first thing …
The Zoom H2 HandyCorder is perhaps the lowest-cost digital recorder on the market that provides reasonable and useful results. While I have a Sound Devices 722 for my more serious work, I bought the Zoom to test it out to see if it could be part of a simple tape digitization system for archives on …
Note: This information has been incorporated into this page which contains a more in-depth discussion. I received an urgent phone call yesterday from a man who had digitized several reels of 2″ 24-track analog recordings that he wished to re-mix. The tapes were originally recorded in about 1978-1979 and he said that he needed them …
There has been much discussion on some web fora about the differences between different brands’ cassette equalization standards. As I stated here in 2006, there is a 4 dB ambiguity at 16 kHz. Many things conspire to make this 4 dB ambiguity essentially meaningless in a generally low-fi medium. The only reason I’m mentioning this …
It is possible to capture both directions of a two-sided half-track mono tape in one pass. The critical factors are: Azimuth Direction Polarity
AMP Services in Florida can rebuild motors, lap heads, has parts stock, and lists a capability of repairing Sony and Studer professional tape decks. In 2012-09 they repaired some Dolby units for Art Shifrin and he was very happy, which is the basis for this listing. A. F. (Fred) Thal at ATAE (email) North American …