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So I've been obsessing over tape lately. The possibilities of mangling, looping, cutting, slowing down (to a near stop), overall frippertronic madness and the sweet sound of decay when you redub something 20+ times! Even silly details like the audible thnk that's recorded at the start of a session! But my experience has been limited to cassettes.

Anyone playing around with reel to reel?

I'd get a nagra 4.2 if I win the lottery I'm sure.

The big thing with reel machines is they're much higher fidelity than you're used to on cassette stuff -and it's a rabbit hole of maintenance and expense.

If it's what you want, wonderous things await.

I played with them when they were things nobody wanted twenty-some years ago, but I had tape delay to work with too. The tape machines didn't stick around long.

I'm a performance oriented person (not talking live but in the 'just pick it up and go' sense) and it didn't work well with my particular workflow.

Ahhhh, sweet memories! I used to work in a radio station in the mid 90ies and there was a big reel-to-reel machine on wheels in a corner somewhere that nobody paid any attention to.

With a friend, we spent quite a few nights in an empty studio, and we used that machine (and other stuff) to process or create audio and mix/record quite a few songs.
I still have the master of that "record" on MiniDisc somewhere.

The Reel-to-Reel machine was tons of fun. We made a lot of loops and then interfered with them using our fingers or pencils or other stuff, just to manipulate the movement of the tape.
I think we even tried to "damage" or physically alter the tape a bit with scratches or by putting scotch tape over parts in different patterns, and so on.

Maybe it's worth a shot to contact some local radio stations to see if they still might have a (even partly broken) reel-to-reel machine collecting dust somewhere?

Good luck with the lottery and have fun!

rfurtkamp wrote:The big thing with reel machines is they're much higher fidelity than you're used to on cassette stuff

That depends, you could get and old 50s machine and they arent exactly hi-fi. Great amps too, harmonica players love old tube reel to reels. I have an old tandberg and it has a cool distortion sound

rfurtkamp wrote:-and it's a rabbit hole of maintenance and expense

Yes, sadly

I haven't seen a tube reel in...20+ years. They were rare as hen's teeth back when they couldn't give them away most places (probably because there just weren't as many as the Japanese invasion of them).

I have an open reel machine habit, sadly the majority of them are not in completely functional condition, but a few of them are... and in the rare instance of my recording stuff I enjoy using them.

In terms of open reel having higher fidelity versus cassette, this is generally true; though we can think of the larger tape path in the R2R as equivalent to a big American V8 measured in cubic inches versus the smaller cubic centimeter import car. It is entirely possible to tune higher performance out of a cassette format than a sloppily put together or poorly maintained open reel deck.

In general, there are two loosely defined types of reel to reel: consumer grade and professional grade. If you're after weirdo lofi sounds the consumer grade, which typically wasn't really designed with tape calibration, easy maintenance, or extended longevity in mind will fit the bill. If you want to run your entire session/mix through it and retain anything resembling high fidelity a "pro" machine is advised.

At this point, almost any unrestored unit will need attention given to the rubber parts, being rollers and belts. I guess that applies to cassette as well. Open reel decks are typically bigger and easier to work on (note: I've never messed with a Nagra, which is indeed a beautiful machine but compact to a degree I find intimidating).

Sloppy lofi applications are fun and easy, unless you're running a parallel path that you want to be in sync with non "tape processed" sounds. Wow and motor drift can become a big player in the sound (for better or worse). I have some stereo decks that have essentially wasted repro/record electronics on one channel, which can sound cool but really is a one trick pony.

I have seen tubed portables in thrift stores in the past few years, though some shops have entirely unrealistic expectations of what such a thing is worth (mind you, I have antiquated memories of the pre-internet thrift store circuit, so there's a bit of bitter old man in that statement).

Tape is expensive & used tape is a gamble.

All said and told, I enjoy working with the machines with the understanding that they often have strong personalities that can derail a session and having a backup plan is handy.

Yea, I don't miss the maintenance.

My main Sony professional model I ended up having to rebuild most of to keep running.

I ended up using Strat trem springs in the start/stop lever because..they fit, and all sorts of craziness.