Christian Jacob – Analog Part II
I messed up. As hard as it is to admit it, I screwed up a couple of the copies of Christian Jacob’s “Beautiful Jazz” analog tape copies. A couple of my customers got in touch and wondered whether something was wrong with the copies I made for them. It seemed that the right and left channels were out of balance. They were right. Somehow the first couple of copies I made contained the mistake (if there are others, please contact me). I haven’t figured out exactly what went wrong but I can only imagine that I tweaked the right input to the transfer machine or the output of the source machine somehow. It’s true that the left and right sides of aren’t necessarily uniform but it was obvious that the tapes would have to be transferred again. Today was the day that I managed to get the gear together again and make the transfer once again.
It was late last summer when I made all of the arrangements the last time, which included renting a truck with a lift gate, driving out to West Hills, and setting up the transfer station here at my studio. This time around I managed to secure a second machine from a friend that was kind enough to let me use his deck free of charge…and getting it here wasn’t as big a challenge because his studio is very close by. I’m only sorry that I didn’t realize this back in August.
All of this for the cause of analog sound. The repro and record calibration of the machine, the cleaning and demagnetizing of the tape path and heads, the correct setting of the record amplitude makes analog transfers exacting work. Compare that to a digital transfer. You take the digital data from one file and copy them to another file…without any loss during the exchange. The analog transfers that I made today lose 3 dB of dynamic range…I’m just saying.
I sat in my main studio and listened to the playback of each copy as they were being recorded. Yes, with a professional tape machine you can switch from the input to the output and check the final product. Digital Audio Workstations can’t do that. When you make a recording to Pro Tools and you want to listen to the output of the DAW, you get the output of the ADCs not the actual digital recording. Tape machines allow the engineer to check the actual recording. It’s called “confidence” recording and it has saved me many times. If you have a signal when monitoring the input and you don’t have a signal when you switch to the tape output, you failed to engage record mode.
Auditioning the playback of Christian Jacob’s “Beautiful Jazz” recording was a real treat. It’s an amazing performance by a first class artist. The analog master and the copies capture all of the music and artistry. But the 96 kHz/24-bit high-resolution recording, is superior…if you like clarity, sparkle, dynamic range, and details. I know everyone has an opinion on analog tape but it’s no contest for me.
I happened to notice a post from David Pogue’s Reel-to-Reel Yahoo Group about a “4-track Lou Reed ‘Transformer’ 7.5 ips” analog tape that sold on eBay for $391! Unbelievable! It’s obviously not about the sound if someone is spending that kind of money.
So the new copies will make their way to the customers this week. I’m glad that I was able to correct the error. My apologies to those that have had to wait.
I guess that means the cash flow on the project doesn’t look too good in the books.
Not to mention the lost time from other projects, etc.
Sorry to hear that bud, that really SUCKS
The whole thing was a major time hole and without much upside. I’m glad I did it but who knows in the future.
Dear Mark,
But AIX Recors does not have Christian Jacob’s “Beautiful Jazz” recording in 24-96 to sell. Why?
Regsrds,
Ron, I will add it to the iTrax.com website.
How about a sample track on the ftp?
There has been a 96/24 sample of Christian’s project on the FTP site for many months. Under FREE samples/Christian Jacob.
Stravinsky Etude 4 96-24 PCM LR Mix.wav
I look forward to a head to head comparison between the 24/96 and the CD. The CD sounds wonderful.
Interesting blog post about loudness wars and youtube.com — http://productionadvice.co.uk/youtube-loudness/
I read this many months ago and I believe I wrote a post about it. It’s no the end of heavy mastering. At best, it means you’re not going to have to turn up and down the volume as you listen to over mastered music.
“Tape machines allow the engineer to check the actual recording. It’s called “confidence” recording and it has saved me many times.”
Audiophiles called it “off the tape monitoring” and that was what the tape monitor switch on real preamplifier/control centers was for.
Any opinions about the Crown SX 844 tape deck? Too bad the plant burned down.
I don’t know the Crown unit.
Link to image of Crown Deck
The SX 844 was the four channel version of the SX 824. These decks were at the top of the hill in pro-sumer electronics in the 1960s and 1970s. Electronics met military specifications and the tapedeck was claimed to be able to withstand a parachute drop in its own enclosure case without damage. The 800 series was the first deck I know of that provided electronic controls for tape play, fast wind and rewind and also included 3 motors and electromagnetic brakes to prevent tape spill. Specs were top notch. The decks were manufactured by Crown in Elkhart Indiana long before Crown ever manufactured its first amplifier. I think the tape deck plant burned down.
The alternative became TEAC which evolved from American Concertone I think, a Japanese company. TEACs were far cheaper. I haven’t used my TEAC 3300S2T deck in about 30 years. It’s a 2 channel deck I had modified for quarter track. It takes 10″ reels and plays at 15 and 7.5 ips.
An important innovation was the replacement of parabolic tape heads with hyperbolic heads. This eliminated the need for pressure pads and was pretty much universally adopted.