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ARSCLIST  February 2012

ARSCLIST February 2012

Subject:

Re: Unidentified track format

From:

"Richard L. Hess" <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:46:30 -0500

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (144 lines)

Gregorio,

I have no idea as to what is happening here. Use the 1/4-track head and 
be done with it if you don't want to develop the tapes. I find things 
look clear in the viewer that are counter-intuitive when trying to do it 
this way. It could be so many things. I just don't want to speculate 
without seeing the development of the tape.

Cheers,

Richard

On 2012-02-29 7:41 AM, Gregorio Garcia Karman wrote:
> Hello Richard,
>
> let me explain. After having decided that the crosstalk while transferring the problemativ tape on a stereo head is too big, I played back the tape on a Studer A67 fitted with a head that will extract only the signal of tracks 1 and 3. That said, and if we would consider the tape having four tracks 1/2/3/4 and transferring on this head, on the first side I get:
>
> Track 1: Signal A
> Track 3: Signal A + B backwards
>
> Then I turn sides, playing back the tape in the other direction and the result is:
>
> Track 4 ("new 1"): Signal B
> Track 2 ("new 3"): Signal B + A backwards
>
> I hope I explained it well this time! You can see a screen capture of the resulting protools session here:
>
> http://www.ggkarman.de/preservation/wiki/images/0/0d/Screen_Shot_2012-02-24.png
>
> As you see, there are two mono signals recorded on the tape. The middle tracks 2 and 3 contain the signal of both channels. If I use a standard stereo block, the crosstalk between both tracks is unacceptable. The only solution to me seems to transfer on 4 tracks and take channels 1&  4, but I have no clue why this is happening.
>
> Regards
> Gregorio
>
> On 28.02.2012, at 18:08, Richard L. Hess wrote:
>
>> Gregorio,
>>
>> We really need to make certain that we are understanding this correctly. I BELIEVE this is what you now mean.
>>
>> track 1: Signal A
>> track 2: Signal A + B
>> track 3: Signal A + B backwards
>> track 4: Signal B backwards
>>
>>
>> I do not understand how you can B forwards on track 2 and backwards on track 3.
>>
>> I am assuming that you are playing this on a 4-track inline machine like a Teac 3340S
>>
>> Let's look at
>> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/quarterinch_lrg.gif
>> which is approximately to scale.
>> (It is normally accessed from
>>   http://richardhess.com/notes/formats/magnetic-media/magnetic-tapes/analog-audio/025-reel-tape/  )
>>
>> It could be a DIN tape with a narrow guard band, but I don't think that would explain everything.
>>
>> I had been thinking all along it is what Mark D said...but even that does not make complete sense.
>>
>> But here is an example of a two-track tape overwritten by a malfunctioning 1/4 track machine.
>>
>> http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/09/02/dangers-of-old-tape-recorders-for-playback-using-the-elevator-head/
>>
>> I really have to say if you're doing this type of work you need a method of magnetic tape development. Yes, it's pricey...but so is spending time guessing. I would not have figured out the above example nearly as fast without the developer and a calibrated loupe.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Richard
>>
>>
>> On 2012-02-28 10:28 AM, Gregorio Garcia Karman wrote:
>>> Hello Richard,
>>>
>>> you definitely spotted the problem at first glance. It should have been indeed 1, 2, 3, 4, in that order and I would say it is clear that it is a half-track tape. There is still the question of the extremely high crosstalk between channels which only occurs on two or three tapes out of the six hundred. I know it would be much easier but I can't develop the tape, so I have to go back to my original question. Which machine would record with such a narrow guard band, or otherwise what could be an alternative explanation?
>>>
>>> Huge thanks again
>>> G
>>>
>>> On 27.02.2012, at 15:19, Richard L. Hess wrote:
>>>
>>>> Gregorio,
>>>>
>>>> This is why I'm such a fanatic about developing tapes and looking at them. The fact that track 3 has B NOT backwards confuses me.
>>>>
>>>> Also, I'm surprised you are writing 1/3/2/4 because visually on the tape you'd see 1/2/3/4 and that helps understanding.
>>>>
>>>> You could use 1 + 4 to capture, but I'd rather fully understand why as the narrow tracks, especially at the edge, are not the most desirable unless that's all you have.
>>>>
>>>> With track 3 B NOT backwards, I'm at a loss to explain.
>>>>
>>>> http://richardhess.com/notes/category/audio/magnetic-tape-developing/
>>>>
>>>> Develop the tape and post a photo and link to it from the reply message to the list.
>>>>
>>>> Do not rule out misaligned heads. Also, some machines used 1/2 and 4/3 as stereo recording and they might have been UK machines instead of the more common US practice of 1/3  4/2 (in all instances L/R and SideA SideB).
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Richard
>>>>
>>>> On 2012-02-27 5:39 AM, Gregorio Garcia Karman wrote:
>>>>> Dear List,
>>>>>
>>>>> looking forward to the beginning of a new digitization week: everything is going well in Cambridge thanks in great extent to the support of the members of the list. Huge thanks!
>>>>>
>>>>> Now, I have a small group of 1/4 inch tapes in the collection on which I am working (ca 1950s-70s, recorded mainly on Ferrographs) which seems to have a track format, which I haven't met before. On those tapes standard half-track and half-track butterfly Studer blocks consistently produce a dual mono signal with unacceptable crosstalk on both channels (bleeding of about -20 dB referring to the signal on the other channel).
>>>>>
>>>>> On the other hand, the output of a quarter-track headblock is as follows:
>>>>>
>>>>> track 1: Signal A
>>>>> track 3: Signal A + B
>>>>> track 2: Signal A + B backwards
>>>>> track 4: Signal B backwards
>>>>>
>>>>> It would seem that this very small group of tapes would have been recorded on a machine with a very narrow guard-band in comparison to the rest of the tapes I have. What is your opinion about transferring those tapes on a quarter track headblock and keeping tracks 1 and 4?
>>>>>
>>>>> I would also be curious about which machine could have had a track format that would agree with the former observations.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for your comments!
>>>>>
>>>>> Gregorio Garcia Karman
>>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
>>>> Aurora, Ontario, Canada           (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
>>>> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
>>>> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
>>> Gregorio Garcia Karman
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>
>> -- 
>> Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
>> Aurora, Ontario, Canada           (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
>> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
>> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.

-- 
Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada           (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.

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