Hi, Tom.
I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable like Richard Hess will weigh in
on this later, but my experience with playing back these tapes on
different players is that the track format does appears to be
standardized, however, just like 2-track decks the azimuth shifts from
machine to machine. I can't speak to the dbxII issue, however, as I
never used it for any of my recordings. The worst 4 track recorder
for interchange in my experience was the Tascam Porta02. Although,
it could have just been head problems on that specific deck.
Best,
Tim
On Fri, Oct 5, 2012 at 9:08 AM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Harken back to those wonderful days of the 80s ...
>
> Does anyone know for a fact if the 4-track cassette format was standardized
> between the various manufacturers of PortaStudios and similar
> recorder/mixers (Tascam/Teac, Akai, Yamaha and perhaps others)? Should the
> dbx II track correctly between different machines? I have some tapes made on
> a PortaStudio, which I still have, and some made on either a Yamaha or Akai
> (long-gone, not findable, likely long ago trashed, I can't even remember
> what brand it was). I'd like to transfer all of the tapes to a DAW in the
> best quality possible.
>
> At 3.75IPS with dbxII, I remember those recorders being surprisingly good
> with rock and roll music. I'm sure if you attempted a string quartet with
> that recorder, you'd hear all the flaws, but we were a heavy metal army back
> then.
>
> -- Tom Fine
--
Timothy Wisniewski, M.L.I.S.
Visual Materials Archivist
Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
5801 Smith Avenue, Suite 235
Baltimore, MD 21209
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