I'd like to add that I've been adding the Barclay-Crocker remastered Dolby 4 track series to my library in the quest for better recordings from the era of those who cared about fidelity. Even though they're 4 track, the excellent signal to noise ratio, lack of cross talk and performances make these audio standouts. This link will give you an idea of a few of the their releases and the current prices they're fetching, even at this late date: http://www.irvmusic.com/catdir/o5.htm This article from 1986 is an obituary to the label and open reel prerecorded tapes: http://aroundcny.com/Technofile/texts/openreelobit86.html This a part of the Ebay page by a vendor, Ramblin' Jack, who gives these particulars when he's auctioning any of the Barclay-Crocker series: > The fastidious BARCLAY-CROCKER Reel to Reel Tape Company of New York > City was internationally famous for manufacturing Reel to Reel > tapes with a "no-holds-barred" attitude to quality. BARCLAY-CROCKER, > (BC), carefully chose recordings for manufacturing only after critical > evaluation of the MASTER TAPE supplied by the original licensing > (record) company. After passing stringent BC standards, the record > company master was painstakingly recorded 1-to-1 to a running master > at 15 inches per second on 1/2 inch mastering tape and not subjected > to any external limiting, compression or equalization. These new BC > running masters were used to produce the LIMITED EDITION ISSUES (some > less than ONE HUNDRED!) at tape recording speeds unheard of for the > REEL TO REEL TAPE INDUSTRY. > > Most commercially available Reel to Reel tapes in their day, were > duplicated at very high speeds (60 -240 IPS) ranging from 8 to 32 > times the tape's normal playing speed at 7 1/2 IPS or up to 64 times > the speed of a 3 3/4 IPS tape! The BROAD-BANDWIDTH required at these > high speeds severly 'taxes' the amplifiers and heads of the > duplicating equipment and adversely affects both > the FREQUENCY RESPONSE and NOISE LEVEL of the duplicated tapes. BC's > custom modified AMPEX DUPLICATING EQUIPMENT was set to operate at a > ratio of only 4-to-1 (running master at 60 ips; recorded copies at 30 > ips, or only 4 TIMES the normal playing speed of 7 1/2 ips). Because > of this SLOW DUPLICATION speed, combined with the carefully made B-C > running master and the use of the most expensive premium > polyester-based, Audiotape Q-15, low noise tape they were able to > produce a commercially available tape that captures the FULL RANGE, > BRILLIANCE, and TONAL SUBTELTIES of the original master, far > surpassing the ORIGINAL REEL TO REEL RELEASE by the record company (if > one was even released)!!! > > BARCLAY-CROCKER CO, until their doors closed, continually produced a > product uniquely qualified to become bonafied exceptions to the > limiting conditions which were then offered to the music listening > public. To say that BC was the state-of-the-art source of it's day > for reels is a cliched understatement. BC's very limited releases are > simply extremely RARE EXAMPLES OF RECORDED MUSIC PERFECTION. And > in time, the value, appreciation & desirability of these recordings > will prove the axiom; > > "If a man does not keep pace with his companions; perhaps it is > because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which > he hears, however measured or far away". Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) > Rod Stephens Tom Fine wrote: > Duper masters came from all places at various times. Same problem with > cassette duper masters. RCA might well have run a 2-track while they > mastered the LP and then used it for a duper master. There's really no > telling with mass-made reels. They could be many, many generations > away from the master tape. One of the very late-era good-quality > cassette dupe places used a better method, but charged big bux for > their tapes. They'd have a digital tape made from the real-deal > master, at a good mastering facility. Then they'd use the digital tape > or 1:1 clones as their cassette duper masters, and dupe at real-time > with a roomful of decent-quality cassette decks. Like I said, they > charged a premium for their tapes but they did sound good. The only > other mass-produced tapes that I have that sound somewhat near what a > master should sound like are some early 2-track reels, which were made > at 2X or at most 4X speed. Some companies did better than others, even > in that era. > > -- Tom Fine > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karl Miller" > <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 8:58 AM > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Fw: Fw: [ARSCLIST] Dynagroove, was Record > tracking > > >> On Mon, 13 Feb 2006, phillip holmes wrote: >> >>> With permission from Stan Ricker: >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: "Stan Ricker" >>> >>> Ya--------part of the cutter-amp circuitry; in a plug-in card, in the >>> Neumann case, the amount of "pre-distort" is diameter-dependent, >>> triggered >>> by many microswitches along the sled-path.......just before the RIAA >>> eq... >>> >>> > phillip holmes wrote: >>> >> So the Dynagroove process was at the mastering end of things >>> (between the >>> >> tape deck and the cutter head)? >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: "Stan Ricker" >>> To: "phillip holmes" >>> >>> >>> >>> NEUMANN CALLED THIS "PREDISTORT" CIRCUIT" A "TRACING >>> SIMULATOR"----AND >>> >>> NOBODY LIKED IT EITHER.........THE TELDEC SYSTEM MENTIONED BELOW >>> IS THE >>> >>> NEUMANN SYSTEM..............THANK GOODNESS "DYNAGROOVE" WAS ONLY >>> >>> MASTERING, >>> >>> AND NOT ORIGINAL RECORDING AS WELL...........STAN >> >> >> I have several of the commerically issued reel to reel tapes from the >> dynagroove era. They seem to suffer from the same distortion problems I >> found on the discs...or is that just a problem with my ears... >> >> As I write this, I don't recall having heard any CD releases of the >> dynagroove recordings. If the master tapes were ok, are the transfers >> good? >> >> One of my favorite BSO recordings from that time was the DelloJoio >> Fantasy >> and Variations. After several copies of the disc and reel to reel >> tapes, I >> gave up and now listen to concert broadcast tape I have. >> >> Karl > >