Reel to reel tape 7.5 or 15 IPS( 2 track or 4 tracks)

[Kiran Vaidya]

I am looking for pre-recorded reel to reel tapes preferably of Indian music. Let me know if someone has few tapes to share. Thanks

 

[CryptBala]

These would be very difficult to obtain now.. also the tapes are extremely rare. try in kolkata i have seen few in some place near the ramakrishna mutt forgot the name though.. they had it up for sale back then. not sure now..

 

[Kiran Vaidya]

Thanks for your information

 

[reubensm]

I have never heard of any Indian releases on r2r tape, unless a western or eastern label released Indian music. But if you have a taste for western music, there are so many options out there, all you would need to do is run a search on eBay.com

Also I guess you may have already seen the advert for selling pre-recorded tapes by our esteemed forum member, cybervinay. Regards.

 

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

Just curious to know whether Indian classical both vocal and instrumental, movie songs ,semi classical are not available in tape? Not even Rabindrasangeet or regional songs? I mean pre recorded reel tapes .

 

[reubensm]

India was never a r2r market, we had records with some releases from HMV/EMI on cassette, and that was until T-series arrived. But would be happy to hear more on whether we had Indian releases on r2r tape

 

[Kiran Vaidya]

Looks difficult to obtain pre recorded indian music on reel to reel. I am going to record few tracks from CD and record on my reel to reel Teac X-2000M(7.5 IPS and 15 IPS 2 track) and i may also record my personal recordings. I will post my experience later.

 

[Hassan Khani]

Yes pre recorded reel tapes are impossible to get. It makes sense to record from vinyl to reel than cd to reel.

 

[nikhilblr]

Looks difficult to obtain pre recorded indian music on reel to reel. I am going to record few tracks from CD and record on my reel to reel Teac X-2000M(7.5 IPS and 15 IPS 2 track) and i may also record my personal recordings. I will post my experience later.

Wouldn't copying from CD to tape defeat the purpose of listening to analog because the recording can only be as good as the source in a best case scenario and if the recording is copied from CD to tape then the CD will probably sound better. The reason I don't buy new vinyls is because we can never know for sure if the master was a digital recording.

 

[Bloom@83]

Wouldn't copying from CD to tape defeat the purpose of listening to analog because the recording can only be as good as the source in a best case scenario and if the recording is copied from CD to tape then the CD will probably sound better. The reason I don't buy new vinyls is because we can never know for sure if the master was a digital recording.

Cant agree on the last sentence. Having had experiences in collecting both used as well as new vinyls , I can say that it’s not always true that a new reissue vinyl from a digital source (often a DSD ) is inferior sounding. A lot of it depends on the mastering , the recording engineer and the reputation of the label itself. You would often find reissue vinyls from MOFI or Tone Poet or Analog Productions (quite expensive though ) often compared very favourably with the best known pressings (not necessarily first pressings ) by respected independent reviewers.

 

[reubensm]

recording from CDs to tape - a hotly discussed and debated topic

Personally i love to listen to tapes and still love to make mixes. I have figured out a way to improve the quality of digital sources, especially the music from youtube, and create some listenable tapes. I use a Behringer DEQ 2496 for the purpose which helps me brighten up the source without any background noise (which you'd hear when using the usual analog graphic equalizers) and I usually record with Dolby B

I still get a kick out of listening to cassettes and they are fun.

With regard to the debate around modern pressings vs old pressings - from my experience it all depends on listening tastes, the older pressings tend to sound very full and mid-rangy (especially bollywood pressings) while the newer ones perhaps sound a bit thin in comparison. There are people who like thinnish sounding music with focus on lows and highs, with mids rolled off slightly and there are those who love midrange. Its all down to personal taste. There is another aspect to this debate as well, remastered vs re-released. Some bands remaster their old recordings and release them as remastered version while others perform the material all over again and re-record the album in its entirety with modern recording equipment and instruments. Some love the original versions of the album where as some prefer the re-recorded versions. For example, I find Pink Floyd material which was performed by David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason (accompanied by sessions musicians) on albums like PULSE, more listenable than the original albums. Purists wont like the re-recorded versions and will prefer the original versions. Another topic for debate is who sounds better - a band with its original line up vs a band with a new line up. It all comes down to personal choice

 

[anirban420]

I am looking for pre-recorded reel to reel tapes preferably of Indian music

There are very few Indian pre-recorded R2R release. I heard that only a few Hindustani classical albums were released in this format.

 

[anirban420]

The reason I don't buy new vinyls is because we can never know for sure if the master was a digital recording

Technically speaking, is there really a "Digital" or "Analogue" thingy that comes into the matter if it matches someones some taste? They are just some processes for music production. With proper mastering/remastering, it can sound good either in a Digital or Analogue way. It all depends on mastering/remastering and, as reubensm said, on the taste of the listener.

 

[Kiran Vaidya]

There are very few Indian pre-recorded R2R release. I heard that only a few Hindustani classical albums were released in this format.

Where to find them? any guesses?

 

[Kiran Vaidya]

Wouldn't copying from CD to tape defeat the purpose of listening to analog because the recording can only be as good as the source in a best case scenario and if the recording is copied from CD to tape then the CD will probably sound better. The reason I don't buy new vinyls is because we can never know for sure if the master was a digital recording.

In the absence of pre-recorded material, if someone wish to use the RTR machine, how do we use it?

 

[anirban420]

Where to find them? any guesses?

Not Really. Possible sources might be online used markets.

In the absence of pre-recorded material, if someone wish to use the RTR machine, how do we use it?

Non-Indian albums were released in reels, you might still found those in used markets. For Indian music, it is not that much logical to use R2R IMO.