So I Scored A Free Reel to Reel Tape Machine

[Chainsaw Calligraphy]

Turns out there was an old one lying around in my parent's attic for some reason. It's a Teac X-1000M. Google pic (don't have my camera around):

I haven't played around with it much yet but my first impression is that it's far too vintage sounding for metal productions. It's just too dark, virtually nothing above 8Khz survives passing through it. With a little experimentation I think I might be able to use it to thicken up bright guitar sounds and get some saturation on bass and parallel drum busses. Dark or not, I'm still pretty pleased with it for a freebie.

Do any of you guys have experience with these types of machines (i.e not high end reel to reels for pro studios)? Any tips or tricks you could offer?

 

[RevoltStudios]

Good score! I had a tape machine for years until selling it. Let me give you some pointers....Get an MRL tape ASAP and learn to set that thing up correctly. There is a 100% chance it's jacked from sitting around for years. Next, get new tape, not used. Most of the high end loss you experience is from wore out and old tape. I say new tape because nearly every batch of used I got was of the shedding era. Nashville Tape Supply for that. Next, learn the level differences between DBFS and DBVU and how to make them work together. If you've heeded my advice, you've realized there's a ton of money in tape machine usage! Good luck my friend! They sound sexy when maintained well.

 

[nezvers]

Damn, if I remember right in my parent house attic was soviet reel to reel tape machine. When I was in cradle I listened Queen, Scorpions, Status Quo and other on it!

 

[Audiosprite]

Damn, if I remember right in my parent house attic was soviet reel to reel tape machine. When I was in cradle I listened Queen, Scorpions, Status Quo and other on it!

i read this post as tf2 heavy speaking

 

[RichS]

You might want to clean the heads, capstan & rollers. I used reel to reel for years and keeping stuff clean is very important.

 

[Chainsaw Calligraphy]

Good score! I had a tape machine for years until selling it. Let me give you some pointers....Get an MRL tape ASAP and learn to set that thing up correctly. There is a 100% chance it's jacked from sitting around for years. Next, get new tape, not used. Most of the high end loss you experience is from wore out and old tape. I say new tape because nearly every batch of used I got was of the shedding era. Nashville Tape Supply for that. Next, learn the level differences between DBFS and DBVU and how to make them work together. If you've heeded my advice, you've realized there's a ton of money in tape machine usage! Good luck my friend! They sound sexy when maintained well.

You might want to clean the heads, capstan & rollers. I used reel to reel for years and keeping stuff clean is very important.

Thanks guys, I figured it would need a good clean and some new tape. I did a little research into MRL tapes and proper tape machine calibration and it looks pretty nightmarish. I might see if I can find a tech who can set it up properly as it looks like it would cost around the same for an MRL tape anyway.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Damn, if I remember right in my parent house attic was soviet reel to reel tape machine. When I was in cradle I listened Queen, Scorpions, Status Quo and other on it!

i read this post as TF2 heavy speaking

It is fucking awesome though - and congrats Chainsaw Calligraphy, from RevoltStudios' description it sounds like a pain in the ass tbh haha, but hopefully the dulcet analog tonez will woo you and make it all worth it

 

[hsnyder]

Nice! Well 8k cutoff might be okay to run just the guitars through