At Fixya.com, our trusted experts are meticulously vetted and possess extensive experience in their respective fields. Backed by a community of knowledgeable professionals, our platform ensures that the solutions provided are thoroughly researched and validated.
- If you need clarification, ask it in the comment box above.
- Better answers use proper spelling and grammar.
- Provide details, support with references or personal experience.
Tell us some more! Your answer needs to include more details to help people.You can't post answers that contain an email address.Please enter a valid email address.The email address entered is already associated to an account.Login to postPlease use English characters only.
Tip: The max point reward for answering a question is 15.
I assume you have reel to reel 1/2 inch audio tape.
You will have to find a tape machine that uses the same size, format and speed as the 1/2 inch tape was recorded at in order to play it back (Presumably, you will record it into a DAW or computer digital audio format for future use?).
This tape could be a multi-track in a format specific to the original machine it was recorded on, it could be digital audio on reel to reel tape, it could be many different formats.
What do you know about the tape, how, when, and on what equipment it was recorded?
The TEAC 3300 made in 1972 is an extremely versatile tape deck, designed for the beginner through simplicity of design, yet built to the high technical requirements demanded by the semi-professionals and experienced audio enthusiasts.
The unit will operate at 7.5 or 15 per second and is available in 2 or 4 track configuration.
Specifications
If you have a 4 channel quad tape deck you arm all four tracks and hit record and play and it will record on all 4. If you have only a stereo deck you can only record on 2 channels at a time.
What model are you talking about?
If he had it done by a person who knows what he is doing he most likely used a 1/2 track tape recording device. These are different than 1/4 track unit as they are used professionally an for mastering. You would need to find a 1/2 track type deck to play the tape back- they are made by Tascam, Otari, Studer, Pioneer, Sony and other lesser brands.
Well, not being there to try some diagnostics, there can be a number of reason that the tape plays backwards at times. One reason is that the tapes are 4 channel discrete tape requiring a 4 track 4 channel deck- this would mean track 2,4 are recorded in the forward direction. A Stereo (2 channel 4 track deck) play tracks 2,4 in the opposite direction. That is why you turn the tape over on some decks. Other possibilities could be tape path skew, that reverse relay is NOT changing the head that "listens: to the tape and that is just the start of what it could be. When a new person starts to use a deck of such age- it can be correct to assume that the deck is not working in some respect. A Tape deck Technician such as myself would know how to determine if the deck was working correct or not and know and have parts to correct it. I worked in the Factory Service in Chicago for Teac and actually have one coming into my shop in the near future. After 40 years of working on these I am still at it. I am sorry there may not be an easy answer to this.
I can't speak to the specifics of the machine's mechanics but I have been into audio (hobby) and and a Service Engineer on data tape storage (from 7- and 9-track 1/2" open reel running at 200 inches per second and capable of start/stopping in .6" to 100-plus track 1/2" digital data cartridge tape) for over 32 years so I know a few things about tape media handling.
Squeezing 16 audio tracks into 1/2" of media doesn't leave much room for error in the analog world. The manual I found at retrevo.com discusses making electrical Play and Record level adjustments using a calibrated Magnetic Reference Tape BUT they don't discuss head azimuth setting or adjustment which could affect high frequency response and crosstalk between adjacent channels.
You could check for audible crosstalk by recording alternate (even or odd) tracks at a fairly high level and then playing back only the others. The crosstalk spec is only 50dB at 1kHz so you can't expect total silence but it should be on par with the residual noise of the tape without Noise Reduction engaged and should be fairly uniform across the tape.
Physical deformation of the tape will also plague any machine with narrow tracks. If the edges flutter you are definitely losing amplitude on the outer tracks. The tape itself could also be experiencing stresses due to uneven rewind tension that would result in an uneven 'pack' within the reel. If the appearance of the tape within the reel flanges after play or rewind is NOT uniform there may be a physical reasons for it. If any of the tape wrap is exposing edges of the tape you have to be extra careful to handle the reel without compressing the flanges. A perfectly wound tape would have a uniform wrap appearance and when viewed on edge there would be clearance between the tape and both flanges. Any contact with the flanges will wear or deform that edge of the tape.
If the reel flange is warped sufficiently it will contact the tape every revolution, too, and during high speed transport you'll see and hear it.
Physical Tracking within the tape path must be perfect. With a high powered lamp and no tape loaded examine the heads. There should be no visibly worn grooves in their surfaces that would alter the way the tape passes over them. Then load a new blank tape and view how the tape passes over the heads, looking for any deviation from perfect flat alignment within the tape path. It may help to place a piece of white paper behind the area so you can see the reflection of the light off the tape. Any variation indicates less-than-perfect tape-to-head contact which would result in loss of treble, crosstalk or dropouts. Repeat this with a previously recorded tape. If it's different then we need to suspect machine-induced tape problems.
Proper tensioning of the tape during both play and rewind is key as you mentioned.
Head wear is also a possibility.
One thing that many people overlook is the storage of their media to ensure longevity. A reasonably constant temperature and humidity is essential as is sufficient distance from magnetic fields. Though not very convenient, storing any tape (open reel, audio cassette, video) in a 'played' state produces the most uniform tensions and pack wrap so it's the best way to avoid problems that varying temperature might cause.
If you can identify or eliminate any of these problems and add that information to this post I'm sure someone out there might be able to assist with the next steps.
It's a 4-head reversable deck where the Forward tracks are arranged across the physical tape surface, front-to-back as follows:
ForwardLeft ReverseRight ForwardRight ReverseLeft
...so it sounds like the Reverse playback heads are engaged at the same time you play Forward, so you would hear those adjacent tracks backward. If you play the tape in the Reverse direction, is the Forward program audible (but backward)?
If so and in otherwise high fidelity, something in the Forward/Reverse head selection may be hosed.
Or, if the out-of-phase tracks are mushy and low volume, the physical tracking of the tape across the heads could be WA-A-A-A-Y bad. That would probably be visible as sideways distortion in the tape path. Shine a high-intensity light on the tape where is passes over the heads, then reverse it while watching where it sets up on the heads. It should be centered on the heads and not change its orientation when reversed. Compare where it tracks in motion with the probable visible wear marks (shiny bars across the heads perpendicular to the travel) where the tape has polished the heads over the years.
Or, the heads are so worn the coils pick up signals from their neighboring tracks.
I also have an MR-929. The information that you need is in the 'Stereophonic 4 track stereo''. As stereo is only two tracks, there is another 2 tracks in addition to the one you are listening to. Wind the entire reel to the empty spool, and then play that. As you have to physically turn the reel over to do so, you should then hear the other tracks (or track, if recorded in mono).
I use my 929 to play my parents recording of my family from the late 60s, which were recorded on a valve (tube) Ferguson machine, which had a green "magic eye" level indicator, which as a child I found fascinating!
the tascam 414 is a 4 track recording studio which uses standard cassette tapes- meaning they only play in one direction, because the tape is full. The 414 records at double speed so that recording fidelity is increased. When you have made a recording you want to mix you then dub your recording though the outputs into another standard tape recorder or whatever you have available, be it a cd recorder or your PC. So, when you listened to your recording on a standard tape player, you were not only hearing it at half speed but you were only listening to 2 of the 4 tracks. The other tracks would only be heard if you flipped the tape over, and they would be heard running backward. I would have though the 414 had a swich to allow it to also record at standard speed to but I guest it does not.
×