.. about reel tape..
I read today about Quantegy, the classic reel tape manufacturer formerly known as Ampex.
As some of you might remember, about 2-3 years ago, they went bankrupt and disappeared from the market, due to the fact that computer-based recording systems are very much dominating this industry now, yet the world was holding their breath and on more or less every pro-audio forum on the Internet you could read posts like: "Have we seen the last reel tape now??"
One year after that, Quantegy anounced that some of the guys working there decided to give it a chance, they restructured the company, opened the tape factory, and they were back in business again. Reel tapes was back on the market, and a lot of studio owners with tons of money invested in refurbished vintage reel tape recorders, could now relax.
But for how long..
So, today I read some sad news about Quantegy again, due to lack of orders they have to discontinue a huge part of their product line, including some of their reel tapes as well, and the question is, for how long time will they be able to survive this time?
As a contrast, or possibly as a logical extension of a now soon to be dead reel tape culture, a few weeks ago, I read a posting on Gearslutz about some engineer that states that he can hear a difference in quality of computer-recorded material depending on if it is recorded using internal SATA drives, or if it is recorded using an external firewire drive!
I really don't know what to say, in my world (growing up with computers) a zero is a zero, and the figure 1 is always a figure 1 and inbetween that there is as far as I know no computer in the world that knows the difference.
Probably, there is no right or wrong here, no matter if you are a vintage reel tape enthusiast, or if you are a total ProTools geek, or if you still cuddle around with your oldschool Akai MPC-60, no matter what - if you make great music, the rest of the process is religion, what YOU believe - is what you hear. And who could ever tell you that it is "wrong"?
Anyway, if you believe in reel tapes, go visit Quantegy now to get some of those tapes before the factory closes again. And for the rest of you, go buy a reel tape anyway and save it as a cool souvenir from the era when the history of "modern music" was created, with discs that contains tunes that we all love and remember, discs that was recorded on low track number reel tape...
[quantegy website]
---
As some of you might remember, about 2-3 years ago, they went bankrupt and disappeared from the market, due to the fact that computer-based recording systems are very much dominating this industry now, yet the world was holding their breath and on more or less every pro-audio forum on the Internet you could read posts like: "Have we seen the last reel tape now??"
One year after that, Quantegy anounced that some of the guys working there decided to give it a chance, they restructured the company, opened the tape factory, and they were back in business again. Reel tapes was back on the market, and a lot of studio owners with tons of money invested in refurbished vintage reel tape recorders, could now relax.
But for how long..
So, today I read some sad news about Quantegy again, due to lack of orders they have to discontinue a huge part of their product line, including some of their reel tapes as well, and the question is, for how long time will they be able to survive this time?
As a contrast, or possibly as a logical extension of a now soon to be dead reel tape culture, a few weeks ago, I read a posting on Gearslutz about some engineer that states that he can hear a difference in quality of computer-recorded material depending on if it is recorded using internal SATA drives, or if it is recorded using an external firewire drive!
I really don't know what to say, in my world (growing up with computers) a zero is a zero, and the figure 1 is always a figure 1 and inbetween that there is as far as I know no computer in the world that knows the difference.
Probably, there is no right or wrong here, no matter if you are a vintage reel tape enthusiast, or if you are a total ProTools geek, or if you still cuddle around with your oldschool Akai MPC-60, no matter what - if you make great music, the rest of the process is religion, what YOU believe - is what you hear. And who could ever tell you that it is "wrong"?
Anyway, if you believe in reel tapes, go visit Quantegy now to get some of those tapes before the factory closes again. And for the rest of you, go buy a reel tape anyway and save it as a cool souvenir from the era when the history of "modern music" was created, with discs that contains tunes that we all love and remember, discs that was recorded on low track number reel tape...
[quantegy website]
---
By Felnik, 01:02,
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