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Published on 03-07-2014 01:07 PM
Number of Views: 6822
Since when did a 50-year-old analog format become the standard bearer for state-of-the-art music recording and reproduction? I'm reading the reel-to-reel groups, attending the DSD presentations at the Newport Show and am well aware of The Tape Project and now The Master Tape Sound Lab. Somehow, there is this notion that a 15 ips 1/4" 2.0 channel stereo analog tape is the "holy grail" of audio reproduction. That level of fidelity (which I appreciate and spent many years doing) is expected to be the goal for all engineers and record producers. It's time to take a closer look and inject some reality back into the merits and limitations of analog tape.
Yesterday, I mentioned an article at HighFidelity.pl that featured the Polish company, The Master Tape Sound Lab, and its founder Todor Dimitrov. The opening line of his website states, "The revival of reel to reel is, paradoxically, related to the digital revolution that takes place right before our eyes, i.e. the transition from physical media to computer files. But it is not only and merely nostalgia - <strong>analog tape still remains the best known musical medium.</strong> Even vinyl is merely an attempt to approximate what can be found on 1/4 inch analog tape played at 15 ips."
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