Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!info-high-audio-request
From: Steve_Graham@ub.cc.umich.edu
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Tape
Message-ID: <7244@uwm.edu>
Date: 26 Oct 90 13:02:13 GMT
Sender: news@uwm.edu
Lines: 19
Approved: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

Lance Bailey wants to know what we are using for tape stock.
I have been using mostly Ampex 407 with my Revox, though I use 456
now and then.  When I'm feeling strapped I use whatever I can pick up.
3M-806/7 is very different stuff--you have to work at getting it flat
as it wants to be bright.  (And by the way, some tape-deck/tape combos
give flatter response than others no matter how the knobs are tweaked.)
I don't record on 807 on the Revox as I don't want to rebias it, but have
used it on Studer A807s and A67s, and Technics RS 1502 machines.  Also
Tascam 52s.  It seems to sound a tad hard, but lose less transient response
than most other tapes.  I try to avoid Japanese reel tapes as I feel the
stiffness of the base gives rise to too much dropout.                   
 
3M is just coming out with new reel tape, model 996, which they claim can
be recorded at +9 dB (presumably above 185 nW/m, which is to say 9 dB above
the standard level established in the 50's, and at least 3 dB higher than
any other known tape).  We hope to have a sample to play with soon.
Should be interesting.  Hard to believe; especially when they claim
print-through is also minimal.