Just so there are no misunderstandings, I have to explain to you how focused is my interest in reel-to-reel tape. I absolutely don’t want to be challenged or trolled by studio denizens about why did I forget about such-and-such, 30 ips is better, yadayadayada. My interest is, firstly, ONLY about playback and, secondly, about domestic machines because I only care about pre-recorded open-reel tapes.
Thus, you will not read in my jottings anything to do with professional machines, the current availability of fresh blank tape, mixing desks, how to ensure correct record levels, microphones, ad infinitum. That’s because not only am I concerned exclusively with pre-recorded tape, my interest is also restricted to what we might call The Original Open Reel Era. For clarity, the tapes you can buy today from the Tape Project, Fonè, STS, et al, comprise what I will call The Open Reel Revivalists.
Simply put, I have no intention of recording anything live or off-air, though I will, at a later point, touch on the cult interest in transferring CDs or even LPs to tape, by those who find it improves the sound. Moreover, I am fully aware that there are countless audiophiles using professional machines, especially the much-coveted Studer 800 Series decks in 1/2-track form, in their sound systems. Mazel tov to them. But pro decks, in the main, relate to my field of interest as howitzers do to water pistols.
Finishing off with the hardware element for the time being, as I understand it, the production of open-reel machines (pro or domestic) from major makers ended around 2010 with the last of the Otaris. The end of quantity- or series-production tape decks for studios is not something I have researched, so I am going on what I was told by professionals. Since then, what you have are virtually bespoke, limited production items from specialists like Ballfinger, or resuscitated decks from the various restorers and resellers of Technics, TEAC, ReVox, and other rescued units.
For purely domestic open-reel tape recorders, from Akai, Sony, Pioneer and so on, I would have imagined that they ceased production in the early-to-mid 1990s. That certainly applies to one of the most important and popular manufacturers, which – according to authors Luca Maria Olgiati and Paolo Bologna, in their definitive history – show that ReVox’s last open-reel machine, the PR99 Mk III, was made in 1993.
[For the full saga, get a copy of their superb book, ReVox Reel to Reel Tape Recorders 1949-1993 (ReVoxMania, ISBN 978-1-36-659060-2). I found mine on Amazon.]
Finishing off with the hardware, the puzzler in my arsenal is the Otari MX5050 because I always thought of that brand as pro-only, yet here is a machine which, like the Technics RS-1500, plays three speeds and two formats. And who ever used 1/4-track in studios? Even if I lost all my other machines, between the Otari and the Technics there isn’t a commercial pre-recorded tape, whether Original Open Reel Era or current 15 ips stuff, which cannot be played.
Now back to pre-recorded tape. Roughly speaking, commercially-available pre-recorded tapes date from the early 1950s to the mid-1980s. I have not found any open-reel tapes from any of the major labels after 1984 or so. From that point onward, as exemplified by early, pioneering open-reel specialists like Chad Kassem’s Acoustic Sounds, the aforementioned Tape Project and Foné, and the others which emerged in their wake, nearly all post-1980s pre-recorded tapes are 15 ips, two-track recordings on 10-inch spools, with prices that, frankly, are forbidding, even though they simply reflect the costs of making pre-recorded tapes today.
Let’s deal with the Revivalists at this point. I have nothing but the utmost respect for them, and understand why they have to charge anywhere from $200 to $800 for their tapes. This is not the place for a lesson in economics or commerce – if you don’t believe in profit margins, flights will soon resume to Cuba, Belarus or North Korea – but these guys have to add a markup. When the best price for a 10-inch spool of raw tape is anywhere from $70 – $100 (and as the majority of the labels seem to be in Europe, so you must add shipping and duty to US-sourced blanks), you’re already into three figures.
Then we come to the available recordings on the revivalist labels. These are divided between reissues of material from known artists, such as the Tape Project’s titles by Linda Ronstadt and Creedence Clearwater Revival, to what I can only describe without being mean or cynical as “audiophile repertoire.”
For those of you old enough to remember the heyday of audiophile vinyl, when any Japanese pressing was considered gold dust and direct-to-disc was the height of sonic excellence, the cliché was “great sound – a shame about the music.” Part of the problem, according to the musicians, was that direct-to-disc recordings did not enable multiple takes and editing was categorically out of the question, so performances were cautious or even stilted. Despite the involvement of wizards like Doug Sax, Lincoln Mayorga, Keith O. Johnson, and others of that caliber, the audiophile genre never threatened the appeal nor sonic supremacy of recordings from the best years of Mercury, RCA, Capitol, Columbia or Decca/London.
While there were some stunning and desirable titles on audiophile labels, from artists including Taj Mahal, Thelma Houston, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Ry Cooder and others, for the most part what you ended up with were LPs you played once, put away, and only retrieved when friends came over to hear your new preamp or cartridge. One suspects they were only played repeatedly by retailers, or exhibitors at hi-fi shows. Huh? You actually listened voluntarily to the Sheffield Lab Drum Record for pleasure? Don’t tell me: you also pour a brandy and groove on Shure test disc LPs. Hmmm…the only audiophile LPs I still play are reissues via Mobile Fidelity, Nautilus and others, of known titles.
It’s the same problem with contemporary open-reel tapes. For those re-issuing familiar works, in addition to the cost of the blank tapes, the high cost of maintaining machines for duplicating, and the need to make copies in real time, comes the swingeing cost of royalties. One label with which I discussed the idea of releasing even big-ticket, ultra-limited runs of open-reel editions of their titles simply stated that, when compared to LPs and SACDs, the costs of labor, materials, but especially royalties based on a percentage of the retail price, it is simply not worth the effort for sales which might be as low as a few dozen, if even a few hundred.
So, what does that leave? If you’re not able to reissue known works under license, then you are forced to record new repertoire. Paying the performers, booking a concert hall, funding an orchestra – it isn’t cheap unless you think you can get away with some unplugged troubadour recorded in your living room.
Every once in a while, however, something amazing will slip through, like Eleanor McEvoy’s Forgotten Dreams on Chasing the Dragon. In addition to being an intimate, live set from a much-loved vocalist, the label even eased the pain of acquiring a copy by offering it not just on direct-cut vinyl, CD, and its premium 15 ips, 10-inch, 2-track tape, they also made it available on 7-1/2 ips/7-inch for a massive savings (£350 for 15 ips vs £215 for 7-1/2 ips).
But that’s the exception. The bulk of current pre-recorded open-reel tapes involve artists you probably never heard of, playing music which is best described as “special interest.” If – and I am totally not expecting this to happen – pre-recorded open-reel tapes are going to transcend the few hundred enthusiasts wealthy enough to indulge in them, then we’re gonna need reel-to-reel copies of Dylan or Adele or Marvin Gaye or Queen or ZZ Top or Taylor Swift or Elton John or even Ed Sheeran, and for under $200 apiece. And I base that latter figure on how Mobile Fidelity sells out of every one of its Ultradisc One-Step LPs at $125 a pop, in runs now typically hitting 7,500 copies.
Which is where I came in, finding original pre-recorded tapes no newer than 35 years old, probably stored in a garage or attic, covered in mouse droppings, poorly spooled, with split boxes and smelling like a corpse. Next time, we’ll discuss the trials, tribulations, and credit card flexing required to build up a library of tapes worth playing. And yes, I’m in love with one containing folk tunes from Peru.
Header image: Just one of KK’s latest finds on eBay – not bad for under $100 including shipping to the UK and criminal import charges. All images courtesy of the author.
This article first appeared in Issue 149.
