Calibrating the old Ampex 2-track reel-to-reel tape recorder tonight, in advance of a recording session this weekend with an eight-piece soul band. This sucker is fifty-eight years old and still plays back plus-or-minus 1 db all the way from 32 hz (think about a low note on a tuba or pipe organ) up to 20 kHz (think about dog whistles and things out of the range of human hearing). After calibrating the machine (RTM 911 tape, 2 db overbias, +5 operating level), I recorded a bunch of soul music on it and then let it play.
Holy balls, it sounds good. What an incredible analog format that they invented and refined and then basically threw in the dumpster as soon as they could get digital recording happening. It’s only because of extreme nuts that the format survives, and these vintage machines are maintained and used to this day. I love both analog and digital recording, honestly, both are great and have their place. But wow, when you hear music that good bouncing off a 2-track quarter-inch tape, it just puts you right in the control room at Stax or Sun or Capitol, and it’s hard to deny just how damn cool the whole analog experience is. Roll, tape, roll!
