GP9 problems

[drumsound]

I'm on my third reel of GP9 1/4" that seems to be fine. I got it right as Dave put this thread up. 15ips on my machine never seems to work well (I think I'm just giving up on 15ips mixdown on this deck) I re-cal'd for 30 ips and it sounds great. I put up the second reel and printed tones and they looked and sounded fine. I didn?t even print tones on the third reel that I started using last night.

I like to hope the bump in the road has eroded.

[rydberg]

Guess what happened to me this weekend?

Yup, the effing GP9 gnomes showed up. My band was tracking 6 songs this weekend and since I had to play rather than engineer, a friend of mine came by to tape op for me (after I had the session all set up and ready to go). Well, during the session playback I was hearing OHs phase and sometimes drop out; bass levels would change ALL the time, guitar tracks would disappear....it was fucking strange and frustrating. I eventually had to start moving inputs over to my Pro Tools rig because I just couldn't trust the tape machine anymore. Horrible. So last night I dumped everything into PT and gave this big box of expensive tape the finger. Goddamnit. 5 reels of GP9 ain't cheap.

Ugh. Who did you guys get your tape from? I gotta go take a look at the batch number and my reciept. Hopefully I can get some money back.

P.

[@?,*???&?]

This probably doesnt belong here but whatever.

I have some questions:

Is there anyone left who uses tape, like, for everything?

Of those people, how many of you know how to properly calibrate a tape machine?

Of those people, how many people calibrate their machines every single time they put up a new reel of tape?

Of THOSE people, have any of you noticed any insanely horrid inconsistencies with new batches of GP9?

Im having major problems and havent heard about any big issues from other users but then again I dont really know anyone who is using tape anymore for anything outside of novelty. I dont think Im alone, I just dont think that people are looking closely enough at the tape stock right now. I know Im guilty of biasing a machine and then loading a second reel without rebiasing but looking at the tape stock Ive been getting lately, that shit cant fly anymore like, at ALL. Wondering if other users have seen variances as high as 3dB over 6K on GP9.

dave

Dave, I haven't been working consistently in the tape domain to corroborate anything, but in small batches, serious inconsistencies could well exist.

Be sure to check your batch numbers. It's absolutely essential if you've got multiple reels of tape for a project. With 1/2" by the box, this is easier to keep track of than with 2". Do you know when this tape was made? Is it part of the new run or the old stuff? If the batch number is on the tape boxes, call Quantegy and get some info. You could also contact SPARS (Society of Professional Audio Recording Services) as they were the seminal industry liaison to Quantegy during the 'situation' a few years back.

[Shawn Simmons]

Dave, I've been having the exact problems you speak of. It's driving me crazy. I had to completely abandon going to tape in the middle of a mixing session. Fucking sucks.

One idea about what the problem might be (bear with me as I will try to explain it): I was recently told about "country laning" which I guess Quantegy (and Ampex before them) has had a problem with for years. "Country laning" as it was explained to me (and then I saw it with my own eyes on the tape machine) is when the tape maintains in width (be it 2" or 1/2" or whatever) but the tape itself isn't exactly straight. If you were to look down the tape it would zig-zag back and forth like when you're driving down a country road and the center line stripe isn't exactly straight, hence "country laning". What this does is that the uneven tape hits the tape guides and actually bends away from the heads. So when you align the tape machine and get perfect levels (0 Vu) with the tape bent you aren't actually getting full tape contact with the heads and this really screws with the alignment. And it's different with every reel, at least in my experience. I was aligning the machine with every new reel I used and I would actually get a boost at 10 Khz on one side. A Boost?!?! Then I would get a drop on the next reel. Very frustrating. I can't wait for the new tape companies to get their product out, I'll be first in line to try it.

shawn