Otari MX 70 help please

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Snarky
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Otari MX 70 help please

Post by Snarky » Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:52 am

Hi guys!

Brian from Columbus, Ohio here. Glad the forum is alive and well. I'm not even sure if this is the right place to post such an inquiry, but here goes.
I recently acquired an Otari MX 70 1 inch machine. I am hiring a local guru tech guy to make a house call and go thru everything with me, and I plan on getting or making a test tone reel for calibration.

Before I ask my questions, I usually am recording rock, metal, the heavier stranger side of things.

My question is, and I realize this is subjective,

1. 15 or 30? (I was thinking 15 b/c I like lo end)

2. 499 or GP-9 or do these formulations still exist? Factors that would sell me on either- availability, quality, etc. Where the hell do I get tape nowadays?

3. 499 at +3 or GP-9 at +9? Hot? or Headroom? or Dynamics?

I am going to go do my own reasearch now, and wire all this up. Lemme know whatcha y'all think. I have been running LeProToolz so long, but a few bands have requested tape, or have asked me what that thing in the corner is underneath that white sheet. Its time to burn some tracks to good ole tape.

Thanks,

The Stu-Djoe
www.myspace.com/capitalcitystudjoe

"this rizz in the foldback is bollocks mate."

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Snarky
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Post by Snarky » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:48 pm

Anyone? Bueller?
www.myspace.com/capitalcitystudjoe

"this rizz in the foldback is bollocks mate."

audiogeek1
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Post by audiogeek1 » Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:01 pm

First question is do you have Noise Reduction. 15 ips will allow for more noise to show up on your tracks. The bottom end is better but I find the noise of 15ips no NR not to be as good as 30ips no NR.

Second I would go with headroom. You can really get yourself into trouble at times with +9. Sometimes the tape does not like it. For me I like 499 at +3. Still gives me what I want from tape without overdoing it.

Mike

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Snarky
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Post by Snarky » Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:10 pm

No, I belive that NR is evil. Hiss is fun.

499 at +3 sounds good. I just wonder what they are making more of these days, GP9 or 499. Most dudes around here are using GP9, because of its headroom ability, but to me w/o NR it sounds like the ocean.
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axissound
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Post by axissound » Sun Feb 12, 2006 8:09 am

Boy, am I jealous. Congratulations. I don't have any super useful tips, but I used to own one of the those beautiful beasts, but sold it when I moved to NYC. (NY apartments aren't amenable to 300 lb. multitrack decks...) In retrospect, I wish I hadn't sold it. I use to run mine at 30 ips to reduce noise. Still loads o' bass @ 30 ips. But I think if you run 499 and hit the tape hard and intelligently, you will do fine @ 15 ips. At 30 ips, you absolutely do not need noise reduction. But who cares about a little bit of noise anyway? Also at 15 you'll get a lot more tape mileage. It's also great that you are having a guru look it over. I had been a bit underwhelmed by my deck at first. It had been "setup" by the in house tech where I bought it, used. But after about a year it was sounding worse, and I hired the local guru in Boston, Rob Rosati, to give it the once over, and it was a radical, magical transformation. Night and day. He made me buy an MRL reference tape, which you may want to do to. Depending on the condition of it, you may need to brace yourself for the occasional, but regular expenditure of $100+ (that's what it cost me in the mid-90s) to replace blown cards. The original chips that Otari used on the 16 cards were faulty, and will definitely shit the bed after a certain amount of use. You'll hear a kind of crackling sound from a channel at first, then it will just blow.

Anyway, enjoy it. Sounds amazing. I archived all my old Otari tracks to ADAT before I sold it, and even on that inferior medium, it still sounds good! - Steve

[ p.s. I ran 499 @ +3 ]

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