Help: converting cheap 1/4" 2-track to reel echo? anyth

Recording Techniques, People Skills, Gear, Recording Spaces, Computers, and DIY

Moderators: drumsound, tomb

Post Reply
User avatar
wiggins
alignin' 24-trk
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2005 8:11 am
Location: Marietta,GA
Contact:

Help: converting cheap 1/4" 2-track to reel echo? anyth

Post by wiggins » Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:02 am

Is it possible? My friend gave me an old 1/4" machine he found in a parking lot (!!!). Looks like it's 1960's-ish, consumer-grade like silvertone or something. I've been trying to figure out how I can use it as a reel echo or ...well, something cool. So far, I made some sort of neat sounds as an intro to a recording I did years ago, but that's all I got.


Anyway, I UTFSF, and didn't see anything in this forum about tape deck mods, so I figured I'd ask!

If you have any other neat tricks, post those too!

djimbe
tinnitus
Posts: 1179
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 4:55 am
Location: chicago
Contact:

Post by djimbe » Sat Sep 16, 2006 10:45 am

You'll need 3 heads to make an effective tape delay outa that thing. Lotta "consumer grade" decks had only 2 heads; one for erase, one for record/repro. What you need is independent record and repro heads. The delay is developed by the speed of the deck and the distance between the record and repro heads. No distance between the two (like on a 2 head machine) means no delay.
I thought this club was for musicians. Who let the drummer in here??

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 115 guests