Reference Level

sawfish · Post by **sawfish** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:19 am

How does one decide on an appropriate reference level?
I am using quantegy 456
is there any specific level i should shoot for (+3dB?) in setting my VUs to 0???

earl parameter · Post by **earl parameter** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:44 am

this might help

http://www.quantegy.com/audiorecorder/

Quantegy 456 - 370nW/m - +6

xonlocust · Post by **xonlocust** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:13 am

your home for all this info is http://home.flash.net/~mrltapes/

crashsick has the short answer, but you can spend tons of time learning stuff there.

http://home.flash.net/~mrltapes/which-cal-tape.html
http://home.flash.net/~mrltapes/choo&u.pdf

earl parameter · Post by **earl parameter** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 10:36 am

(wrist slapped) sorry

xonlocust · Post by **xonlocust** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 12:47 pm

no worries - not like i'm the tapeop cop or anything!

this, like with many things can be really easy or complicated depending on how you look at it - and some people are just looking for the short answer, and some a more indepth - neither's better than the other!

sawfish · Post by **sawfish** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 1:56 am

but how the @#$(*& do I measure 370 nW/m +6
(scratches head) i mean i was good in physics and all but i dont' have a nanomotographer machine or where to find one
i guess i just have to buy the bloody MRL tape don't I

earl parameter · Post by **earl parameter** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:30 am

the process depends on what your measuring. input or sync / repro. i assume that you are trying to calibrate a machine ( what machine? ) and if that is the case then you should have an MRL amongst other things. but for input you will need some sort of oscillator, and a volt meter of some kind (analog like a vtvm or vom is the best). but until you get the proper equipment your only going to be able to get somewhere in the ballpark. not exactly where you need to be and even that is arguable. make sure you understand that.

your manual will explain how to properly calibrate that machine. so find it and use it. just guessing at settings and whatnot will almost never work.

there are other things that need to be set too. like phase, bias, eq etc... calibrating a machine is not a simple task if your going to do it right. and its going to be a little expensive to get all the equipment together. like the meter, the oscillator, and the oscilloscope, mostly the MRL itself. if you NEVER plan to use your tapes on another machine and you do things like only play in sync you can get away with doing less, but it will be madness to try and play your tapes on another machine.

i just woke up so i probably missed a bunch of shit or strayed but i hope this helped

steven

Leopold · Post by **Leopold** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:46 am

There was a really good, simple to undertand article in TapeOp quite a while back early issue, I'll scan it and post it later.

Eddie

sawfish · Post by **sawfish** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 2:53 pm

thanks for help
the machine is an otari mx5050 from 1977
runs great, i just want to ensure i am getting the most juice out of my quantegy 456 tape that's all
i found in the manual that 456 tape likes about 250 nWb/m
ps i love your shirt designs on suchaturnon

blakbeltjonez · Post by **blakbeltjonez** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:03 pm

ditto on the shirts, crashsick....... i bought a Speak and Spell one a while back, it gets laughs..... squint, furrowed brow, then ahahhahaa.....

nice work. more gear tees, please!

blakbeltjonez · Post by **blakbeltjonez** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:05 pm

like the two new shirts....sorry for the thread hijack....as you were, people.

earl parameter · Post by **earl parameter** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 2:54 pm

you know the point i failed to get to in my early morning half dazed post, is that you should probably just take it to a tech and get it calibrated. it will save you time and money until you figure it all out for yourself.

"i found in the manual that 456 tape likes about 250 nWb/m"

the only way that line makes any sense to me, is if they are telling you to run your VU 's at -3db when using 456 with the machine's factory settings. other then that its a very odd statement due to the fact that 456 is, as i said, 370 nW/m +6 tape.

its just a guess though? ive never used a 5050 though i came close to buying one a few times.

and thanks for the kind words

xonlocust · Post by **xonlocust** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:40 pm

tape stock is sort of like a sponge, and your calibration settings are sort of like how much water are you going to throw at it. each formulation can only soak up so much info before it gets saturated. and depending on your uses, you can get fancy about using special calibrations. you can throw a little water there so you're not using the spnge much and it's mostly dry, or you can sop the fucker up so it's a sloppy mess, or you can put it somewhere in the middle where it just does the job properly. i just use what the manufacturer recomended the settings at. i really think the jay mcknight does a better job describing it than me technically speaking, but maybe that analogy helps some. 456 is a medium absoring sponge, and GP9 is some super absorbing sponge that sops up more info before you get puddles.

there are also 2 parts of describing your reference level, the strict sense (referencing your fluxivity, specifically, the nWb/m) and relative sense, say, +6 or +9 or whatever. what they really mean (or implied) is +6 OVER 185nWb/m (jay goes into the history of this in his site if you read enough). i like to refer to the specific fluxivity i'm using because it's more specific when labeling my reels, but i think whoever sees my reels after me probably gets the gist of the alignment - esp w/tones.

there is also great info here (read through the whole site):

http://analogrules.com/basicalign.html

sawfish, theres a lot to learn about it, but don't let that stop you from getting in there and learning about your deck and analog recording. you don't have to fully understand everything to get the job done.

crashsick, i just ordered a shirt from you!

hope that helps some.

nick

ps and yeah, you need an MRL or at least a tape recorded on a known good machine with tones printed from another session, otherwise the entire conversation lies completely in theoretical land..

Leopold · Post by **Leopold** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:47 am

Here are the pdfs of the TapeOP article:

http://members.aol.com/leopold55/ms16/cal1.pdf

http://members.aol.com/leopold55/ms16/cal2.pdf

http://members.aol.com/leopold55/ms16/cal2.pdf

Hope it helps

Eddie

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Reference Level

Reference Level

thanks Crashsick

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