Advice on 1" 8 Track Machines

[fazeka]

BTW, check out Spector and engineer Phil MacDonald (?) recording on the same type of 3M M56 8-track during Lennon's Imagine sessions (mid '71):

[blackdiscoball]

John to Phil "Is that a gun in ur pocket or are you just happy to see me!"

[calaverasgrandes]

haha look at yoko and look at the other dudes body language.
There is a reason we label bandmates meddling girlfriends "Yokos".
I'm pretty sure the sunglasses Spector has on are vintage Moscot with the aviation lenses.

[ImaginaryCat]

I had a 1" 8 track Otari 7800 for years. It was indeed a Viking.

You may consider the more common Otari 1/2 inch 8, or one of the other 1/2 inches for this reason as well: You are probably looking for a "tape" sound, and the limitations of these give this effect. You want to hear tape compession and EQ from your machine, warmth.

I was shocked when I did some serious taste testing between my 1/2 inch Ampex 2 track and a 1/4 inch Otrari for mix down. I perfered the Otari because the lower def tracks gave the snare and bass more of that melted in sound. I love the Ampex, and it took me some times to really admit that to myself.

I will agree that the Ampex machines need more maintenance, but the preamps are so smooth, if the tape gets too hard to get, you can still run your tracks through them on your way to your computer and get a pleasing sound. The greatest sounds I've ever heard came out of a MM1000, for all people crap on them, and the one inch Ampex will likely have the same pre's.

[getreel]

The greatest sounds I've ever heard came out of a MM1000

Same here. I almost bought one once but I think the guy must have thought it was made of gold or something and it wasn't in that good of shape. But boy did it sound amazing! With the prices I've seen these go for, I can see myself taking one in someday. I am good at tape machine maintenance etc though. I only gave my 2" up because I didn't have the time to baby it anymore. It was an MCI though.

[honkyjonk]

You know what would be great, is a tape that you can record and playback on for like five years day in/day out. This would totally save tape machines. Just a record and dump sort of thing, but with some kind of tape that is ultra durable.

I guess it wouldn't be too profitable for the tape companies though. Anyway, just dreaming. . . .

[adadan]

If you're mostly concerned about onging tape costs, you might want to shop for a 16 track or 24 track machine and then buy a 1" 8 track headstack.

I have an MM-1200 1" 8 track that I got for a really good price, plus my workflow is intentionally old-fashioned, so the 8 track limitation works fine for me.

On the other hand, a few people since have pointed out to me that if I had purchased a 16 or 24 track MM-1200 to use as a 1" 8 track, all I would have had to do was buy a couple of reel spacers and a new headstack (I got a pristine replacement 1" 8 track headstack for my machine for $500 on ebay), while converting my machine to 16 or 24 track involves buying 2 or 4 additional "buckets" of audio cards (each rack holds 4 channels of electronics), additional VU meters and correct meter panel, a replacement remote with additional channels, etc. So if I ever want to move up to 2" tape, I might as well just buy a whole new machine, even though my transport will handle 2" easily.

Plus, that way if you're typically using 8 tracks on 1" tape you have spare cards you can swap out from some of the unused channels to do quick troubleshooting.

Just a thought.

[adadan]

By the way, I also have a 3M 1" 8 track similar to the one pictured above, a 3M 1/2" 4 track, parts of a custom Ampex 300 1" 8 track, and a few other machines, but all of them need fairly major work other than the MM-1200.

I have a BSEE and I'm a pretty skilled electronics tech, so it's not the repair cost for me, but it is very time consuming to keep up with these.

As everyone always says, keep this in mind and buy the newest, least heavily used & best maintained machine you can find.

[dsw]

I have 1" RMGI in stock.

It's not that hard to get.
ATR is out right now, but they will still make it.

You all are right that it's the slowest selling of the 4, but it will not go away.
ALL tape sales is very very slow.
And I say this in Portland Oregon which is a town which do loves its tape machines.

1 inch 8 track sounds fantastic.
I know one studio owner who had an Otari 1 inch 8 and his clients would all go "ohhhh, cool, let's use tape." Then they hear it and expecting the hiss and mud they're used to on their Trashcan machines, are all like "oh. Why doesn't it sound like tape?"