RMGI vs ATR vs Quantegy-Ethical question?

[donny]

Regardless of the country of origin, the integrity of the company,

RMGI makes a wider variety of tape that suits a wider variety of machines. ATR only makes one tape formula ... and it's not ideal for a lot of decks.

Both have had QC issues, and both seem to be helpful in addressing and resolving problems.

That said, I use more NOS than new tape.

[Burnt Ernie]

For what it's worth I bought some new 911 rmg,tracked 1 day,did 1 day overdubs,next day listened to the midrange and treble slide around.
Then I dumped into computer (hate it),and finished the record as quick as I could. Haven't tried ATR yet,although I will,before I give up on analog.
Absolutely hate working ITB. Always sounds and feels like plastic pop bottles
and sand. Never mind that it''ll end up being played back as mp3 anyways.
One would like to hope someone cares about whatever limited fidelity available.
I still have 25 reels of old 456 and 499 (my fave),but you can only re use it so much,and of course-no one wants to pay for it,anyways.
You have an ethical dilemma.
I have a pragmatic.

[cgarges]

Wow. What formulation was it? I haven't had any problems like this, but I guess that the most recent stuff I've had was 2004.

Do you remember what caused the dropouts? Was the binder failing? Not at all doubting you here, just curious as to what could have happened that they would have gone from good to bad.

= Justin

1/4" GP9 from just before June of 2006. This was right after Quantegy opened back up, so anything prior to 2004 is going to be much more reliable. The crazy thing is that the tape looked fine in the spots where the dropouts were occurring. I was sure I was gonna see a crease or something weird-looking. I do remember going through the box of new 1/4" at the mix session and seeing one reel that had some weird spotting on the tape and I avoided that reel. All the others looked okay.

Our method was simple: Print the mixes to the (ATR) 1/4" machine, listen back to make sure everything printed okay and as we were doing that, run straight off the playback head into an Alesis Masterlink at 24/88.2. The tapes were stored properly for one month (I took the tapes) and when we got to the mastering session, the dropouts occurred. At the mastering session, both the band rep and I were surprised, as we hadn't noticed this on our reference copies. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to bring my Masterlink to the mastering session and we wound up playing the songs with the dropouts right off the Masterink hard drive. No dropouts there. Didn't make any sense to me, either, but that pretty much killed any sort of reliability confidence I had in post-2005 Quantegy tape.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Danly]

i like the smell of rmgi better, but ATR is the best tape!
(and atr is made in pennsylvania)

[crow]

I like ATR the best among all tapes I've ever tried, from 456 to GP9 to BASF 900. I used RMG once, and it was the only time I've ever used tape and not felt the wonderful "aha! it's tape!" feeling.

Also, ATR is a great company to deal with.

[blungo2]

Hmmmm, maybe i'll just have to try some ATR...

[JohnDavisNYC]

ATR. Support a small, US company. If we keep buying new tape, they'll keep making new tape.

I think they need to revamp their business model. I think Impossible is a good model... http://the-impossible-project.com/

Simple, direct sales would be nice. If they cut out the middleman (at least in the USA), I bet we'd all be looking at at least 30% lower prices, and they'd probably be looking at higher profit margins. The tape distributor model is kind of outdated. I want to pay for tape, not NRS or Dreamhire's rent. And I want to order it online from the people who make it and have it ship to my studio directly from them.

John

[trevorspencer]

Lot's of good testimony here - I'll throw in my 2 cents for ATR as well.

I have a 1" machine (MS-16) that I've tried quite a few different formulas with. As far as old stock goes, I've definitely been satisfied, especially with 3M 996, HOWEVER - the crap shoot of buying old tape just isn't worth it. I've bought one too many reels I can't use due to stickiness, etc.

When it comes to RMG vs. ATR (+9 formulas), sonically, RMG seemed to be a bit duller and have more noise than the ATR. ATR, like mentioned previously, also has GREAT customer service. I ordered 3 reels in a period of a "bad batch," and with no hesitation, they explained the problem they were having with this batch, told me how they fixed it, and sent me 3 new reels.

[honkyjonk]

There is also RMGI SM468

Haven't tried it yet, but I plan to. Might work better with 1/2" 8 tracks designed for +3 (250 nWB) levels.

[blungo2]

I hate to ask dumb questions, but here goes.

So the ATR is +9, equivalent to the RMGI 900?

thanks,

[TV Lenny]

I use ATR 2" after I stopped using GP9. Love it!! I also use ATR and RMGI 1/4"...ATR for pro recording & the RMGI for my stereo reel to reel. I love both of these too!

Yes, it is true, I not only still have a home stereo and use it but also a tape machine too.

[trodden]

last year I ended up with a few bad reels of ATR tape that were shedding like crazy (couldn't make it through one take before the heads were covered in oxide dust). ATR were very nice about replacing it with new tape, which is behaving better now, but I still don't totally trust it. just my two cents.

I had the exact same problem with two reels, a year ago as well. Became such a pain that I've not done a tape session at my place since. I'm using a Tascam MS16. The trust issue especially, i don't want to have to clean the heads after every playback/rewind/fastforward... don't want to be on edge constantly worried that I'm going to lose a take due to dropout cause by oxide build up. If someone wants tape that badly, we go to the bigger place down the road with a 2" Studer.

I may purchase another reel to see if things have gotten better.