Kramer aMPeX & Studer Frequency Responses

Ron Obvious · Post by **Ron Obvious** » Tue May 31, 2011 7:00 am

Hello all,

I've purchased the Kramer MPX tape emulation for my ProTools 8.0.5/Mac and I'm very happy. Of course the old tech in me wanted to know the frequency response of this recorder compared to the Studer A820 1/2" we used at The Warehouse. Ironically when I started in the music biz, we had one of these old Ampex 1/4" beasts in the dubbing room at Little Mountain Sound.

One of the two main differences between analog recording and digital is that analog is REALLY NOT THAT FLAT and way more distorted depending on the levels that you try to put on the tape. Some would call this tonal "colour" or "character".

All the Studer and Apogee responses were done by me with an Audio Precision Anaiyzer at The Warehouse Studio. The Kramer MPX was done within a ProTools session at 48khz.

I've made two jpg images. One the MPX & Studer (15 ips and 30 ips). The second one is detailed high frequency rolloff responses for Kramer/Studer/Apogee are included.
http://www.mts.net/~lakemail/responses.html

iamthecosmos · Post by **iamthecosmos** » Tue May 31, 2011 2:24 pm

Do you have a chart for 7.5 ips for the MPX? It's pretty dark.

kinger · Post by **kinger** » Tue May 31, 2011 5:05 pm

Here's a page with a lot of plots of different machines' frequency responses. It's interesting to see how much they all vary.

http://www.endino.com/graphs/

Ron Obvious · Post by **Ron Obvious** » Tue May 31, 2011 9:44 pm

Hello iamthe....
No I didn't plot the 7.5 ips curves, as I would never use this in a real recording situation. Even Frank and Elvis worked on 15 ips. The only time I've ever used 7.5 ips was for jingle dubs to AM radio stations 1976 - 1980.

Hello kinger
Yes I know about this website. I just put up the frequency graphs that I've done myself.

nick_a · Post by **nick_a** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 5:20 pm

quite interesting! thanks for the info, ron.

donny · Post by **donny** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 7:53 am

Ron Obvious wrote:Hello iamthe.... No I didn't plot the 7.5 ips curves, as I would never use this in a real recording situation. Even Frank and Elvis worked on 15 ips. The only time I've ever used 7.5 ips was for jingle dubs to AM radio stations 1976 - 1980. Hello kinger Yes I know about this website. I just put up the frequency graphs that I've done myself.

.

Eddie Kramer apparently used 7.5 ips for some tracks.

Ron Obvious · Post by **Ron Obvious** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:14 pm

Hello donny

Neither of us were in the room with Eddie during those days, however I can guaranty that he never did "master mixes" at 7 1/2 ips. Yes, back in 1976 I assisted on sessions where we would make some quick 7 1/2 mixes, for the client, so that they could take it home to listen to. Cassettes were still too lo-fi.

The only time we used a tape machine at 7.5 ips was for tape slap (echo), with a V.S.O on the capstan motor.

Message Board

Kramer aMPeX & Studer Frequency Responses

Kramer aMPeX & Studer Frequency Responses

Who is online