tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1008262460794539652024-02-19T23:30:42.039-08:00Cassette Tapes In The Attic A blog about my first hand use of the humble Philips compact cassette as a music recording and listening medium. Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-57890574262021671492020-10-13T17:12:00.000-07:002020-10-13T17:12:12.503-07:00Playback Only Dynamic Noise Reduction Systems: Better Than Dolby Noise Reduction?<p>Are playback only cassette tape noise reduction systems like
DNR offer better subjective performance than Dolby’s noise reduction systems?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By: Ringo Bones</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Playback only noise reduction systems for use in cassette
tape playback and reducing hiss when listening to FM radio broadcasts became
widely available during the early 1980s. One of the most popular of these was
the one based on the LM1894 IC used on what is referred to as a dynamic noise
reducer or DNR. DNR units based on these types of ICs were praised for
providing better subjective noise reduction results – sound quality wise – when
compared to the then ubiquitous Dolby B noise reduction system used in entry
level hi-fi cassette tape decks. But first here’s a discussion on how the DNR
works. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">According to its National semiconductor datasheet, the LM1894
is a 14-pin dual inline package stereo noise reduction IC for use with audio
playback systems. This dynamic noise reduction – or DNR – system is
non-complementary, meaning it does not require encoded source material. A noise
reduction circuit using this IC is compatible with virtually all prerecorded
tapes and FM broadcasts. Psychoacoustic masking and an adaptive bandwidth
scheme allow the LM1894 IC based DNR to achieve 10dB of noise reduction. A DNR
circuit based on the LM1894 IC can save circuit board space and cost because of
the few additional passive components required. Described as a non
complementary and single-ended noise reduction system that is compatible with
all prerecorded tapes and FM broadcasts, has a 10dB CCIR / ARM weighed
effective noise reduction, has a 4.5 volts to 18 volts power supply range that’s
compatible for installation in automotive applications and a 1 volt RMS input
overload. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The dynamic noise reduction system is a low pass filter that
has a variable bandwidth of 1,000 Hz to 30,000 Hz, depending on music spectrum.
The DNR system operates on three principles of psychoacoustics. The first of
which is that white noise can mask pure tones. The total noise energy required
to mask a pure tone must equal the energy of the tone itself. Within certain
limits, the wider the bandwidth of the masking noise about the tone, the lower
the noise amplitude need be. As long as the total energy of the noise is equal
to or greater than the energy of the tone, the tone will be inaudible. This
principle may be turned around; when music is present, it is capable of masking
the noise in the same bandwidth. Next, the ear cannot detect distortion lasting
less than 1 millisecond. On a transient basis, if distortion occurs that is
less than 1 millisecond in duration, the ear acts as an integrator and is
unable to detect it. Because of this, signals of sufficient energy to mask the
noise allows the LM1894 DNR IC to open its operating bandwidth to 90-percent of
its value in less than 1milliseconds. Reducing the bandwidth to within
10-percent of its minimum value is done in about 60-milliseconds: long enough
to allow the ambience of the music to pass through, but not so long as to allow
the noise floor to become audible. And lastly, reducing the audio bandwidth
reduces the audibility of the noise. Audibility of noise is dependent on the
noise spectrum or how the noise energy is distributed with frequency. Depending
on the tape and the recorder equalization, tape noise spectrum may be slightly
rolled off with frequency. Depending on the tape and the recorder equalization,
tape noise spectrum may be slightly rolled off with frequency on a per octave
basis. The ear’s sensitivity, on the other hand, greatly increases between
2,000 Hz and 10,000 Hz. Noise in this region is extremely audible. The DNR
system’s low pass filters makes the noise less audible by filtering
steady-state hiss in this frequency. The low frequency spectrum of the music
will not appreciably open the DNR’s bandwidth, thus hiss in the 2,000 Hz to
10,000 Hz part of the audio spectrum is not heard. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The LM1894 IC is often used in conjunction with the 18-pin
dual inline package LM3915 LED bar-graph driver array driver IC as a bandwidth
indicator. The resulting set-up cosmetically resembles the dbx 563X Hiss
Reducer that was sold during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Sadly, by around
1986, the LM1894 DNR IC was becoming hard to find in most DIY electronic stores
– especially if you’ll going to buy just one IC instead of “a minimum quantity
of 1,000 chips” as often advertized in popular electronics magazines at the
time. While building my own DNR unit back in 1987, I was forced to replicate
the transconductance amplifier portion of the LM1894 IC using discrete FETs. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In use, playback only single-ended DNR type noise reduction
systems provide subjectively better sound quality results in comparison to Dolby
noise reduction systems like Dolby B and Dolby C because most DNRs operate their
cutoff frequency in the in the 1,000 Hz to 2,000 Hz part of the audio system,
while Dolby B operates in the 500 Hz zone, thus making DNRs sound less “dull”
than an over-aggressive Dolby B. But in actual use, Dolby encoded prerecorded
tapes – in either Dolby B or Dolby C encoding – tends to perform well in a
typical DNR unit in comparison to tapes recorded without any Dolby noise
reduction because a Dolby encoded cassette tape has a substantial treble boost
than ones recorded without Dolby. </p>Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-77212649184935749262020-09-30T03:08:00.000-07:002020-09-30T03:08:43.299-07:00Headphones: Less Than Ideal Way To Listen To Cassette Tapes?<p>Even though it was deemed an indispensible component when
the Sony Walkman became king back in the 1980s, are headphones, until now, has
always been a less than ideal way to listen to cassette tapes?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By: Ringo Bones</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dubbed by conservatives as the most antisocial way to listen
to music back when Sony’s Walkman was new, the shortcomings of the ubiquitous
headphones has recently been brought back into the spotlight after the
shortcomings of a flagship Apple product – i.e. the Apple AirPods wireless
headphones and their Mainland Chinese made knockoffs – as early users
complained of excessive background hiss, not to mention early users old enough
to remember 1980s era cassette tapes saying that the hiss levels are worse than
that of tape-to-tape dubbing a copy of a copy of a prerecorded cassette tape album. But are
headphones really the weakest link of all the sound producing transducers in
our high fidelity audio hobby – especially when it comes to listening to
prerecorded cassette tape albums? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Despite its shortcomings, audio enthusiasts old enough to
have taken sound quality seriously back in the 1980s had surprisingly managed
to make due of listening to music via headphones. Weird between-the-ears stereo
soundstage when listening to plain vanilla 2-channel stereo cassette recordings
and producing more background hiss in comparison to conventional loudspeakers
notwithstanding. But let us explore more on the headphone’s hiss issue given
that, especially when listening to prerecorded cassette tape albums as your
primary music source, is already inherently hissy in the first place. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hiss is more noticeable through headphones than speakers for
several reasons. Since headphones lie closer to the ears of the listener in comparison
to loudspeakers, any hiss that the headphones’ produce is readily transferred to
the eardrums. Headphones are more sensitive than loudspeakers – i.e. headphone
sensitivity are typically measured in decibels per milliwatt as opposed to
decibels per watt when measuring loudspeaker sensitivity – so headphones are
more likely to pick-up the faint residual hiss produced by your audio rig, like
that in the preamplifier stage and / or the Dolby noise reduction stage. And headphone
models that isolate your ears from outside sounds can also prevent such sounds
from masking hiss, denying the user from using Mother Nature’s naturally
generated dither noise.</p>Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-40753698298245455262020-09-09T03:10:00.000-07:002020-09-09T03:10:19.490-07:00Unconventional Cassette Tape Deck Alignment Hacks For Extreme Cassette Sounds?<p>Even though proper alignment of tape heads are a necessity
for playback compatibility when playing a tape from one deck to another but is
it possible that a bit “unconventional” alignment results in a superior sound
quality from cassette?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By: Ringo Bones </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For those old enough to remember how “unconventional”
cassette tape head azimuth alignment tweaks back in the late 1970s to the 1990s
managed to transform their humble walkman or a car stereo like the famed
Pioneer KP-500 to rival that of a full-sized open-reel tape deck or an
audiophile CD player using various everyday items like strategically placed
match-books, paper clips and even bobby pins knows how rewarding this bit of
DIY can be. Though it can be taken to an extreme when it causes cassette tape
skewing problems and an “eaten tape”, within a certain envelope, these tweaks
can offer rewards in terms of much improved sound quality from prerecorded cassette
tapes. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Unconventional cassette tape head azimuth alignment head
tweaks gained notoriety back in the late 1970s due to neophytes and jumpy
electronic tinkerers upon hearing a tape deck cough, they immediately get hold
of a screw driver and give the azimuth alignment screw of the tape head a
couple of tweaks. The first thing to remember most of all is that the heads
need adjustment only when they are being replaced in the case of worn-out tape
heads. To find out if the tape heads do need adjustment – or for those buying a
used cassette tape deck at a keen price at a garage sale – check if the tape
head’s wear pattern is rectangular. If it is trapezoidal or varies much from
head to head, they need to be adjusted. On the other hand, never adjust heads
that have actually been worn out unless you want some tape travel and skewing
problems. Problems about worn-out cassette tape heads are solved by complete
head replacement. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the good – or bad – news is that within a certain “latitude”,
some minimal tape head azimuth tweaks via strategically placed match-books,
paper clips and bobby pins – especially in entry level walkmans – can result in
treble clarity that can make your humble walkman, car stereo or boom-box rival
that of an open-reel tape deck and audiophile grade CD players in the 2,000 to
5,000 US dollar price point. If you have old Hair Metal prerecorded tapes from
the 1980s, sometimes, the result can be as eerie as akin to being less than 20 feet
away from a well-struck crash cymbal. I remember now that this is how we did cassette
tape high frequency clarification tweaks before “affordable” decks by Yamaha
and NAD with the “Play Trim” feature became widely available during the 1990s.</p>Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-26683236613721968712020-08-01T02:45:00.000-07:002020-08-01T02:45:28.997-07:00Can You Use Dolby B Noise Reduction On Dolby C and Dolby S Encoded Cassette Tapes?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even though your tapes won’t be damaged if you do this, are
there any benefits of using Dolby B noise reduction on Dolby C and Dolby S
encoded cassette tape audio recordings?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fortunately, doing so will not result in a damaged cassette
tape or tape deck, but the practice gained popularity back in the late 1980s
and early 1990s – or whenever time Dolby C and Dolby S encoded prerecorded cassette
tapes became widely available. I mean I even heard of one audiophile back in
1993 praising the sound quality of Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf’s spoken word
album after playing a Dolby S encoded cassette copy of on a car stereo that’s
only equipped with a Dolby B noise reduction system. But first, here’s a brief
review of the Dolby C and Dolby S noise reduction systems. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dolby B reduces tape noise at frequencies starting at 500-Hz
and achieves a noise reduction of 8 to 10 dB while Dolby C starts to work at
150-Hz and above and achieves a noise reduction of 18 to 20 dB, But Dolby S is
a simplified domestic use version of the Dolby SR – a professional signal
processing scheme and not just a mere noise reduction strategy. Dolby S
consists of a number of circuits operating together to reduce tape noise right
across the 20-Hz to 20K-Hz audio band, not just in the high frequencies where
Dolby B and Dolby C operate – and Dolby S will do this with minimum possible
audible intrusion. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But given that doing so – fortunately will not damage both
tape and deck – why is it then that this scheme results in an inexplicably
improved subjective sound quality? Well, it could be the resulting “treble lift”
due to the different playback curve of Dolby B compared to Dolby C and Dolby S
noise reduction systems and the resulting treble lift compensated for the
inherently noisy automotive environment. And the different playback curves of
the various Dolby noise reduction systems also resulted in lifting the
mid-range portion of the audio spectrum that resulted in a vacuum-tube like
warmth in tonality of a solid state car tape deck. Which, unfortunately,
resulted in car stereos – especially those models made by Alpine – target number
one for car break ins. Using Dolby B noise reduction on Dolby C and Dolby S
encoded cassettes also benefitted Walkman / portable cassette tape players
during the late 1980s and early 1990s because most affordable Walkman models at
the time are only Dolby B noise reduction capable - all of this proving Philip's claims that the Dolby C and Dolby S noise reduction systems are "backwards compatible". </div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-29426457436409518122020-07-27T02:57:00.000-07:002020-07-27T02:57:11.733-07:00What Are The Most Important Specifications of a Cassette Tape Deck?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whether a fist time buyer or a seasoned cassette tape
archivist – what are the most important specifications of a cassette tape deck?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Given that the “lowly” cassette was the only egalitarian
music medium for the budding audiophile back in the mid 1980s, it is easy to
say that most of us have his or her own view when it comes to what
specifications make a great cassette tape deck. But if you ask me, what I will
rank from the most to least important goes as: (1) frequency response, (2) wow
and flutter, (3) signal-to-noise ratio, (4) speed accuracy and (5) distortion –
although some audiophiles may rank distortion higher as the most important
specification.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Frequency response that’s flat- i.e. within ±3dB - and
extends from 30-Hz to 18,000-Hz – could be considered impressive. But you
should pay attention on how flat the response is, a frequency response
specification of ±6dB
is not impressive. However, if the specifications were ±3dB and applied to a
range of 30-Hz to 16,000-Hz would be considered acceptable. Better still would
be a much flatter range of ±2dB
over such a frequency range. A high frequency range that extends to 19,000-Hz
instead of just 16,000-Hz will not make an important difference to most
listeners – especially “older” audiophiles. </div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">The wow and flutter should measure no
higher than 0.05% peak. Although, people who are more sensitive than others
when it comes to wow and flutter might require a tape deck with better
specification in this department– i.e. 0.025% or lower. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">The signal-to-noise ratio should be at
least 75dB or better when using Dolby C noise reduction. And the deck should
offer better S/N ratio results when a more advanced noise reduction system is
used – like Dolby S. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Speed accuracy that that will deviate no
more than 0.5% from correct speed. While some engineers consider such deviation
in pitch is inaudible to most people, vinyl LPs are mastered on a device whose
pitch deviation is under 0.2%. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Low distortion is of vital importance, especially
if you exclusively play recorded acoustic instruments because it is much easier
to hear distortion creeping in with a violin recording – than with a Gibson Les
Paul played through an overdriven Marshall stack.</span></div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-63433969914505260192019-12-31T01:28:00.000-08:002019-12-31T01:28:49.960-08:00Why Cassette Tapes Aren’t Magnetically Shielded?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Given their propensity to go dull whenever they are
accidentally placed near magnetic objects – even magnetic screwdrivers - why
aren’t cassette tapes provided with inherent magnetic shielding?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unlike your Barclay-Crocker prerecorded Open Reel tapes that
came in mu-metal cans as standard, prerecorded cassette tapes back in the 1980s
and even well into the 21<sup>st</sup> Century doesn’t come with protection
against erasure when accidentally placed against a strong magnet like refrigerator
magnets and electric guitar pickups and electric bass guitar pickups. And if
you Google search cassette tapes that are magnetically shielded, you are
directed into Google’s lists of invented patents stating that the tiny nickel
plated piece of steel behind the pressure pad functions as a “magnetic shield”
for the cassette tape. Given that this concern was largely ignored by the
leading cassette tape manufacturers during the format’s lifetime, is it even
possible to magnetically shield cassette tapes against erasure and loss of high
frequencies when accidentally placed closed to magnetic screwdrivers, fridge
magnets, and electric guitar and electric bass guitar pickups? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in 1979, the world’s leading cassette tape manufacturer
TDK released their MA-R series of cassettes and they were the top of the line
of the company’s Type –IV metal particle cassettes. The tape formulation used
is based on TDK’s patented Finavix particle. It’s very heavy and its metal
shell construction – later revealed to be an aluminum-zinc alloy – has the
potential to be made with an actual mu-metal alloy capable of actually provide magnetic
shielding for the cassette housing instead of just a vibration reduction
measure. Sadly, given that these were top of the line in the TDK’s range of
cassettes, they were also very expensive. From the 1980s through to the 1990s,
TDK’s MA-R series of metal particle cassette often carry a retail price of
around a dollar and a half to two dollars less than a price of a compact disc - which for all intents and purposes just too high a price to pay for a blank cassette tape.
This largely explains why I totally abandoned prerecorded cassette tapes in the
mid 1990s when the “relatively affordable” Marantz CD-63 Ken Ishiwata Signature
model entered the market.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-45954941908991366012017-12-04T08:55:00.000-08:002017-12-04T08:55:24.453-08:00Avilyn Magnetic Particles: The Greatest advancement In Cassette Tape Development?<div class="MsoNormal">
Though now largely forgotten, did the Avilyn magnetic
particles represent the absolute zenith of cassette tape advancement?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This substance has now virtually become an “alien technology”
for those born way after the heyday of the cassette tape. But back then, this
represented the value-for-money in cassette tape technology terms when it comes
to sound quality. Besides the more expensive metal particle tapes, cassette
tapes that use Avilyn magnetic particles are probably the closest yet to
sounding like professional open-reel tapes. Stranger still, Avilyn magnetic
particle technology has its origins way before cassette tapes become a runaway
commercial success in the 1980s. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Developed as a high coercive magnetic particle developed for
sound and video recording back in 1974, Avilyn is an acicular magnetic iron
oxide on whose surface certain cobalt compounds have been adsorbed. The
coercive force of the particles is determined by the amount of cobalt and other
preparing conditions, and is controllable between 450 and 800 Oe (Oersteds).
The particles display much improved thermal stability with respect to remanence
and coercive force. The new video tape having a coercive force of 550 Oe is
compatible with chromium dioxide video tape in recording characteristic
according to measurements on a conventional video tape recorder. The head wear
rate of the new Avilyn tape is about one-fifth that of chromium dioxide tape
and is almost the same as for conventional iron oxide tape. Tape demagnetization
is not as serious as is in the case of cobalt-doped gamma ferric oxide tapes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the 1980s, Avilyn was mostly used in TDK’s high-bias
Type-II cassette tapes and VHS video tapes. TDK also produces Avilyn open-reel
tapes for professional studio recording use at the time when 16-bit digital
audio recording technology was still in its infancy. Sadly, during the early
part of the 21sr Century as the prices of recordable compact discs and
associated equipment came tumbling down and availability increased, everyone’s
love affair with the cassette tape slowly waned.</div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-35874446122083659452016-04-10T04:41:00.000-07:002016-04-12T05:44:53.437-07:00GoldStar Blanks Cassette Tapes: The Best Value for Money Blank Cassette Tapes of the 1990s? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->Even though the company has since renamed itself did
GoldStar managed to manufacture the best value-for-money blank cassette tapes
back in the 1990s?<br />
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<br /></div>
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By: Ringo Bones <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Now known as LG, the South Korea based GoldStar managed to
build one of the best value-for-money consumer electronic and data storage
media products back in the 1990s. Even my 14-inch GoldStar color TV model
CN-14A146 with serial number 60514212 that was bought back in July 1995 still
works to this very day. And did you also know that GoldStar managed to
manufacture value-for-money blank cassette tapes whose performance were
comparable to that of up-market TDK and Maxell blank cassette tapes during the
1990s? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Even though TDK Type-I ferric blank cassette tapes were the
most widely available here in South East Asia during the 1990s, many
audiophiles preferred GoldStar’s series of blank cassette tapes because they
are on average cost one-fifth as much as equivalent TDKs. TDK’s D series of
Type-I normal ferric cassette tapes normally sell for around 1 US dollars each
back in the 1990s, GoldStar’s HR series of Type-I normal ferric cassette tapes
on average sell for around 20 US cents each – only voices grade cassette tapes
destined for phone answering machines were cheaper – but Goldstar’s HR series
of cassette tapes like their GoldStar HR60 (60-minute) and GoldStar HR90
(90-minute) cassettes managed performance that’s comparable to TDK’s higher
spec normal Type-I ferric tapes like their TDK AD and AR series of Type-I cassette
tapes. </div>
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<br /></div>
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And during the mid 1990s, GoldStar blank tapes managed to
make your cassette tape equipped car stereo and Walkmans sound like the famed
Marantz CD 63 SE Ken Ishiwata signature model if you placed a GoldStar HR
series of normal blank cassette tapes on an audiophile quality cassette tape
deck – these start at around 150 US dollars each brand new back in the mid
1990s – and record from a good value for money CD player like the famed Marantz
CD 63 SE KI Signature. And GoldStar also manufactured value-for-money Type-IV
metal particle cassette tape like their GoldStar MTX60 and MTX90 series of
cassette tapes during the 1990s and they too cost one-fifth as much as
comparable TDK metal tapes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-83454721456389793052016-04-09T06:39:00.000-07:002016-04-09T06:39:17.874-07:00Tips For Recording A Loud Hair Metal / Heavy Metal Bands Onto Cassette Tape? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->Given that cassette tape, as a recording medium, has
inherent limitations in the low and high frequency extremes, would you still be
able to record good loud hair metal tunes on it?<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whether from a live band or from a “realistic sounding” open-reel
analog master tape, the lowly compact cassette really has inherent limitations
when recording very low and very high frequencies at very loud levels. And yet
during the heyday of hair metal – between 1980 to 1992 – recording studio
mavens managed to make a significant number of recordings that managed to sound
very good on the lowly cassette tape which during the time, was still the
dominant recording medium and it wasn’t until the mid 1990s that CD players
that can be described as both affordable and good sounding entered the market.
Maybe it’s just for nostalgia, but here are a few tips on how to record a loud
hair metal band onto cassette tape and make them sound relatively pristine. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Of all the cassette tape recording tips, the one that’s
frequently overlooked is that audio cassette tapes can have a hard time
handling very high and very low frequencies. In the low end, the lowest bass
notes like the open E-string form a bass guitar – at around 40 Hz – can cause
distortion if the level is too high. In the high frequencies, sibilance or “sss-sounds”
can cause tape distortion via high frequency saturation so using a de-esser helps
keep things under control during mastering onto cassette especially if the open
reel master tape was recorded at 30 inches per second with gobs of very loud and
pristine high frequencies. If you are already saturating cassette tapes from
excessive high frequencies, boosting your high frequencies to create a ”
brilliant timbre” cassette recording will only cause more trouble. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One tricked employed by 1980s era heavy metal bands in
recording onto cassettes that resulted in a “brilliant” sound without resulting
in distorted high frequencies is by mixing in more presence in the upper
midrange / lower high-frequency range – from 2,000 Hz to 6,000 Hz – to mask the
tape hiss of low-cost Type-I ferric cassettes. Giving more space between the
microphone and acoustic guitars and cymbals will definitely help – especially back
in 1989 where acoustic electric Ovation guitars with built in equalizers that
were then in vogue when hair metal era heavy metal bands record power ballads often produce enough high frequencies to saturate Type-I
ferric cassette tapes with ease. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When recording your master tape onto cassette, use a
multi-band peak limiter with a built-in pre-emphasis before limiting, like the
Behringer Combinator or Aphex Dominator or a high frequency limiter. The
resulting cassette will be more open-sounding without sounding unduly dull in
comparison to its open-reel master tape. Using a good high-pass filter to roll
off very low frequencies definitely helps because cassette tapes tend to
compress when recording signals below 50 Hz or so. Even up-market Nakamichi
cassette tape decks produce “horrendous” harmonic distortion readings below 50
Hz. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Use a device that adds brilliance only to low-level signals.
That is what Dolby B does in its encoding stage. The higher the input level,
the less high-frequency boost Dolby B gives. The widely used cassette tape
recording “plug-in” called the Aphex Aural Exciter with its “Big Bottom” mode
and similar devices work similarly by adding low levels of high-frequency
harmonic distortion. This is tricky because you generally want to push the cassette
tape as loud as possible just to the cusp of distortion and saturation, but if
you already have distortion in your mix – especially in the open-reel master
tape – there may be a compounding effect. And if you want to avoid your drum-kit
– especially the kick drum – from sounding like a 1980s era synth-samples,
practice restraint when it comes to boosting low frequency signals below 50 Hz.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-6734342051552756982016-04-02T13:00:00.000-07:002016-04-02T13:00:41.766-07:00High Bias Type II Cassette Tapes: The Most Cost Effective Upgrade form Normal Cassette Tapes? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->Costing on average twice that of Normal Type I cassette
tapes are High Bias Type II cassette tapes the most cost effective upgrade for
the budget conscious audiophile?<br />
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By: Ringo Bones </div>
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<br /></div>
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During the 1980s – and in fact well into the 1990s and the
first decade of the year 2000 – audiophiles who still use cassette tapes in
compiling their own “mix tapes” for personal listening via Walkman or car
stereo will probably gravitate towards TDK’s Super Avilyn cobalt-doped series
of high bias Type II cassette tapes despite that on average these costs twice
as much as Normal or Type I cassette tapes. But is the improvement in sound
quality really worth the cost? </div>
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<br /></div>
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In my actual experience on the matter, CD players were still
a relative rarity in the 1990s and no CD potable – then and now – even approaches
the sound quality capability of the famed Marantz CD 63 SE Ken Ishiwata
Signature. But inexplicably, if you are lucky enough to own or have access to a
good sounding CD player and an excellent audiophile tape deck, like a Marantz
CD 63 SE connected to those Technics “Thin Film Tape Head” series of cassette
decks, recording your CDs onto a TDK Super Avilyn blank cassette even without
resorting to speed doubling could make your still functional 1980s era Sony
Walkman sounds as good as a Marantz CD 63 CD player. </div>
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<br /></div>
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To me at least, my primary raison d’être for using high bias
tapes over normal tapes is that not only that high bias tapes like TDK SA can
record better high frequencies in comparison to normal cassette tapes but also
of their low noise or tape hiss. Walkmans and car stereos are usually equipped
with Type II High Bias 70 <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">μ</span> second / Type I 120 <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">μ</span> second switch. Switching the
setting to Type II 70 <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">μ</span> second usually results in a noise reduction that’s better
than Dolby B without the dulling effect of low cost cassette playback equipment with a not optimally set Dolby B noise reduction system . And I bet others' preference of other high bias tapes than the
TDK SA over normal Type I tapes may be largely due to tape hiss issues.</div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-62996498815758530612015-11-29T17:31:00.000-08:002015-11-29T17:31:39.961-08:00Commonly Available Test Cassette Tapes, Anyone? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->Even though Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs’ Geo Tape is the one
often mentioned, are there more widely available test cassette tapes out there?<br />
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<br /></div>
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By: Ringo Bones </div>
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<br /></div>
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Believe it or not, even well into the 1990s – and probably
even until this day – there’s still no agreed for the level at which the 0VU
peak record level is set on high fidelity cassette tape decks. During the
1990s, the 200nWb (nano Weber) Dolby flux was most commonly used for quality
budget decks, but lower down the price scale on budget designs with inferior
tape heads that would overload at a much lower level, 0VU is set -3dB below
Dolby. Some top line models, like Nakamichi, have their 0VU set high up at IEC
0dB flux of 250nWb which many audiophiles and engineers, then and now, think is
most sensible. But is there a reliable way to “calibrate” the cassette tape
decks you currently own regardless of quality even if you don’t have access to
a sophisticated signal generator and an oscilloscope? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The British made Harrison Test Cassette available from
Canford Audio which retailed for around <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">£</span>20 back in the mid 1990s is one of the
most widely available and often turns up in garage sales and weekend swap meets.
This has Dolby level plus other tests that are useful in aligning cassette tape
decks. While the “Cadillac” of test cassette tapes are those BASF IEC test
tapes, especially those that are IEC Primary Reference Standard which back in
the mid 1990s costs <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">£</span>69.20 each. But it is a very reliable way to establish IEC
0dB using the “Level Control 315Hz Code-XB” track and given that it is a
premium quality cassette test tape, it can establish IEC reference level to a
degree of certainty manufacturers cannot question. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After having reliably establish IEC 0dB, you can now record
to around +4dB above it on musical peaks on metal tape and around +2dB on
ferrics and chromes. And don’t forget to add 2dB to these figures if you set the
0dB of your cassette tape deck at 200nWb Dolby flux. But the most effective
test you can perform after aligning your cassette tape deck is on how effectively
it can record music tracks. </div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-67699825860385626802015-10-18T11:50:00.000-07:002015-10-18T11:50:13.492-07:00Nakamichi: An Audiophile Prerecorded Cassette Tape Manufacturer? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Famed as the maker of the world’s finest cassette tape decks
during its heyday – but did you also know that Nakamichi also entered the
audiophile prerecorded cassette tape manufacturing during the mid-1980s? </div>
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By: Ringo Bones</div>
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Even though it was a sad day when they closed up shop back
in the late 1990s because making the world’s finest cassette tape decks is no
longer economically viable most audiophiles under-50 probably don’t know that
during the mid 1980s, Nakamichi entered the world of audiophile prerecorded
cassette tape deck manufacturing. Understandable, since – in my own experience
at least – audiophile prerecorded cassette tapes are probably one of the rarest
hi-fi related items one could find in a typical garage sale or flea market. </div>
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In an October 14, 1984 issue of The New York Times, there
was an article about Nakamichi going into the cassette recording business and
has just issued the first two-dozen tapes in what was then the company’s new
undertaking. Calling its new tapes the Reference Recording Series, Nakamichi
has licensed recordings from some major audiophile disk manufacturers and
duplicated them on TDK metal tape, with each tape recorded while in its final
shell, rather than doing what was then a common industry practice of recording
bulk tape first and then wound them into plastic shells. </div>
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<br /></div>
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At the time, Nakamichi says its audiophile prerecorded music
cassette tapes have a flat frequency response of 20-Hz to 20,000-Hz and a
dynamic range or signal-to-noise ratio of over 90-dB. Quite impressive since
most commercially produced mass-market prerecorded music cassette tapes at the
time can barely crawl past 16,000-Hz and can achieve a signal-to-noise ratio of
70-dB only if the “wind is blowing in the right direction”. Each Nakamichi
manufactured cassette is available either with Dolby B noise reduction – which was
standard on most cassette tape decks at the time – or Dolby C, a newer and
improved system at the time. Further and of special interest to those with
automatic-reverse decks, the tapes are designed so that there is little or no
blank space at the end of either side. The tapes will be sold through Nakamichi’s
equipment retailers. According to those fortunate enough to experience the heyday
of the audiophile cassette tape firsthand during the early 1980s, it was the
increasing sophistication of car stereo systems at the time that became the
raison d’être of the “audiophile prerecorded music cassette tape industry“. </div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-61175004269618473262015-10-11T06:14:00.000-07:002015-10-11T06:14:37.615-07:00Aphex Aural Exciter Type C² With Big Bottom: Cassette Tape Bass Enhancer? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span>With its ability to boost bass levels without saturating tape, is
the Aphex Aural Exciter Type C² With Big Bottom the ideal cassette tape bass
enhancer? </div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By: Ringo Bones </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Is it just me or is anyone’s primary or initial motivating factor
of becoming an audiophile was having the ability to playback those deep
gorgeous low frequencies often denied on lesser gear. And with the humble
cassette tape, more or less, becoming the egalitarian hi-fi medium of choice
from the late 1970s till the end of the first decade of the year 2000, should
it be able to reproduce those low frequencies with aplomb at beer-budget
prices? </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">After seeing it advertized in most “musician oriented” magazines
back in the early 1990s – i.e. Keyboard, Guitar Player, Bass Player and Guitar
World magazines – I’ve always coveted the Aphex Aural Exciter Type C² With Big
Bottom so that I will be able to record those gorgeous low frequencies onto
cassette tape without the resulting muddy sound that results when you put to
much low frequencies into cassette tape during recording. As promised by its
advert, the Aphex Aural Exciter Type C² With Big Bottom allows you to do just
that – record ridiculous levels of bass onto cassette without the resulting
muddy result. And as an added bonus, when used as a preamplifier between your
cassette tape deck and your main power amplifier, the unit has the ability to
make your 8-inch woofer sounds as if it is a 15-inch woofer! But does it work
as promised? </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Back in 2011, I had the good fortune of finding an Aphex Aural
Exciter Type C² With Big Bottom on sale at our local pawn shop for around 79 US
dollars so I snapped it up immediately for testing. As a cassette tape
recording preamplifier, the resulting recorded low frequency sounds reminded me
of those Luxman tape decks with a 12AX7 vacuum tube based buffer preamp – a gentle
compression of the very low frequencies and adding a sense of warmth to upper
bass and lower midrange frequencies – it is as if you are recording sounds onto
cassette using single-ended triode vacuum tube circuits. As a playback
preamplifier, it made the “solid-state sounding” solid-state power amplifier
you are currently using sound as if it is a vacuum tube amplifier – at least in
the bass frequencies. As for the actuality of the advertised claim of the unit’s
ability of making your 8-inch woofer sounds as if it is a 15-inch woofer? Not
quite but the Aphex Aural Exciter Type C² With Big Bottom did manage to lower
the “listening fatigue effects of listening to budget solid-state gear on
prolonged periods of time. </span></div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-53359257532526694192015-08-23T02:13:00.000-07:002015-08-23T02:13:31.686-07:00Cassette Tapes: Less Than Ideal High Fidelity Audio Medium?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Despite the 21<sup>st</sup> Century romanticism on how
better cassette tapes are in comparison to CDs, MP3s and other digital mass
music media, are cassette tapes just “too fragile” to be a hi-fi audio medium? </div>
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<br /></div>
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By: Ringo Bones </div>
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<br /></div>
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Romanticism and a rose-tinted view of the heyday of the
cassette tape had been on the up-rise on every social media network since the
first decade of the 21<sup>st</sup> Century that sometimes I wonder if these
people were actually there first hand – as working musicians and amateur
musicians – with only expensive and fragile cassette tape recordings to fall
back into when rehearsing for their respective cover-song. Maybe I’ll just
ramble yet again on my “bad experiences” of the cassette tape during the 1980s
up to the early 1990s. </div>
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Unlike those CD transports found in cheap boom-boxes and table-top
AM/FM cassette recorders of the 1990s, tape transports found in these devices
tend to eat cassette tapes. Although cleaning with 90-percent isopropyl alcohol
on top-flight cassette tape decks, especially the capstan and rubber pinch-rollers
on a regular basis means that cassette tapes being eaten on reasonable quality
hi-fi decks are an extreme rarity, cheap boom-box CD transports are not known
to damage CDs with their “overactive” ultraviolet lasers. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another cassette tape
– in fact every magnetic recording tape as well - weakness is that when they
are exposed to a sufficiently powerful magnetic field, they tend to go dull
that is they loose their high-frequency response. This problem is often
experienced by electric guitar and electric bass players where a cassette tape
copy of the song they are supposed to rehearse is tossed in the electric guitar
case or bass guitar case causing the recording to become dull and some parts to
drop-off or be erased completely upon exposure to the powerful magnets of
electric guitar pickups or bass guitar pickups. Open-reel tapes – as in master
tapes of bands whose budgets allow them to work on one - in transit often avoid
this problem by being stored in a mild-steel case that acts as a magnetic
shield to prevent dulling and erasure of high frequency signals – i.e. cymbals
and lead guitar parts – but when was the last time you’ve seen a cassette tape
housed in a magnetically shielded mild-steel housing and case? </div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-92084077427863249722015-07-18T06:01:00.000-07:002015-07-18T06:01:32.065-07:00Whatever Happened To Audiophile Cassette Tape Recordings? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
It may seem like oxymoron back in 1995 until today, but was
there ever a time where “audiophile cassette tape music recordings” were
commercially marketed? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in 1995, the phrase “audiophile cassette tape music
recordings” may seem oxymoronic and nonsensical to most audiophiles who are
bought and sold by the budget CD player wonder called “Marantz CD 63 SE KI
Edition”, but there was indeed a point in time where premium audiophile
cassette tape music recordings are commercially marketed and can be bought from
your nearest music store. Back in 1980, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab president
Herb Belkin after introducing Original Master Recording LPs back in 1977 tried
to introduce the cassette tape version of his “Mo-Fi” LPs called the Original
Master Recording Cassette that were recorded in real time – not via high-speed
dubbing – that made available audiophile quality contemporary popular music,
hard rock heavy metal and Jazz to almost everyone, including 1980s era budding
audiophiles. Later in 1980, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab later released Geo-Tape,
an audio cassette tape deck alignment device for consumer use. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unbeknown to Mo-Fi president Herb Belkin, cassette tape
playing devices on the lower end of the food chain have the propensity to “eat
tape” – i.e. their capstans literally pull the tape out of the shell and
crumpling the tape forever ruining what audio signal recorded on it. Unlike the
advent of cheap boom-box CD playing devices of the 1990s, these don’t have
ultraviolet lasers that burn the recorded pits of music CDs. I think the last
“audiophile” cassette tape music album sold commercially was back in 1991 when the cassette tape
format of Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind album where the tape used was of the
cobalt-doped Avilyn type and it even said on the cover “recorded on premium
cobalt Avilyn tape. But was it because of the excessive high-frequencies
recorded on the master tape of the Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind open reel
studio master tape that resulted in too much – and messy – treble? At least you
can now listen to the album to freely judge for yourself. </div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-91479619263683781152015-04-28T02:44:00.001-07:002015-04-28T02:44:49.028-07:00Demagnetizing Dilemma: How Often Should We Demagnetize Our Cassette Tape Decks?<div class="MsoNormal">
Though cassette tape deck manufacturers recommend cleaning
record and playback heads every 12-hours or so, but how often should we
demagnetize them to insure optimal performance?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Near the end of the 1970s, many hi-fi enthusiasts hailed the
affordable high-performance cassette deck as the consumer electronic miracle of
domestic audio. Unfortunately, there’s a topic that even today – way, way after
the hi-fi cassette tape’s heyday – that sill remains nebulous and esoteric, as
in the subject of cassette tape deck record and playback head demagnetization.
Or more importantly, how often is enough to insure optimal function? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until it is removed, a low-level of “permanent” magnetism
builds up on playback heads in normal use and on record heads also if the
record bias waveform is not perfectly harmonically pure or if the record bias
is turned on and off too suddenly. Before the advent of cassette tape decks,
owners of domestic open-reel tape decks often use dedicated hand-held
demagnetizers to demagnetize the record, playback and even the capstans and
tape paths. Unfortunately – unless you have the requisite skill and confidence
to disassemble and reassemble the cassette tape deck you currently own –
hand-held demagnetizers are a non-starter for use in cassette tape decks,
especially car stereo units. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the years, dedicated electronic-based battery powered
cassette tape deck demagnetizers – like the Nihonbashi ED-126 Electronic
Demagnetizer and the Milty Magnet IX cassette tape deck demagnetizer – are my
preferred accessories when it comes to demagnetizing cassette tape decks,
including car stereo units. Electronic cassette tape deck demagnetizing units
work by introducing a lightly damped 1-KHz alternating current waveform across
the record / playback head of a typical cassette deck that usually lasts about
one second and registers around +10 dB on the VU meters of tape decks for those
who have them. Thus most electronic cassette tape deck demagnetizer manuals
warning users to turn down the main volume of their amplifiers when using it
since it will introduce a very loud 1-KHz squeak to their loudspeakers. Given
that these electronic cassette tape deck demagnetizers are housed in a cassette
tape shell shaped enclosure and usually powered by a single wristwatch battery,
they are virtually foolproof to use even to a novice audiophile. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most electronic cassette tape deck demagnetizers’ manuals
recommend to using it to demagnetize your cassette decks heads after every 40
hours of use. During the 1980s, when cassette tape was the virtual de rigueur
format of budding audiophiles, I tend to demagnetize my decks once or twice a
month depending on frequency of usage. Other kinds of cassette tape
demagnetizers use a tape-like strip magnetized with a series of alternating
polarities – and virtually looks like a dedicated cassette head cleaning unit.
There’s even a cassette tape deck demagnetizing unit that uses rotating
permanent magnets to demagnetize the record / playback head of your cassette
tape decks. Besides the electronic cassette tape deck demagnetizer units, the
other types were, over time, rejected by cassette tape audiophiles because they
are either ineffective – the tape strip type – or does more harm than good –
i.e. the type using rotating permanent magnets. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whatever the magnetic flux source, the working principle
behind cassette tape deck demagnetizers is that the fluctuating magnetic field
must gradually weaken until it fades out altogether; otherwise it will leave
behind residual magnetism, which is precisely what you are trying to eliminate.
Thus the use of electronic cassette tape deck demagnetizing units of a lightly
damped 1-KHz alternating current waveform whose voltage dies out slowly over
one-second duration. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a properly operating cassette tape transport, the AC bias
generating during the recording process tends to demagnetize separate record
and erase heads so they normally are unlikely to need additional degaussing or
demagnetization. Combination record / playback heads may be similarly
protected. Tape guides and the playback heads are the parts most likely – from
a theoretical standpoint – to become magnetized. In my experience as an
audiophile and amateur musician for 27 years, I’m not sure that any type of
demagnetizer can successfully demagnetize a capstan, but I’ve seldom found a
capstan that needed it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Signs of playback head magnetization include a noticeable
increase in tape hiss. If left untreated, the cassette tapes you are listening
to may suffer an irreversible loss of high frequencies. The loss will be less
likely if you are using metal particle – Type IV – tape, whose high coercivity
make it inherently more difficult to erase than other tape types. An FM radio
station I used to intern back in 1987 has a DJ that tend to let 100-hours or
more to go by before demagnetizing the station’s cassette tape decks. If you
wait until hiss builds up or highs are erased, it’s too late. So I tend to
demagnetize ever 30 to 40 hours or so back then. But some cassette tape deck
manufacturers – Teac amongst them – have recommended against demagnetization.
Part of their reasoning may be the danger of inadvertently magnetizing parts in
the tape path, particularly if one uses the most aggressive hand-held
demagnetizers – probably stems back during the days when Teac still makes those
wonderful sounding open-reel tape decks that we still covet until this day. </div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-48634498081547230752014-11-04T05:06:00.001-08:002014-11-04T05:06:28.098-08:00Recording CDs To Cassette For A Better Sound Quality?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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To those old enough, do you still remember the time when
music on CDs tends to sound better when they are recorded onto blank cassette
tapes? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones </div>
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<br /></div>
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Let’s face it early 1980s era CD players may have been built
like a tank – like that of cassette tape decks of the period. But when compared
to contemporary universal disc players that can play CDs DVDs or any 5-inch
diameter disc, the sound quality of early 1980s era CD players leaves much to
be desired. Even though in the 1990s we finally have names on the “audio
gremlins” that plague the Redbook Spec 16-Bit, 44.1-KHz digital audio – data
induced jitter for example – why is it that early 1980s era CDs sound quality
improves once it is transferred to cassette tapes, 8-Track, Elcaset or any
other analog magnetic recording media? </div>
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<br /></div>
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Even during the Golden Age of Stereo, audio engineers and
audiophiles already know that high-order very steep cutoff low pass and high
pass filters are deleterious to perceived sound quality. The reason why CDs –
and even low data rate MP3 audio files – tend to sound better when recorded on
analog magnetic media like cassettes, Elcaset, 8-Track, etc, is that analog
magnetic tapes doesn’t require a high order low pass filter as an
“anti-aliasing filter” to remove signals that doesn’t fit in to the Nyquist
Criterion of Redbook Spec CDs. Any signals too high in frequency to be recorded
in analog magnetic recording media just rolls off gently at a rate of 6 dB per
octave. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Why early CD players tend to sound worse than their more
contemporary counterparts is because anti-aliasing filters with very good
subjective sound quality were very difficult to design back in 1982. It was
Philips of Eindhoven, Netherlands that were the first to come up with an
oversampling digital filter – which is all about digital signal processing
algorithms – that resulted in a better sound quality than competing
anti-aliasing filters of the time, but digital signal processing was still at
its infancy in comparison to what we can do during the 1990s never mind today.
While Sony in Japan struggled on with impractical ninth-order analog brickwall
filters, Philips had no choice as they were unable to make reliable 16-bit
converters at the time of the CD’s 1982 CES debut. </div>
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<br /></div>
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By using oversampling and noise-shaping way back in 1983,
Philips could make their proprietary 14-bit converter for 16-bit 44.1-KHz
Redbook spec CD work with 16-bit resolution. Even though both Philips and
Sony’s CD players costs around 750 US dollars once they became available back
in 1983, a similarly priced machine in the mid 1990s can easily show it a clean
pair of heels sound quality wise. Today’s similarly priced machines are even
better. Would the hi-fi cassette tape decks role during the early days of CD is
a “widely available digital-to-analog-converter to make early CD sound better”? </div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-2479177070465170402014-02-18T03:07:00.002-08:002014-02-18T03:07:59.183-08:00BBE Sonic Maximizer: Cassette Tape Friendly? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->Eve though many musicians who can see past it’s rather
“showy sound enhancement abilities” now hate it, was the BBE Sonic Maximizer
cassette tape friendly enough to qualify as its “soul-mate”?<br />
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<br /></div>
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By: Ringo Bones </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the cassette tapes heyday – in the early 1980s –
“affordable” cassette tape decks were notorious for sounding “dull” when
compared side-by-side with their upmarket counterparts, thus any after-market
audio widget designed to improve the sound of your “affordable” cassette tape
deck suddenly became consumer electronic best-sellers. But did the BBE Sonic
Maximizer offer something better than other competing products? </div>
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<br /></div>
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BBE, Barcus Berry Entertainment, Incorporated – which later
became known as BBE Sound, Inc. is based in Huntington Beach, California that
began operation around the middle of the 1980s. BBE Sonic Maximizers became
widely used for audio recording, motion picture sound tracks, TV and radio
broadcasting and motion picture sound systems, According to the audio
processor’s creators, BBE Sonic Maximizers were primarily designed to improve
the sonic clarity of virtually any reproduced sound by correcting /
compensating for phase and amplitude distortions produced as your typical power
amplifier drives a typical loudspeaker. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Around 1986, BBE Sonic Maximizers first appeared widely as a
stand alone unit to be connected between your source – be it a vinyl record turntable,
cassette tape deck, VHS deck, hi-fi tuners and even CDs – and main preamplifier,
though better results with cassette can be obtained if your tape deck’s peak
output voltage is around 500-millivolts or louder. At the time, the best thing
I notice about BBE Sonic Maximizers is that it can make a dull cassette
recording sound better by subtly boosting the treble frequencies without
appearing to add additional hiss, unlike using the tone controls or graphic
equalizer in boosting the treble. </div>
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<br /></div>
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By around 1991 to 1992, many musicians – like Skid Row,
Megadeth, Queensryche amongst others – began using BBE Sonic Maximizers to
enhance their recordings and the sound of their electric guitars and electric
basses. But later on, “soulful” musicians started to dislike BBE because the
BBE Sonic Maximizer box acted like a “heavy handed loudness control on
steroids”. Boosting bass and treble frequencies tend to make the overall
recording – or your musical instrument – sound as if the midrange frequencies
were eliminated giving an impression of that hollow solid state sound that
became unfashionable as the early 1990s single-ended triode vacuum tube
amplifier craze went “viral”– quite far removed from what loud Marshall
electric guitar amplifier playing is all about, which is tons and tons of
gorgeous creamy midrange. Even upmarket Nakamichi DR series cassette tape deck
owners steered away from BBE starting around 1994. </div>
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But to my ears at least, BBE Sonic Maximizers do serve a
“niche purpose” where their treble boosting could prove useful. Like providing
much needed treble boost to those dull prerecorded cassette tape albums from
the 1980s where a “conventional” stand-alone noise / hiss reduction system will
only make it duller, FM radio stations with excessive OPTIMOD compression
usually sounds a little more dynamic when used with a BBE Sonic Maximizer and pre
Burwen Bobcat enhancement era MP3 digital music download files. </div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-29244061401390331152014-02-18T02:26:00.000-08:002014-02-18T02:26:32.831-08:00Woodles: The Bane of Cassette Tape Bass?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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A “technical term” used to describe the lumpy low frequency
response of cassette tape decks, can “woodles” be engineered out or reduced to
nonexistence? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The term woodles was first coined by Steve Holding, a hi-fi
audio equipment reviewer in Australian Hi-Fi magazine in which the term was
used in the March 1998 issue. In this context, woodles means the irregular
response in the bass or low frequency section of the audio frequency graph of a
cassette tape deck under test. More popularly known in America as the “head
contour effect” and is primarily caused by the bending of the tape as it
travels around the record / replay head. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A competently engineered cassette tape deck usually has
woodles that deviates no more than plus or minus 2.5 dB below 50 Hz and plus
and minus 1 dB above 50 Hz or better. A typical competently engineered modern
cassette tape deck manufactured around 1990 onwards has a head contour effect
that are usually below plus or minus 2.5 dB below 50 Hz due to modern record /
replay head profiles and advances in record / replay head design. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Historically, the Nakamichi DR series of cassette tape decks
were known for having virtually nonexistent woodles or head contour problems
since they’ve began making them by the start of the 1980s. It wasn’t until
years later – as in the early 1990s – that other cassette tape deck
manufacturers began making tape decks that can compete gamely with Nakamichi
when it comes to engineering out the “woodle problem”. Like the Teac V-7010
cassette tape deck with a well set up head geometry virtually gave it a woddle
free performance. And by the mid 1990s, Technics RS-AZ6 and Technics RS-AZ7
thin film head technology not only engineered out the head contour effect while
pricing their cassette tape decks half that of a typical Nakamichi DR series
cassette tape decks, but also gave the Technics series of thin film head
technology equipped cassette tape decks CD-like bass and midrange without the
use of proprietary Dolby S technology. </div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-47618779546605636282013-10-26T06:19:00.000-07:002013-10-28T04:46:18.318-07:00Dolby HX-Pro: For Rockers Only? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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After it became a practical and commercially viable signal
processing scheme in domestic cassette tape recording when self adjusting
cassette decks dramatically dropped in price, is the Dolby HX-Pro reserved for
rock and heavy metal music album recording use only?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even though Dolby HX-Pro was developed in 1982 by high-end (then) West German hi-fi manufacturer Bang & Olufsen in conjunction with Dolby Laboratories as a viable
add on for high end cassette tape decks destined for domestic use due to high
end recording bias self adjusting cassette tape decks hat were introduced at
the very end of the 1970s started dropping in price due to widespread
availability. After all, the process behind Dolby HX-pro only works when
cassette tape decks has a built in circuit that can dynamically, in real time,
change the recording bias level being applied on the cassette tape being
recorded on. And one of the first cassette decks to use it was Bang & Olufsen's B&O Beocord 9000 cassette deck. But despite only becoming a common add-on on domestic cassette
tape decks during the very end of the 1980s and only used on commercially
available prerecorded cassette tape albums in the early 1990s – and
overwhelmingly only on hard rock and heavy metal music albums on cassette – is
the Dolby HX-Pro deserve the reputation as something “for rockers only”? But
first, here’s a primer on how the Dolby HX-Pro process works. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bias – as in AC pre-magnetization bias, usually at 50,000 to
120,000 Hz – is an essential ingredient in the analog tape recording process
since the days of Helmut Krüger experimented with two-channel stereophonic recording onto open reel tapes. However, most cassette tape decks – especially
those destined for domestic use – use only a fixed level of bias. High level
high frequency musical information – as in strongly struck ride and crash
cymbals in drum kits (especially hard rock and heavy metal drum kits) – tends
to provide a certain amount of bias to the tape being recorded on its own, so
whenever you are recording music which contains high frequencies at high
recorded levels, the tape being recorded on will end up being slightly over
biased – that is, getting more bias current than necessary. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The results of excessive tape bias are dull-sounding high
frequencies and a certain amount of midrange compression. In such
circumstances, it would be better to reduce the level of fixed bias, so that
the total bias remains constant, irrespective of the tendency of the high
frequency music signals to bias the tape it is being recorded into. The effect
of reducing the fixed level of recording bias when high frequency signals
intended to be recorded are present is that the total amount of energy being
recorded onto the tape is reduced. This means that there is more room for the
music signal. This results in increased headroom for recording high frequency
music signals. Dolby’s HX – or Headroom eXtension – circuit monitors the level
of high frequency energy going into the cassette tape deck’s record head and dynamically
adjusts the “fixed” recording bias level to that the total recording bias
reaching into the magnetic particles of the tape used in the recording session
is always the same. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back around 1991 and 1992, most prerecorded cassette albums
that use Dolby HX-Pro in the recording process where overwhelmingly of the hard
rock and heavy metal music genre – as in Megadeth’s Countdown to Extinction,
Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind and Metallica’s eponymous black album just to
name a few - while a prerecorded commercial cassette copy of The Three Tenors that was recorded with Dolby HX-Pro are as rare as hen's teeth. So when I managed to acquire a Dolby HX-Pro equipped cassette tape
deck a few years later, I tried experimenting to use its “Headroom eXtension”
capabilities while recording our local Classical musicians playing some Bach
cello suites using their very own cellos – using a 12AX7 vacuum tube equipped microphone preamplifier
connected to the Dolby HX-Pro equipped cassette tape I had at the time, a
Pioneer CT-W606DR. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, the results are quite interesting – cello music, or
most live acoustic music in fact that’s not too loud as in averaging under100
decibels sound pressure level tends to sound better when recorded at a bit
higher bias that is being “reduced” by the deck’s Dolby HX-Pro processing. I
mean Dolby HX-Pro tends to make live cellos sound a tad steely and bright once
recorded onto cassette. Is this due to increased total harmonic distortion on
the recorded cello music signals on cassette tape via the Dolby HX-Pro being
switched in? While hard rock and heavy metal tracks being dubbed from LPs and
CDs for my own use tends to give better results with the Dolby HX-Pro process
working overtime while recorded at the maximum level before overload distortion
or cassette tape saturation becomes audibly obvious to audiophile trained ears.
Maybe not just for rockers only, but the Dolby HX-Pro process really shines
when you want to record music with really loud cymbals and percussion onto
cassette tape at louder than average levels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-27848298323632619602013-10-26T06:00:00.001-07:002013-10-26T06:00:47.411-07:00Doubling The Running Speed: Secret To A Better Cassette Tape Sound Quality? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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It may be a “long-shot” but does doubling the cassette
tape’s running speed from 1 7/8 inches per second to 3 ¾ inches per second
really improve its sound quality? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When it was introduced primarily as an office dictation
recording medium back in 1963 by Philips, the compact cassette tape’s rather
low 1 7/8 inches per second tape speed was the main engineering challenge of
coaxing something approaching high fidelity sound from such an unlikely tape
medium. Not to mention the narrow tape width of just 3.8 mm which contrasted
with the higher fidelity sounding domestic music recording and playback mediums
of the period – i.e. the quarter track open reel tape and the 8-Track tape
cartridge’s 6.3 mm tape width. But can increasing the compact cassette tape’s
speed from 1 7/8 i.p.s. to 3 ¾ i.p.s. really improve its sound quality? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in the early 1980s, a consumer electronics company by
the name of Teac made such the prospect of experimenting to improve the sound
quality of the compact cassette tape medium by doubling its running speed much
easier for domestic hi-fi enthusiasts by introducing the C-3X cassette tape
deck that has the option – via a simple flick of the switch – to be run at 3 ¾
inches per second. But in order for the better sounding DIY recording – on
cassette – to be playable other than the lone Teac C-3X cassette tape deck that
you probably own (or more likely just afford to own) in your hi-fi rig, your other
cassette tape playing equipment that you own or have access to – i.e. your boom
box portable, Walkman, car stereo’s cassette tape deck, etc. should also be
capable of running at 3 ¾ inches per second, which posed a problem for
compatibility to anyone jumping into the “cassette running at 3 ¾ i.p.s.
bandwagon” back then. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I was fortunate enough to “toy” with the Teac C-3X
cassette tape deck in our hi-fi repair shop given that it was very widely
available in second hand hi-fi shops across Vietnam during the mid 1990s,
running cassette tapes at double its normal speed - the results can be quite
spectacular. Using good quality cassette tapes like TDK SA, Sony Metal XR and
related tapes – the results can be outstanding and hiss free even without
switching in / using any form of Dolby noise reduction. When you can tape at
recording levels right up to +10 dB (and even a bit more on the cassette tapes
I’ve just short listed since those never saturated on the Teac C-3X cassette
tape deck) hiss is no longer an issue. By the way, the best loved rock and pop
recordings known for their pristine sound quality from the late 1960s up to the
1970s were recorded and mastered without any form of Dolby noise reduction
whatsoever – though its on 2-inch thick open reel tapes being run at 30 inches
per second. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although the midrange purity on the 3 ¾ i.p.s. cassette tape
recordings – both LP test dubs for my own use and live recordings of local
Classical and rock musicians via a 12AX7 vacuum tube equipped microphone preamp
into the Teac C-3X tape deck – is about half a notch below what’s possible with
a well maintained Elcaset deck or a hi-fi 8-Track record playback deck like the
Pioneer RH-65 or a quarter track open reel tape running at 3 ¾ i.p.s. Though a
metal particle cassette tape running at 3 ¾ i.p.s. on the Teac C-3X is miles
ahead in sound quality when compared to a current i-Pod – even when that said
i-Pod is playing hi-rez digital music downloads!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sadly, despite their stellar sound quality – dual-speed
cassette tape decks where a short-term innovation of the early 1980s. They
contravened Philips standard which stipulates one speed for the compact
cassette – i.e. 1 7/8 inches per second – for guaranteed compatibility, so were
discouraged and hence since discontinued. Teac finished their line of
dual-speed cassette tape decks similar to the C-3X cassette tape deck back in
1984. Were Teac the only ones making dual-speed cassette tape decks back then? </div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-23489037820781541212013-09-17T04:35:00.001-07:002013-09-17T04:35:50.891-07:00Remembering Ray Dolby – Father of Tape Noise Reduction <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->Though his iconic invention made him a very wealthy man,
could the world of hi-fi and music be very different today if Ray Dolby hasn’t
bequeathed his invention to the public for almost nothi<br />
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<br /></div>
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By: Ringo Bones<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Sadly, Ray Dolby passed away Friday, September 13, 2013 aged
80. Forever remembered after the iconic noise reduction system that bears his
name, the music and hi-fi world would probably not exist as we know it today
without his inventive solution in tackling the perennial problem of magnetic
recording tape hiss. </div>
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Ever since the US Armed Forces introduced working samples of
World War II era German analog open-reel tape recordings and their associated tape
recording and playback equipment near the end of the 1940s in various trade
expos, many American audio engineers suddenly got an epiphany that tape hiss or
noise is not going to be an easy problem to solve. This is so because tape
noise results mainly from the lack of homogeneity of the magnetic coating. Even
with existing technology – then and now – the ferrous particles can never be
distributed absolutely uniformly throughout the coating and the resulting
aggregations of these particles create discrete magnetic fields which – during
replay – manifests itself as noise e.m.f. or tape hiss at the playback head and
thus amplified along with the desired audio signal. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Luckily, a then young electronics engineer named Ray Dolby
managed to formulate – i.e. engineered - a very cost effective solution that
became a noise reduction system that is named after him. Thanks to Ray Dolby,
the lowly cassette tape that was primarily created by Philips as an office
dictation medium was raised to high fidelity status and became a very cost
effective analog tape based music recording medium since the latter half of the
1970s and even displacing vinyl LP in popularity as a domestic hi-fi playback
medium during the 1980s. In a sense Ray Dolby’s iconic noise reduction system
virtually raised every cheap magnetic tape recording based media into
audiophile status.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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In 1967, Henry Kloss heard about Ray Dolby’s noise reduction
system – i.e. the Dolby A which was intended for professional studio recording
noise reduction applications during the Rock N’ Roll era. It was Kloss who
pushed for a consumer version of the Dolby A noise reduction system which is
now known as the Dolby B, which Kloss originally saw as a boon to home/domestic
open-reel tape users – and made the Philips compact cassette – which Philips
originally intended as an office dictation medium – into a runaway commercial
hi-fi success that virtually out-competed the better sounding vinyl LP near the
end of the 1970s. </div>
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Thanks to his financial success, Ray Dolby also paved the
way for various inventions and inventors to make domestic high fidelity a much
more affordable hobby. Using the same Peter Scheiber patents of the old
quadraphonic sound systems that expired with barely a whimper back in 1975,
Dolby Laboratories managed to create Dolby Pro Logic – a surround sound system
that made possible those relatively affordable surround sound capable home
cinemas during the early 1980s that also made low-cost mediums like the VHS or
Betamax video cassette tapes – and even cassette tapes – capable of life-like
surround sound reproduction when used with a designated Dolby Pro Logic
decoding box. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Unbeknown to most of us, Ray Dolby first cut his teeth in
the field of radio astronomy. In fact, his Dolby Noise Reduction System came
from his earlier work in trying to extract very weak cosmic radio signals from
background radiation noise mainly caused by our very own radio
telecommunications traffic. </div>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-40999855331680120932013-06-04T02:46:00.002-07:002013-06-04T02:46:40.287-07:00Dolby S Noise Reduction System: Savior Of The Cassette Tape? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->In spite of its “heroic” audio engineering specs, why hasn’t
the Dolby S noise reduction system been able to save the cassette tape from
eventual commercial extinction?<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones </div>
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<br /></div>
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Introduced back in 1989 with the hopes to extend the
cassette tape’s “commercial lifetime” well into the 21<sup>st</sup> Century
despite of the onslaught of the digital media competition, Dolby S was
introduced to the hi-fi masses primarily to make commercially produced
mass-market prerecorded cassette tapes sound as good – if not virtually
indistinguishable from the 16-Bit 44.edbook spec CDs. Sadly, according to the
major consumer electronic entertainment firms, tape-based recording and
playback systems – like the cassette tape – we are told, is just isn’t
acceptable anymore during the early to mid 1990s because it has an
old-fashioned image. Not to mention the proliferation of CDs (both brand new
and reissue albums – even hard-to-find rarities) only a dollar or two more
expensive than their prerecorded music cassette tape album versions sold in
music stores and the proliferation of “affordable” (as in between 350 to 500 US
dollars each) CD players from Marantz, NAD and Rotel which now sound as smooth
as their entry-level vinyl LP playback system counterparts. Despite its
inability to save the “commercially doomed” and aging cassette tape format,
what makes Dolby S so special in comparison to its other Dolby cassette tape
noise reduction system predecessors? </div>
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<br /></div>
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Dolby B and Dolby C are cassette tape hiss reduction
processes which, in essence, boost the signal to be recorded in order to keep
it much louder than the tape hiss. On playback, the boost is reversed,
drastically reducing the volume of the hiss in the process. A complication
arises because the boosted signal must not be allowed to peak so high that the
tape cannot accommodate the signal, and it is solutions to this problem that
made every Dolby noise reduction system developed so far such an outstanding
success. The Dolby B circuit reduces noise above approximately 500 Hz and
achieves about 8 to 10 dB of noise reduction while Dolby C is effective above
approximately 150 Hz and achieves about 18 to 20 dB of improvement in the
signal-to-noise ratio. Although Dolby C noise reduction employs more treble
boost than Dolby B noise reduction, Dolby C includes a special recording
characteristic to avoid saturating the cassette tape at extremely high audio
frequencies approaching 20 KHz. But his doesn’t mean that it’s perfect, or that
Dolby B or Dolby C tackles all of the problems associated with recording unto
cassette tape. This is where Dolby S steps in. </div>
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Dolby S is the simplified for consumer use / domestic use
version of the Dolby SR – a professional signal processing scheme, not just a
mere noise reduction strategy. It consists of a number of circuits operating together
to reduce tape hiss right across the audio frequency band of 20-Hz to 20-KHz –
not just the high frequencies where Dolby B and Dolby C operate – with the
minimum possible audible intrusion. Several different measures are taken to
ensure that noise reduction is supplied in such a way that the background hiss
– including the microphone and first-stage preamplifier hiss, not just tape
hiss – can’t be heard to vary, which is the problem with Dolby C in particular,
especially with piano and transient-rich music. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Techniques employed including varying the bandwidth of the
signal compressors as the music changes using three separate stages of signal
processing to cover the entire 20-Hz to 20-KHz audio frequency band, and using
weighed networks and filters that modify the action of the processors where the
system is likely to be audible. If you like Dolby S analyzes the nature of the
signal to be recorded and responds to it intelligently. In use, Dolby S
achieves an improvement of 23 to 25 dB of signal-to-noise ratio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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A secondary property or benefit if you will, of commercially
produced Dolby S encoded cassette tape recordings is that in the absence of a
Dolby S decoder equipped cassette tape playback deck, as in older cassette tape
decks, they will operate satisfactorily with a Dolby B processor at a cost of
some mild compression, which can actually be beneficial. This is especially
noticeable in-car cassette tape playback systems where the ambient noise levels
can swamp the quieter musical passages. Given such “heroic” abilities, why
didn’t the Dolby S noise reduction system manage to save the cassette tape from
being crowded out by the 16-Bit CD and even the strongly resurgent vinyl LP
competition during the mid to late 1990s? </div>
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<br /></div>
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Being fortunate enough to have a hands-on review of the two
most popular “almost affordable” Dolby S equipped cassette tapes being sold
back in 1994 – the Sony TC-K611S which sold for 460 US dollars at the time and
the Kenwood KX-7050S which sold for 560 US dollars. Thanks to our very friendly
local hi-fi dealer who at the time used the two Dolby S equipped cassette tape
decks in a more or less in an almost permanent demo basis, given that the two
were the only high-ticket items practically flying out of the shelves back
then. Sadly, Dolby S doesn’t make up for a lack of talent elsewhere. I mean the
rather audible – from a musician / music lover’s ears’ perspective – wow and
flutter of the 100 US dollar cheaper Sony TC-K611S cassette tape deck made a
rather unacceptably “wow and fluttery” rendition of the prerecorded cassette of
Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes album, while the rendition of the Kenwood
KX-7050S was less musically convincing than a similarly priced Nakamichi cassette
deck which our friendly hi-fi shop owner owns and often uses as a reference for
reviewing cassette tape decks – and no, the Nakamichi doesn’t have Dolby S.
Compared to the similarly priced Nakamichi, the Kenwood had a less than
musically convincing performance – especially in the mid-band. Although both
the Dolby S equipped Sony and Kenwood cassette tape decks delivered a hiss-free
performance. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The resulting hands-on review only serves to reinforce my
preconception of consumer electronic products I since harbored since my
childhood during the 1970s that mechanical sophistication can be replaced by
electronics, bringing enormous cost savings in the process. These days – or
back in the post Operation Desert Storm days of 1992, electronics come cheap,
but mechanical parts don’t. Cassette tape decks are a complex amalgam of
mechanics and electronics. The Japanese being undisputed masters of the former
managed to manufacture the best and relatively affordable transport mechanisms
and record / playback heads during the cassette tape’s heyday in the 1980s. For
example, Nakamichi makes great recording and playback heads for cassette tape
decks, but you can bet they are a far more costly way of obtaining an increased
dynamic range than the Dolby S modules in the cassette tape deck’s signal path.
Even though it failed to prevent the commercial extinction of the cassette
tape, at least Dolby S may have extended its commercial lifetime of the
cassette tape up to until 2008. </div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-3536029223347702622013-03-05T05:54:00.001-08:002013-03-05T05:54:53.021-08:00Surround Sound From Cassette Tapes? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]-->Even though they were relatively widely available during the
late 1980s and early 1990s, why didn’t the surround sound encoded cassette
tapes became more popular than they should?<br />
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<br /></div>
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By: Ringo Bones </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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As someone who grew up during the heyday of “physical music
media”, music lovers back then gauged the popularity of a newfangled music
recording gimmick by how soon it is applied to the hard rock and heavy metal
music genre. And though it is not as popular as it should have, finding
cassette tapes that are Dolby Pro-Logic surround sound capable of hard rock and
heavy metal live concerts during the late 1980s and early 1990s is enough for
one old enough to ask why are these types of cassette tapes never became
standard issue? But first, let’s discuss a brief history of surround sound. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the concept of
surround sound – as in quadraphonic sound – was let loose to consumers during
the early 1970s, the best surround sound systems during quadraphonic’s heyday
were discrete quadraphonic on four-track open reel tapes. This was by far the
best delivery system for the quadraphonic sound system but these tapes were
just too expensive for the average audiophiles of the day. Even though
quadraphonic sound systems – i.e. 1970s era surround sound – expired with
barely a whimper in 1975, it was a concept that was introduced rather too late
for a more consumer friendly priced quadraphonic sound system, a matrix decoder
type surround sound with logic steering that became the basis of the Dolby
Pro-Logic surround sound system that eventually reintroduced the concept of
surround sound for the home around the middle of the 1980s. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Based on the same Peter Scheiber patents as the old quad
systems which Dolby Laboratories added their own proprietary improvements, the
Dolby Pro-Logic system managed to rekindle the consumers’ interest in of
surround sound in the home during the mid 1980s because its surround sound
encoding system can be seamlessly introduced – more or less – into two-track
stereophonic audio already widely used in cassette tapes and the VHS and
Betamax videocassettes of the time while still allowing the very same Dolby
pro-logic encoded cassette tapes and videocassettes to be played on ordinary
two-channel stereo systems with no loss of sound quality. The great thing about
the Dolby Pro-Logic surround sound system is that it can impart relatively
accurate surround sound steering data even on bandwidth restricted recording
and playback media like the Philips compact cassette. </div>
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<br /></div>
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All the analog based encode / decode surround sound systems
- like Dolby Pro Logic – use a sum-and-difference matrixing system to shoehorn
front and rear and the center channels into the main stereo pair. Front center,
of course, was left-signal / right-signal mix, because L+R is what produces a
phantom center in stereo. The rear channel was recorded out-of-phase in the
front left and right channels, so that the process that recovers the signal
will cancel out the other. Strictly speaking, the surround signal lagged the
left stereo channel by 90 degrees of phase and led the right channel by 90
degrees, so that it was anti-phase between the stereo channels but only a
symmetrical 90 degrees out-of-phase with either stereo channel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Unfortunately, when using the scheme as is, channel
separation between adjacent channels is a lousy 3 dB, so a technique called
logic steering was ultimately used to monitor the stereo signals, then “decide”
which is the dominant channel at a given instant, and subtract the channel’s
signal from the ones adjacent to it. For instance, when the left front signal
is dominant, its signal is cancelled from left back and center front. When the
surround channel is dominant, its signal is subtracted from the left and right
fronts. Even with logic steering, there’s usually some leakage of the front
left and right signals into the rear, so a small time delay is put in the
surround channel to harness the ears’ tendency to localize sounds in the
direction they are first heard from. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Despite the good results obtained from Dolby Pro Logic
encoded cassettes to recreate a believable surround-sound at the home even with
a budget Dolby Pro Logic equipped receiver, most analog matrix encoded surround
sound were eventually superseded by full-digital surround sound systems like
Dolby Digital AC-3 surround sound and DTS starting in the early 1990s. As good
as Dolby Pro Logic was – even in cassette form – its surround sound channels
just don’t have the 20 KHz or greater bandwidth of full digital surround sound
systems like Dolby Digital AC-3 and DTS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100826246079453965.post-48632545223881789522013-02-18T06:51:00.000-08:002013-02-18T06:51:01.435-08:00Was the 8-Track Better Than The Cassette Tape? <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even though both formats seem to be pitted against each
other during much of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, was the 8-Track
better than the cassette tape? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By: Ringo Bones </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Upon first inspection, it is way more mechanically
complicated than the cassette tape, but with its intended application in car
stereos, 8-Track does have the ergonomic advantage over Philips’ cassette tape
since 8-Track plays in a continuous loop – i.e. once the last song of the album
or 8-Track cartridge ends, it goes back to the first track / song. But there
are those who still swear that as an analog tape format, the 8-Track has a
better subjective sound quality than cassette – and if you are a serious audio
enthusiast – if you’ll ever hear a well-set up 8-Track deck, you would swear
that it is way better, sound quality wise, than cassette tape too. But first,
here’s a brief history on the 8-Track tape. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
William Powel Lear a.k.a. Bill Lear was the oft credited
inventor of the 8-Track tape, though other people – like Earl “Madman” Muntz - were
instrumental of its culmination as a commercially successful product; Though
most of the younger generation often tend to associate Bill Lear with the Lear
Jet. The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>8-Track cartridge or 8-Track
tape is a magnetic tape based sound recording and playback format. It was very
popular in the U.S. and other countries with a large U.S. military presence from the mid 1960s
to the early 1980s but was relatively unknown in most European countries. 8-Track
tapes were used as a carrier for quadraphonic sound during the start of the
1970s by simply reallocating the tracks but later reverted to its original
two-channel stereo applications once the quadraphonic fever died with barely a
whimper in 1975.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The endless loop tape cartridge was first designed back in
1952 by Bernard Cousino around a single reel carrying a continuous loop of
standard ¼ inch plastic oxide coated recording tape running at 3 ¾ inches per
second (9.5 cm / sec). Program starts and stops were signaled by a one-inch
long metal foil that activates the track-change sensor. Bill Lear had tried to
create an endless loop wire recorder in the 1940s but gave up in 1946, even
though endless-loop 8mm film cartridges were already in use for him to copy
from. Lear would then be inspired by Earl Muntz’s four-track design in the
early 1960s. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a relatively more complicated mechanical system compared
to the Philips’ cassette tape, the 8-Track tapes’ shortcomings were mostly
mechanical related like higher that average wow and flutter measurements due to
constantly changing load presented by the sliding tape pack. There’s also a
tendency of the 8-Track to jam as the tape got dirty as the lubricant wore away
and dries up as the tape is exposed in the rather hostile elevated temperatures
of the automotive environment. The flattening of the pinch roller over time
when an 8-Track cartridge was left plugged in causing increased wow and flutter
and the last one was the inability to attain and maintain tape head alignment due
to the movable head design. Though this list of shortcomings was mostly
confined in 8-Track’s automotive use, its domestic applications – especially
with dedicated recording and playback heads – can sometimes produce subjective
sound quality results far better than that obtained from cassettes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When recording unto
8-Tracks via a dedicated 8-Track recording deck like the Pioneer RH-65 8-Track
Player/Recorder or the Pioneer H-R100 8-Track Player Recorder using either CDs,
vinyl LPs, DVD-Audio and Super Audio CDs, the results were far better than any
cassette deck on a rung lower than that of the Nakamichi. Even if the
specifications show that 8-Track tapes only measure a bit better than 55dB
signal-to-noise ratio even with Dolby B noise reduction on, 8-Tracks produce a
much more open midrange compared to cassette tapes. His is probably due to much
more tape of the 8-Track being run faster across a recording head to capture
more resolution of the recorded event. And since the 8-Track tape’s being run
at twice that of cassette’s 1 7/8 inches per second, the apparent wow and
flutter problems are apparently only audible on more demanding Classical piano
recordings than on everyday rock and pop. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Ringohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506068154852505840noreply@blogger.com0