Restoration Tips for Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder

Series Summary

With this Expert Village series, we will attempt to bring back the past, the pre-digital days when studio music recordings were done on reel-to-reel tape machines and not simply sucked straight into the digital console. Back then, analogue was the standard, and these days you don’t have to search very far to find someone who claims that those days were better. Maybe you find digital production to be too cold and calculating, too crisp and sterile, lacking warmth of tone and sense of dimension. Maybe you just remember the good ol’ days and don’t feel like learning how to record music on your computer. Or maybe you’re just interested in making good music, and you’d like to discover how reel to reel recording works. All you need to do is get that old tape machine in good working order and you can try recording as it was done in the old days.

In these music studio recording videos, you will learn how to get that old four track recorder back into top shape. Our expert explains the basic parts and operation of the machine, then gives you a few maintenance tips to get the motors and capstan back in good running order. You will also learn how to clean and demagnetize the recording heads and restore the pressure roller. Then, most importantly, you will find out how to align the heads to ensure that your reel-to-reel records your music accurately, with the wonders of analogue sound. Now that you know how to fix up a reel to reel machine, hit the pawn shops to find the recorder that will make you a music star.

Video Transcript

"On behalf of Expert Village, I'm Kurt Glaser, chief engineer at KGB Studios in Seattle. Welcome to this next section on reel-to-reel tape machines. This one we're going to actually do some training on how to restore. We're going to talk a little about the tools that you need to trouble shoot. We're going to talk about how to align the deck. We're going to talk about the frequency response and we're going to use some various terms and terminology that you will get to know. Of course if you're doing anything in the analog world you'll need to know about signal to noise ratios and things along that line. We'll also talk and show you a little bit about the innards on this particular rig here. This Docorder 4 track Reel-to-Reel machine and we'll talk about the differences in alignment, calibration, and also about de-magnetization. We'll show you the tools and we'll actually show you a demo on how to actually do it. So, with that, that's this first session. We're going to continue on with the next session. Going through the basic parts on the front of the deck first and then we'll talk about what's in the back of the deck and we'll then pick it up with diving into the machine a little bit more in detail after that. Again thanks for joining us. On we go."