WTB - Test / Calibration Tape ½-inch 15 ips IEC multitrack

[Whoops]

Hi,
I would like to buy a used Test / calibration tape for  ½-inch  15 ips IEC  multitrack

Any of the following will do:

TEAC YTT-1144
Fostex 9200
BASF 337534A
MRL 31J229
MRL 31J329

Thanks

 

[pvision]

From memory, 15 ips IEC is exactly the same as NAB apart from 3 db difference at 10 kHz. So you can line up using a NAB tape but adjust the HF 3 dB out

You'll have to check I'm right (it's been a few years) and which way the change is. I have a feeling IEC puts 3 dB less level on tape at the HF end. So, on playback, you'd adjust a NAB 10 kHz tone to 3 dB over your reference level

Nick Froome

 

[MagnetoSound]

The real difference is at the low end.

IEC ...

 

[MagnetoSound]

NAB

 

[MagnetoSound]

Since there is no LF adjustment on the repro side,  Nick is right, practically speaking. Once you have aligned the HF response, there is nothing left to tweak, but for proper EQ adjustment you need to compensate low end response with component changes in the repro amp.

Some folks like to keep swappable repro cards for machines that provide easy access to the audio electronics. Professional transfer/mastering rooms will usually have separate machines for NAB and IEC calibration to save time and wear.

Recording studios tend to just pick one curve to operate with and notate their tape boxes so that subsequent users are made aware. Line-up tones on the tape itself are, of course, indispensible for accurate calibration of both freq response AND operating level.


There is a good explanation of the curve differences here:
http://laocaudiosociety.net/tech/NABtoIEC.pdf

 

[Whoops]

Thank you all so much for the tips and explanation.

I'm doing an indie record soon, and the artist wants to do it on his 8 track ½-inch machine.
There's not a lot of money involved so unfortunately he can't pay for a new tape from MRL.

I really want to do this record since I like the artist and it's different from everything I ever done,
I proposed to him trying to by a used or second hand test tape to cut on costs.

Tried to check with my fellow engineers and studios for an ½-inch test tape but no one has one.
They just have 1/4 inch and 2 inch.

 

[pvision]

If money is that tight, ask him if he has any tapes with test tones on. If he does, align sync & repro to those tones, then bias it and setup the record side. Then record your own test tape, and a set of tones on the head of the reel(s) you're recording to

Ideally you'd clean & demag the heads first and check the azimuth. But, if the artist uses the machine with other tapes he's recorded before, tweaking the azimuth will affect those tapes

Nick Froome

 

[Whoops]

If money is that tight, ask him if he has any tapes with test tones on. If he does, align sync & repro to those tones, then bias it and setup the record side. Then record your own test tape, and a set of tones on the head of the reel(s) you're recording to

Ideally you'd clean & demag the heads first and check the azimuth. But, if the artist uses the machine with other tapes he's recorded before, tweaking the azimuth will affect those tapes

Nick Froome

Hello Nick,
thank you so much for your reply. I have an Hand D Mag, and I know how to perform the demag process.

I never used tape that much before, I started recording in 2001 already in the digital realm.

I like the artist, the music and the challenge to also learn something new and in a different way than my other recordings

The artist doesnt have other tapes that need to be played in the same recording, also the tapes on this recording don't need to be played in other machines. It's more the kind of artist that after the mix is done he doesnt want to see or touch the multitracks ever again.

Anyway besides this I'm the engineer and I would like to do it properly and the best I can.
So I would like to calibrate it using a test tape and learn the process

thank you