Technical info

Max The Tape Recorder's Seventh Album

More technical infos

My fun with the "Max The Tape Recorder" albums is to recycle and record on old tapes (reel-to-reel, cassettes etc...), often made for "consumers" and not necessarilly for professional applications (although I sometimes use pro ones too, and the tape quality varies depending on the era it was made), and I try to get the best out of them using multi-track recorders.

I generally try to calibrate the machine as best as I can for the tape used, although sometimes I may also experiment on this side:

of course the Tascam 238 8-track recorder for cassette tapes was made to use only CrO2 Type II chrome tapes, other types of tapes can also be used with a few technical tricks.

These albums are where I go crazy and experiment with the technical aspects, and the music also.

	Tracks 1, 2 and 3: "Synth-pop suite" Tape: Memorex ATR Tape's state before recording: used Machine used: Fostex E-8 Recording speed: 30 ips
	Track 4: "In Sanity" Tape: 3M 986 - 5" reel Tape's state before recording: new Machine used: Fostex R8 Recording speed: 15 ips --- Same calibration used as the famous 3M/Scotch 226 or Ampex 456.
	Tracks 5: "See breeeze" Tape: TDK MA-R 60 Type IV Metal Position Tape's state before recording: new Machine used: TEAC 238 Recording speed: 5.3 ips (Both of the machine's pitches at max) --- Very famous metal position TDK tape, the "heavy in your hands" cassette from the 80's made of real metal inside. This tape is still worth up to $80+ brand new on eBay. Very good and rich dynamic sound but not made for multitrack recording, got many serious dropouts during recording (Type IV tapes are known for that problem, some tiny metal particules generated from the surface of the tape get stuck in the heads and we need to clean the heads often), I was lucky to be able to transfer the tape onto the computer digitally without getting any dropout in order to mix it.
	Track 6, 7 and 8: "Downtown escapade suite" Tape: BASF LHSM 90 Tape's state before recording: new Machine used: TEAC 238 Recording speed: 5.3 ips (Both of the machine's pitches at max) --- Very good quality for a normal Type 1 tape from the 70's or early 80's I think, however I got some static problems during the recording of the 3rd music piece (part 3) which would generate some "ticks" in the sound, that I had to remove with a vinyl scratch remover plugin during the mix on the computer. Possibly caused by the high speed recording of 5.3 ips (instead of the normal speed of 1 7/8 ips).
	Track 9: "A little drum solo" Tape: Scotch 206 Tape's state before recording: new Machine used: Fostex E-8 Recording speed: 30 ips
	Track 10: "Do something about it" Tape: Scotch 223 Tape's state before recording: used Machine used: Fostex E-8 Recording speed: 30 ips