Tape Guide (Q and A) (Dec. 1975)

Tape Recording Problem

Q. The quality and volume of the sound from tapes I record on my TEAC 6010 are much lower and poorer than the program material, even though the VU meter shows proper deflection. When I play tapes on other machines the sound is OK. What can the trouble be?

-P. Y. Kosol, Winnipeg, Canada.

A. Your VU meter may be mis calibrated, causing it to give too high a reading, thus leading you to record at too low a level. Or you may have insufficient bias current feeding to the head, due to a defect in the bias oscillator and the record head, or to a misadjustment of the control which sets the bias current. If your recordings also include excessive high frequencies, you probably have insufficient bias. Another possibility is that there is a defect in the record electronics following the point where the signal is tapped off for the VU meter. This could cause insufficient record signal at the record head.

Tape Recorder Care and Operation

Q. Where can I get a book telling me how to get the best results from my tape recorder? The instructions which came with my Radio Shack 909 are very brief. I also need to know what is correct routine maintenance.

-A. L. Hall, Portsmouth, N.H.

A. Every tape recorder maker I know of produces a service manual for his machines, either available free or for a dollar or two (although service manuals for very new models sometimes are not available for some months after they are first on the market). For books dealing with tape recorder use and maintenance, go to the largest parts distributor near you.

If none are within your area, write to: (1) Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc., 4300 West 62nd St., Indianapolis, Ind. 46206, (2) TAB Books, Blue Ridge Summit, PA. 17214, (3) Audio Book Club, 134 N. 13th St., Phila. Pa., 19107. Sams may be best for specific service information on a particular machine.

Adding Dolby to O-R Tape Deck

Q. I am considering adding a Crown 5X824 tape deck to my system.

This machine has excellent specifications, but since money is no object I am considering adding the Advent Dolby B unit to it. Will I be helping or hurting the sound otherwise obtainable with the Crown?

-Lee A. Swoboda, Long Beach, California.

A. The Advent should not degrade the quality of the recordings you make with the Crown, but it's not likely to improve them audibly at the higher speeds. If you use the Crown at low speeds, there should be some improvement. The rule is, the better the tape machine to begin with and the higher the tape speed, the less improvement Dolby will make.

Cassette machines, running at 1-7/8 ips, and with very narrow tracks, four across a 1/7-in. wide tape (!), get much more help from Dolby noise reduction than do open-reel machines using 1/4-in. tapes, at higher speeds.

Which Tape to Use?

Q. I own a Sony TC630 machine.

I'm getting into some serious recording using Sony FCM-22 mikes. I understand that Sony adjusts bias to its own tapes. Until now I have preferred to use Audiotape. Do you think I should either use Sony tapes, which are more expensive, or readjust the bias to Audiotape?

-Neil Davidson, Stamford, Conn.

A. Are you sure that you must have bias adjusted in order to use Audiotape? If bias does indeed have to be changed, consider the following. Unless you have the instruments and technical knowledge, the adjustment must be made by a competent technician. His charge will be between $15.00 and $25.00, perhaps more, and this could pay for the price differential of quite a number of reels of tape.

(adapted from Audio magazine, Dec. 1975; Herman Burstein)

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