Date:         Fri, 4 Aug 2006 16:12:17 -0400
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Robert Hodge <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Glitchy dats
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Are you SURE that the 1/4 inch were the backup and the  DAT's were the
intended main tapes ?
It seems to me that the production mixer shows great wisdom ! Perhaps
even greater foresight ? 
When the university first bought DAT machines for studio and film sound
use as oppossed to the tried and VERY true and higly maintainable
NAGRA's , especially for field use , the whole thing didn't work for me
considering the fussy transports and extremely fragile tape. 

Bob Hodge




>>> [log in to unmask] 8/4/2006 3:48 PM >>>
David,

DAT's can be a nightmare. Not only have we encountered problems with 
tapes just a few years old, but have also had (mostly shell related) 
problems with new tapes from supposedly reputable manaufacturers.

A few years ago, when transferring tapes for dailies on a big budget 
feature, we had some tapes come in that would come to an absolute stop

when we attempted to play them. Of the 5 DAT recorders we had, only one

(non-time code) machine would even rewind the tape! The production
mixer 
lost a lot of sleep over it. Fortunately, he was still doing 1/4"
backup.

I foresee DAT and DTRS tapes being the next big problem to come (not to

mention the old PCM-F1 and X-86 tapes!). This is going to make analog 
tape problems look like a walk in the park in comparison.

Scott D. Smith

Chicago Audio Works, Inc.

 
David Lennick wrote:

>I've been sent a load of DATs to transfer to CD for auditioning, and I
find
>that a number of them dating from 1996 have glitches. I don't know if
there's
>one brand more prone than others since I'm not monitoring
consistently, but
>they do seem to turn up on Sony PDP-124s. Anyone have similar
experiences? Any
>thoughts on whether this was a bad brand (I had problems with it
myself) or if
>it was a matter of us not thoroughly erasing the tapes before using
them or not
>fast forwarding or rewinding them before using them?
>
>dl
>
>
>
>  
>