Getting a Tape Machine this weekend, let's talk Otari

If you're up for the adventure of running a tape machine, it can be a lot of fun.

Not all bands are up for it or care, but I've done a lot of sessions to tape for beds, then dumping them into ProTools for overdubs (a bonus is that you can use your favorite outboard at each step to sweeten). Even fairly inexperienced bands will often get excited about it and it seems to get them to focus a bit more when they're tracking instead of always asking me to "save that one, let me do another", repeat...

Once in PT, you can edit or even get all quantizey if you want.
I also love not dealing with a mouse/screen all day. Pretty sure it helps my focus too.

Don't discount used tape if it's in good condition. Still can sound great. Not every project needs virgin reels.

Awesome. Looking forward to that next M. Ward album. He and Jonathan Wilson are two of the artists whose values and methodology led me back to tape years ago. I use a Tascam 58, Otari MTR-90 MKII 2" 16-track and Otari MX-55 for mix down. Even these "lesser" machines have a visceral quality, depth and "movement" that digital just can't do. Something about tracking to tape too... that absolute zero latency of tape and an analog mixer? These days I dump them to digital for mixing to save wear and tear on the machines hoping they can last me the rest of this lifetime.

Was told by the OG mixer of one of my favorite albums ever, Dilated Peoples 20/20, that there was some kind of tape shortage at the time and they did the entire album on a single piece of 1/2". Once a mix was "done," everybody in the room would give a stamp of approval, they'd dump it to digital, and then start the next song on the same piece of tape... no revisions allowed!

There is an 1100 that needs a lot of work but cheap 2 hours away, honestly the combination of 440-8 and RADAR keep me from grabbing it, that and the need for a bigger storage with shop space!

Yeah, the Ampex mm1200 is THE mojo machine (and the MCI JH was a direct clone)

Wow, that album sounds incredible! Even car EQ and Apple streaming can’t screw it up

Still not able to add pictures… Anyway, got it home. So I have to just be really honest here and make a confession. I got it unloaded and in the studio, it’s in really great shape. The heads were redone by JRF at some point, the guy had sent me pictures and said there was very little use since the heads were redone. He communicated so well with me and sent so many pictures, I was excited and we were all in a hurry when I picked it up and loaded it (over a 6 hour drive one way for me). I took a look at the heads when I got home, and they look god awful… I’m really embarrassed that I made such a rookie mistake and didn’t look things over while I was there. I’m not sure if the angles in the pictures I had before hand were just intentionally angled to hide things or if I didn’t notice.

Total rookie mistake. Honestly, if I wouldn’t have been a bonehead and actually looked at the heads before loading it, I probably would have passed on it. This is all my bad, too late now. I just got caught up in everything, since I had videos of everything working well and pictures, I got in stupid mode (tired and in hurry) and didn’t do what I should have…

My tape I ordered still isn’t here, so can’t really check things until next week. In the meantime, I’ll order a demagnetizer and try to clean the heads up a little tomorrow. Wish I could post pictures of the heads so you could all laugh at my stupidity. What a long, and frustrating end to the day…

also... you can add photos to imgur.com for free and post the link here. Try to clean the heads well with rubbing alcohol and a cue tip first. I have looked at tape machines where people tried to "test them out" with old tape which can make the heads look terrible all caked up with oxide... This happened to me when I went to pick up my 2" 16 track Otari MTR-90 II. I thought the machine was junk because the guy had been frantically trying to pull old tape on the machine to "show me that it worked" before I got there. My heart sank when I walked in and saw the heads. Luckily I brought some alcohol and cue tips and managed to undo the damage he had done over that 20 minutes or so. Oh my word. It was nasty. Hopefully the initial layer of oxide caked on prevented too much damage to the heads... (eyes rolling)

Now I know better... If I am buying a tape machine I tell the guy to not touch it AT ALL until I get there. Most people have forgotten or never learned how to operate a tape machine. Too many people will just throw ancient rotting tape on a machine and make a tragic mess without a clue of what they are doing...

Thanks to everyone that PM’ed with tips, leads on heads, and just general “I’ve been there” comments. I woke up early this morning and grabbed some isopropyl, really nice q tips, some wood tooth picks (haven’t gotten there, only if absolutely needed) and some kids toothbrush with extra soft/smooth bristles. Time to clean!

A couple of people mentioned that it could have just been an old tape that he ran through to test the unit. I’ve never seen a tape do something this crazy, but that’s more than likely what happened. I popped the hood and there’s a TON of tape shed inside and around the heads. The weirdest part was that the inside looks brand new and it’s pretty obvious he cleaned it out recently. The tape shed is definitely new. I think he grabbed the one tape he had to run some tests for me, and the tape was just in horrible shape.

I’ve already spent about 20 minutes slowly cleaning the first head, and everything’s gone! It looks brand new. I’m going to keep going slowly here, but I’m hoping that this is just an extreme case of a really bad/old tape doing all of this. I still can’t believe a single run on a tape could do this, but I’m definitely learning new stuff every day 😂.

This thing cleaned up, crisis averted 😂. I’m still in shock that one bad tape pass did this, the heads looked so bad. As usual, I lucked out as all the heads look almost brand new after an hour or so of going slow with the isopropyl and qtips. Hopefully my tape makes it here tomorrow, but at this point it looks like I’m going to be good to go.

I was a bit surprised that you mentioned that you could "see" that the heads were bad. Usually it takes high magnification / microscope to determine that. But sometimes it's possible to see with the naked eye if it's really super bad. Please, no toothbrush. . 93% Isopropral (only the expensive and pure stuff - not the drug store diluted stuff) or preferably dedicated head cleaner, and tons of q-tips. Buy the wooden stick ones for more efficient leverage. As you have no learned first hand - no used tape. Unless you are constantly baking it - and even then, baking will degrade it. Use good (new) tape only. Lots of people "get away" with used tape, but IMO, creativity, time and efforts are worth more than saving a few bucks. Good luck.