User Comments

Received from Nashville , Producer/Engineer Russ Long, 1/16/2008 :

"I wanted to let you know that I had my first chance to track to your tape yesterday at Sound Emporium and it sounded amazing. I couldn't have been more pleased. We tracked one tune at 15ips and one at 30 so I was able to experience the tape at both speeds which was nice as well. This was my first analog tracking session since last May but hopefully they will be more frequent in 2008."

Regards,

RUSS

ATR Magnetics Master Tape

"I just mixed my first album on the ATR 1? Master Tape and am absolutely thrilled as are my clients who have never experienced anything in audio that has them totally committed now (and as long as tape exits) to mixing to analog 1? for the rest of their career! The way this tape is so smooth and even throughout the entire frequency range is spectacular. I mixed this rock album at 15ips @ +3db/185nwbm and at the manufacturer's recommended 2.5db on the bias. This yielded an incredibly fast transient response, a clear and fully rounded bottom, pain free mid range with a sheen on top that sounded hand polished! It made the Pro Fools multitrack master actually pleasant to listen to at all levels.

The big speakers in the room I was mixing were the venerable URIE 813's with the yellow, green and red glowing light fuses that glow more brightly as you approach welding volume and I am happy to report that I was able to light up all three consistently, not the usual one at a time! (Note: these speakers were only turned on at the conclusion of the album so the band could ?feel it like a live show?! I do not mix or play back at masturbation level).

There was no abnormal tape shedding evident on the transport to speak of with this ATR Tape. Although the tape can take levels of +9, I choose the relatively conservative level of +3db/185 in order to allow its superb head room to absorb the +14 (and up) transient peaks that VU meters are incapable of registering and to enjoy zero ?print through'. This is especially important for extended storage of the masters. With the 1? format there is so much signal to noise that noise doesn't stand a chance anyway. By not running at super high levels you do not run the risk of overloading the electronics, a sound that a lot of engineers mistakenly interpret as ?tape compression?. Since I by pass the electronics with a special modification and record directly to the head stack, the input to the machine is almost 6db hotter anyway. (This is immediately evident during the alignment phase when you select the ?direct' input as opposed to ?normal input' on my machine). When used properly in this manner I find that tape in general, and ATR Tape specifically, really shines as the original ?soft compressor?.

As I listen back I get the sense of hearing the equivalent of the difference between seeing a film shot on 70mm IMAX film (1?) as compared to 35mm film (1/2?) as compared to 16mm film (1/4?) as compared to 8mm video tape (16/44.1 digital). I did not have the luxury on this project or budget to experiment with various speeds and bias settings at 30ips; however, I am anxiously looking forward to that in my next project coming up at the end of the January.

Stay tuned for more updates on those results. If you are a tape head like me, to hear ATR tape is to love it. If you are not, then this 360 degree ATR experience [ATR tape recorder with ATR tape] should certainly convert you!"

Blue Skies!  Ron Saint Germain

Hi Mike,

"Did some mixing to the new tape yesterday (15IPS 1/2-inch stereo NAB). It's phenomenal. Great job. Mechanically and sonically outstanding. It's so quiet: both mechanically running through the transport (so smooth and straight), and also with regards to the noise floor. The material I'm mixing gets extremely quiet and I can't hear any tape hiss at all in these sparse sections during playback. I'm looking forward to receiving many stereo masters here on the ATR tape."

Bob Weston

Chicago Mastering Service

Dear Mike,

"We have tried several tape formulas on our 1/2" ATR-102 mix-down deck in the past 6 months recording Edward Shape & The Magnetic Zeroes . After setting up (using the suggested settings) and running a few mixes, we are so pleased! We will be using only ATR magnetics tape for our final mixes. It has definately brought the best out of our machine. It is beautifully made and whispers very elegantly through the transport. It smells great too! The sound is just right- an ideal balance agility and presence with great width and plenty of magic. Our other tape formula options were leaving gunk on the heads, or just plain sounding small. Our mixes now feel optimized. Thank you for helping to keep our analog-ONLY operation so nicely equipped..."

Nico Aglietti

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes

In the photo is Nico, Aaron, and Edward at Woodrow Hideaway, Laurel Canyon, CA

"We just used ATR tape for the first time last week and we think it is amazing. We tracked an jazz trio to 8 track 1" at 15 ips and mixed down to 1/4" 15 ips - the clients and I both were blown away!"

Scott Bomar
Electraphonic Recording, Memphis, TN

?Hi Mike

"We didn't want to attach too much importance to those discussions on several message boards on the internet. So we built a sophisticated test setup and took our time to thoroughly analyze, measure and, of course, listen to what was going on with the tested tapes.

What we did is: We tried out different tapes on our two Studer A800 MKIII tape machines. Both machines were individual aligned to the tape manufacturers specs.

Kick, snare, heavy guitars and unmastered stereo mixes were recorded via bus routing simultaneously to both machines (15 ips, no dolby) and then listened to in what resembled an A/B blind test.

After extensive testing the ATR tapes won hands down. The solid basses and the fast transient responses are very convincing. Signals sound simply punchy and fat. The high parts sound silky and open, the stereo mixes stay compact and sound much more interesting than the original source. In really "hot" level the ATR tapes started to distort much later than other tapes.

They almost leave less traces on the running gear and heads and also smell pretty sweet ;-) We trust in ATR tapes 'cause they truly rock! We really look forward to track the next ATR analog session"

best regards, Ralph

ZündStoffStudio, Switzerland

"Hi Mike,

I just wanted to let you know that we used your 2" tape to record our new record. We recorded in Memphis and Chicago , the tape is awesome and we are very happy with the end result. We love the tape and we can't wait to get back in the studio to work on our next record. Long Live Analog!"

Aaron Lindstrom

The Pale Figures

www.thepalefigures.com

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Owner, the Omaha Recording Company)

(Enginer, Jordin Sparks/Zomba entertainment)

Hi guys,

"I finally finished a polished mix after a week long calibration and level matching of my new baby - Studer A80 1/2" tape recorder using the new ATR Master tape. You can check the result at the link below.

For HQ file, you'll need to download the .mov (AAC) to your HD first. LQ should play right away as MP3:

http://www.pavelwlosok.com/sonicadventures/samples/samples.html

You can also check the tape's noise between movements as I let it run through. I get about -65dB on digital scale without any Dolby used, which I believe is quite remarkable. Besides, I used this tape probably 30x during calibration process and it did not shed at all and always erased completely without leaving any audible artifacts. I must agree that it indeed surpasses GP9 (former Ampex 499)."

Pavel

Pavel Wlosok
Assistant Professor of Jazz
School of Music
253 Coulter Building
Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC 28723