Technical info

Max The Tape Recorder's Ninth Album

More technical info

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.

	Track 1: "We're all A-One!" Tape: Capitol 1 - 60 - Normal Type 1 position tape Tape's state before recording: new Machine used: TEAC 238 Recording speed: 5.3 ips (Both of the machine's pitches at max) --- This tape was brand new unopened since 1970.
	Track 2: "Learn to learn" Tape: Scotch 111 (1200' 7" reel) Tape's state before recording: used Machine used: Fostex E-8 Recording speed: 30 ips --- This tape was not only previously used, but having acetate backing is one of those old tapes (from the 50s or 60s) that get all "fluffy" and have a hard time adhering to the heads. So I had to recaliber the machine and put more tension on the tape in order to record on it, and kiss goodbye the tracks that are on the very edges (tracks 1 and 8) because they were simply horrible, leaving only 6 tracks to use. :)
	Track 3: "Poor-minded people (hurting flowers) / Smif" Tape: Capitol Sound Tape (1800' 7" reel) - "In the beautiful box" Tape's state before recording: new Machine used: Fostex E-8 Recording speed: 30 ips --- I had some of these "beautiful box" tapes when I was a child and would often ask my mom "can I get a new one to record on?" seeing the unopened ones on the high shelves; I was basically recording my own mixes of 45 and 33 RPM records on them at the time. This one is brand new unopened since 1970. Though the box is the same as the ones I used as a child, the reel is a different one, maybe because this one's from the USA instead of Canada?
	Track 4: "Of, by & for (feat. Adam)" Tape: Scotch AV 176 (600' 5" reel) Tape's state before recording: new Machine used: Fostex E-8 Recording speed: 30 ips --- Good quality tape from the 70s.
	Track 5: "Sabotage" Tape: Supertape (1200' 7" reel) Tape's state before recording: new Machine used: Fostex E-8 Recording speed: 30 ips --- Even though this tape was brand new when I recorded on it it still comes from a bad batch; I used to have one as a child in the 70s from that batch: the tape has some enormous drop-outs problems, leaving some very small metallic particules stuck in the heads (which you can hear in the piece I recorded). Later on Radio-Shack corrected the problem and the tape was a fairly good quality one for the price I must say, but they were using the same shiny box, and as far as I know the bad batch only were the 1200' tapes, so if you see this one on eBay or something be careful. ;)
	Track 6: "Psy-ops idiocy" Tape: Pascal - 90 - Normal Type 1 position tape Tape's state before recording: used Machine used: TEAC 238 Recording speed: 5.3 ips --- This tape was sold in a very well known store in Montreal back in the 70s or 80s called "Pascal". The store doesn't exist anymore.
	Track 7: "Titles (let's go back to A) - Parts 1 through 9" Tape: TDK D - C180 - Normal Type 1 position tape Tape's state before recording: used Machine used: TEAC 238 Recording speed: 5.3 ips --- Now this tape is very rare and hard to find, and can go for over $100 on eBay sometimes: it's the first incarnation of what has become a collectible item today, and as far as I know there were only two different designs made in total (the other one from the mid 80s). TDK decided (probably in 1977 though its copyright is written 1973-1977) to produce a cassette where you would be able to record 180 minutes (90 minutes per side) in total at the normal speed of 1 1/7 ips. 120 minutes tapes already have very thin tape, so imagine this one! You can litterally see through the tape, it has very little oxyde on its surface making the output quite low and noisy, though using DBX makes things much better. And because the tape was so thin TDK invented a whole way of transporting the tape inside the cassette (as seen in one of the photos on the left). But also because the tape was so thin it had the tendency of getting "glued" or stuck on the pinch roller of the motor pin (which happened several times during the recording of this piece), damaging the tape and causing some drop-outs most of the time. But because I recorded at a much faster speed than the normal one most of the drop-outs are inaudible (most... ;) So all-in-all this tape was good to maybe record your university classes, but not to record something you would listen to often afterwards. Still it's a very special tape, and very saught after by cassette collectors.