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Best way to archive 8 tracks?

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Posted on June 29, 2004 at 16:00:44
beefman
Audiophile

Posts: 360
Location: South Texas
Joined: June 16, 2004
I realize that 8-tracks are the absolute antithesis of high fidelity sound reproduction but I have no choice. I have around 30-40 cartridges of my grandfathers that I need to archive to CD. I can't account for his musical taste but I do know that as he ages, the ability to allow him to listen to his dearly loved recordings once again would do wonders for his state of mind. I've done some searching on the internet but haven't found a definitive 8 track resource on where to pick up a used machine, how to make sure I don't destroy the carts before I play them one last time, how to get the best performance from each cartridge, etc. This is truly a labor of love so... if someone could point me in the right direction I'd be happy to take it from there. I already have a CD recorder, all I need is to find the right deck and know what to do with the carts which have been sitting unused for probably going on 15 years now. I would gather that buying an old 8 track in a pawn shop and tossing one of the old carts in the deck is NOT a good way to start.

I'm competent enough to get the cover off a machine and align a tape head but beyond VERY rudimentary soldering (and bad soldering at that) I'm hopeless...

 

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Re: Best way to archive 8 tracks?, posted on June 29, 2004 at 21:24:25
Franksta
Audiophile

Posts: 522
Joined: August 8, 2002
First of all it is not going to be too hard to find an 8 track player. There are plenty on Ebay most any time. But, here's the thing....and this is based on old and new experience....there is no such thing as a reliable 8 track tape! I have a nice old Superscope player/recorder and it works fine. It is the inconsistency of the tapes that is so hard to deal with! They break easy! even when they were new they weren't reliable. They will drag, break at the splice where the foil sensor/splice tape is and the fidelity is usually bad! I'm afraid if you pursue your project you will be disappointed. I would suggest a possible different approach....Find out, if you can, what his absolute favorite tapes are. Then catalog those artists and songs for reference. Most all of those old 50's 60's and 70's artists' recordings are still available in places you may not expect. Even the older recordings that were available on those 8 tracks can still be found from other accessible and more reliable sources. If you have "high speeed internet" here is a suggestion --- Get the trial version of "Rhapsody" the music service available for download on the net or on a 3 month subscription disc for about $24 from Best Buy. I have the service and I am amazed at the selection of classic and older music they have. You can buy tracks for $.79 each or you can record the streams, edit them, and put them on CD. If you let me know you're interested in this approach I can let you know more about how to do it. Also if you let me know some of the artists, albums or songs involved I can let you know if any of them are available on Rhapsody. I just looked.... and as an example, there are 26 albums of Glenn Miller available, 9 from Doris Day, 23 Henry Mancini, 14 Chuck Berry, Etc. You see what I mean! This is good clean CD quality music. No clicks pops and such. There are 40,000+ albums! It is also an on demand source and you couldn't find that much music at your demand any other way in the world. This is just a suggestion-it's the same music and you can still keep the tapes for nostalgia. Good Luck! Franksta

 

I wish it was that easy., posted on June 30, 2004 at 06:25:13
beefman
Audiophile

Posts: 360
Location: South Texas
Joined: June 16, 2004
*SIGH* The problem is that my grandfather loves to listen to klezmer music that I can't find. I wish I knew where he obtained these recordings... I've found others but he's very particular. Part of the problem is that these tapes seem to be 'compilations' so to speak, with no artist information so to speak. So if you have any tips on getting one last play out of the things, please let me know. THANK you!

 

Re: Best way to archive 8 tracks?, posted on June 30, 2004 at 08:34:29
I hate to be the one to tell you the easy way but maybe the expensive way, but I would look on the Reel to Reel forum (Yahoo) and see if anyone there would do the transfer for you. Some of the guys there are involved with using a reel machine 1/4" tape 8 track heads like a Fostex that would have supperior performance to an actual 8 track deck and then they could extract the signal much better through this method. I have seen discussions but am not sure which guys have actually done this- some of them are retired so time or the lack of it will not be too much a factor. I could do the job for you IF I had a 8 track 1/4" unit but that is one of the formats I do not have or want. I did had an 8 track player/recorder but it was sold many years ago. If you do get one somewhere, I would make sure the heads are not worn out and that the mechanics are in shape- oil in the motor bearings and capstan Shaft is not glazed- correctable by sand paper for this purpose. Then give a tape a try. If the tapes are old they may come apart- that is not the end of all things- all you need to do is get a 1/4" spalicing block and a bit of splicing tape as well as the metal sensor tape- I have custom cut hundreds of tapes and repaired just as many. The big thing is that you want to get tapes that are NOT sonically welded together as these will be a pain to deal with. The ones I used and fixed either snapped together/apart with plastic tabs or there was a screw under the label. E mail me if you need more instructions.

Sam

 

Re: Best way to archive 8 tracks?, posted on June 30, 2004 at 10:37:49
dhorndt


 
I have an good 8-track player you can uses to try an make this happen. I have done this to reel to reel but not cd's and I was very
happy with it.

You can contant me at ranne103@earthlink.net

 

won't work, posted on June 30, 2004 at 11:37:32
rrikola@hotmail.com
Audiophile

Posts: 646
Location: Southern California
Joined: June 30, 2003
Sorry to tell you but this won't work, 1/4 inch 8 tracks like the fostex opperate at 71/2 or 15 ips. A 8 track tape moves at 3 3/4 ips. The only way to do it is to play it back at 2x speed on the 8 track r to r and record it to another r to r at 7 1/2 ips and play it back at 3 3/4. Easer to get an 8 track on e bay Good luck Bob

 

Re: I wish it was that easy., posted on July 2, 2004 at 10:03:58
Marty
Audiophile

Posts: 55
Joined: January 4, 2001
Check out 8TrackHeaven. You'll probably need to deal with cart problems mentioned previously. They have plenty of tips.

 

Here's what I've done..., posted on July 7, 2004 at 09:40:14
soundnut
Audiophile

Posts: 3920
Location: Iowa
Joined: May 7, 2004
Hi.

I have a basic but good (as good as 8 track gets anyway) Sony player. Before dubbing them off, make sure the heads are clean, pop the cover of the deck off and trial-play a bit of the 8-track. align the head so it sounds best with that particular tape. Unfortunately, you'll probably have to do that with every single tape you put thru it though. That's because as another poster stated, 8 track tapes themselves are basically crap. There were huge mechanical quality differences between shells, and that coupled with the narrow track width of the tape and the fact that your pinch roller is a part of the cartridge itself, caused some monster alignment problems. You can usually get passable results if you tweak the heads on a tape-by-tape basis. I've had variable luck with this method, but it's a much better approach than just popping the tape in & hoping it sounds ok. Good luck & hope it works out well for you.

Bobbo :-)

 

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