Home Tape Trail

Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats.

Bias is a recording issue..not a playback issue....

Bias is only applied in the recording process. Playback is never adjusted as to bias. As to EQ most pre-recorded reel to reel tapes in the USA are NAB. Most European tapes are CCIR. Nagra has a unique equalization scheme but hardly no pre-recorded tapes were made with it. It was used primarily with film sound on location with Nagra recorders. As to tape formulation, every company had their own "deal". Ampex used AMPEX tape. Capital used AUDIOTAPE. Many companies were into making audio tape in the 50-80s; Irish became Ampex, Kodak made tape for a short time and then the European companies Agfa and Basf. Basf sold a lot of cassette tape. Most studio mastering was done on Scotch 111 until about 1967 then back coated tape came in with "low-noise" 202, 206. Ampex with 406 then 456. Bias was set to 0db and not overbiased until the "low-noise" tapes with finer oxide and higher coercivity demanded a slight overbias by about .5 to 1 db. Ray
"I take you as you are
And make of you what I will,
Skunk-bear, carcajou, bloodthirsty
Non-survivor.
Lord, let me die but not die out." THE LAST WOLVERINE by James Dickey


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