REWIRE YOURSELF
As much as most people understand that their cassette or reel to reel tape recorders will record as well as playback, it seems they have a lot more trouble making recordings than just pushing the “play” button. Often the tape machine is blamed; after all, the machine plays back pre-recorded tapes great, but original recordings don’t play back that well.
REWIRE YOURSELF
MIKE TO MOUTH RESUSCITATION
by Richard Robinson
As much as most people understand that their cassette or reel to reel tape recorders will record as well as playback, it seems they have a lot more trouble making recordings than just pushing the “play” button. Often the tape machine is blamed; after all, the machine plays back pre-recorded tapes great, but original recordings don’t play back that well. The truth is, most machine owners have very little idea of how to record properly, being victims of the illusion rather than manipulators.
It isn’t all that difficult to make a proper recording with just about any tape machine, if you , understand how it’s done. This “understanding” isn’t particularly technical, having more to do with the microphone than with the machine’s internal electronics. Of course, it helps to use good tape, clean the machine’s record head, and watch the level controls to avoid distortion. But the big problem most home recordists have is what is generally referred to as “microphone technique.”