07-18-2018, 01:25 PM
(07-17-2018, 11:55 PM)Nayrb Wrote: I was also somewhat surprised to discover that the Dolby system is essentially just a fine tuned LPF that cuts the highs out of specially mastered tapes for which those frequencies were boosted, thus bringing them back down to something more balanced and reducing the hiss.
Yeah, I've always figured it worked something like that, because a tape recorded with Dolby NR on would sound worse if you switched NR off, compared to a tape that didn't use NR at all. Also, turning NR on for a tape that wasn't recorded with it would make it sound very muffled.
(07-17-2018, 11:55 PM)Nayrb Wrote: Tapes were still the most cost effective method for sharing or recording one's self for me and my friends at the beginning of the 2000s, so I too recall their inferiority, and the way we pined for something better. I used to see destroyed tapes all over the side of the road as a kid. People's cars would chew them up and they'd end up getting ripped apart and tossed out the window in a fit of rage, I presume.
I also used tape up until mp3's became a common thing. I got my first mp3 player in 2001 (128MB, yay!) and after that I have never recorded anything to tape again. I have listened to tapes a few times over the years, but only for tracking down old demo recordings among a box full of unlabeled cassettes. Last time I tried my tape deck it was dead though -- the belts have probably disintegrated -- and it's been sitting in the basement ever since.
You're probably aware of it already, but Techmoan is a great YT channel for all things analog medium-related.