It turns out that my school has a Studer A810 1/4 deck lying around. They mainly use it to transfer old reels of concerts to digital files, but otherwise, it just sits there. I've been entertaining going into the studio and making some basic, 2-track recordings with a few different groups just to get some experience working with a decent machine. I guess what I'm curious about is, what's the sound quality going to be like? I've always gathered that usually the thicker the tape, the better the sound. I've had stuff mixed down to 1/2 before for archival purposes which sounds great, but the most I've ever done with 1/4 is just make loops and things like that, where sound quality wasn't the utmost concern. I also know that I'd have to get my own tape for the machine. What would suit this kind of project better given that it wouldn't be a mix-down, but rather a straight up recording with no edits or anything else - EMTEC 900 or 911?

elisha wiesner wrote:A Studer A-810 is an excellent tape machine. You will have no issues at all using 1/4 tape on it if it is properly aligned. The sound quality will be fantastic at either 15 or 30 ips. I mix to an Ampex ATR-102 1/4 machine here and love it. four\_oclocker\_2 wrote:I also know that I'd have to get my own tape for the machine. What would suit this kind of project better given that it wouldn't be a mix-down, but rather a straight up recording with no edits or anything else - EMTEC 900 or 911? The correct answer is ATR Magnetics tape. If you don't know how to properly align the machine for your chosen tape formula, get someone there who knows to help you with it. You're basically wasting your time if you don't do this.Awesome. Thanks for the info!