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I'm very ignorant about this and I hope someone here can help me out.What is exactly the difference between 1/4, 1/2 and 2 inches tape? Besides the size of them, of course!I'd like to know what are their characteristics and how do you decide on which one to record on.Pro/cons all of that.Thanks!

The difference tends to be the type of machine they are used on.1/4" works(I believe) on stereo mixdown machines.1/2" works on a Tascam eight track(MSR8).2" works on some eight/sixteen/twenty four track multitrack machines.

There's no difference technically. The track format and tape speed is where the qualitative differences are. The wider the track width, the higher quality (or at least the potential of...). The technical specifications (specifically noise/dynamic range) are better on a 1/2 2-track than they are on a 1/4 2-track for example.1/4 and 1/2 are typically used for stereo master recording (final mix 2-track), and lo fi multi-tracking.1 and 2 tapes are used for more professional, hi fi multi-tracking (8, 16, 24-track).

Thanks for the reply, very informative.

estrangeddaughter wrote:Are there any machines you know of that offer 4 track on 1" or 2" tape?http://www.robstevensmusic.com/2011/02/studer-j37-four-track-tape-recorder.html