Anyone has just gotta laugh at Dan's tips for recording, and how R.
Cikovic went through them point by point, disproving practically all
of them. Documented evidence, that Danny G. is a wannabee tracking
nerd ! Check it out, especially the TR-803 remarks, Radio Shack tapes
point (Danny Geek was obviously their best customer), and the "remove
the tape from the last track" statement. My gosh, Dan really has no
clue ! (chuckle)




From: robert cikovic )
Subject: Dan's Rules for Recording 8-Tracks
View: Complete Thread (6 articles)
Original Format
Newsgroups: alt.collecting.8-track-tapes
Date: 2000/09/21


"Daniel Gibson" wrote in message
...
Here is my strategy for getting the most out of an 8-track recording.

1. Use only the best possible low mileage blanks. Memorex and TDK are
superior in this respect. The RS Super tapes are not too bad either.
Avod Ampex blanks. I have had the coating come off all over the head of
my recorder. Ampex used to have major problems with their tape, so keep
an eye on all Ampex carts.

the problem with the realistic supertape carts is that i found a
majority of
them flake off the back coating as well as their lubricant dries out.
they
start to "tighten up" after a few plays. i also found them to get
theirselves "bound up", especially when used in the car.
i found that the best carts i have ever used was the "scotch
dynarange"
carts, they had the best frequency response & they were really rugged.
i
have more of those in my car than any others. these are ones that i
recorded
years ago.
i really havent had much problems with ampex carts, i like to use the
older
ampex carts with the "brown" colored tape. they too, sound very good.

2. Get a decent recorder. The best I have ever used (and I have used a
bunch) is the RS TR-803. Dolby, Eject on all 4 tracks, pause, meters,
and excellent sound. I have an Akai recorder, and I have had a
Wollensak, and neither of them were as good as the RS. The circuitry in
the TR-803 is more modern, and the components are not as aged.
Panasonics are iffy, and my old Magnavox recorded well, but no pause.

the problem with the realistic TR-3 is that it is also a cheaply made
unit.
it is prone to problems like the plastic head mount breaking, tape
counter
faiure, motor failure. i have seen a lot of this with that model,
however,
the TR-801 is the best recorder that i have seen come from radio
shack,
however, the best recorder to date as far as build quality & sound is
the
craig/pioneer model 3302.

3. Get a bulk tape eraser. 'Nuf said!

4. Plan ahead, and break up the tracks so that you do not have a
kerchunk in the middle of the track. Might as well do it right, and make
all four programs close to the same length.

the one thing nice about the tape counters on the decks is that they
were
pretty accurate. you could tell by the elapsed time on the counter
when to
"fade out" before the track change.
realistic recorders had a really neat feature, the counter would reset
on
each track change.

5. After all the tracks are recorded, open the cart up, and remove the
blank tape left over. Much better if you do not have 3 minutes of
silence after a program!

the problem with that is that if you do that after you recorded all of
the
other tracks, is when you remove that extra tape, you will remove
parts of
the programs on the previous tracks.
what you got to do is figure the total time of the source LP, tape,
E.T.C &
divide that into 4 (this is before you do any recording). than use the
time
from one of the quarters that you divided, take that figure & use it
to
figure the time of one track. example= 45 div by 4= 11.25. that would
be the
ammount of time on that one track. most albums have somewhere between
32 to
41 miniutes total programming, so it would require around 8 to 10.5
miniutes
each channel plus adding a additional 40 seconds for the breaks
between
selections.
there is a mathematical formula to use if you want to do this with
proffessional quality.

6. Use my template for a nice finishing touch!

it would be nice if it worked with corel suite8

Hope this helps.
Dan
--
Daniel and Kathy Gibson
http://www.flash.net/~dkgibson
"Kate's Track Shack - Home of the 75 cent 8-track!!"