Letter from Nudo to Russ Forster

After director Russ Forster asked Nudo to stop bootlegging his tapes,
here's the letter that Nudo send back in reply (Russ sent this to me,
asked me to share it with you guys):

Russ,

There is no profit in the movie tape. After ebay listing/commission
fees,
paypal fees, USPS shipping costs, and the tape and time, that is
basically
grattice to other trackers.

The movie is considered out of print- it is not available anymore
commercially, anywhere- to my knowledge. I tried to find it. I ordered
a
copy from Amazon.com, waited for 2 months, got nothing, then had to
work
hard to get my money refunded. It ended up, I had to get my credit
card to
backcharge to get a refund.

Just trying to get the movie message out to other trackers. I could
not pay
a 15 minute Friday night bar tab on the so-called "profits" of that
movie.
There is none.

If you want the movie and its message to die out, that's ok with me.
But be
aware you are being influenced by a group of 8-track businessmen who
sell
pads, tapes, sensing foil, splicing tape, tape cases, 8-track
memorabilia,
etc. They have a chokehold on the hobby and don't allow any new blood-
they stymie any new ideas. They are the "anal collector boys club"
types
you have spoken of. And they are jealously defending their market
share,
and using you to do their dirty work for them.

These same guys actually make fun of your movie- and toss stones at it
and
the people in it. To be honest Russ, they aren't very cool people, and
they
don't like you either. But now they will use you as a tool to cause
trouble
on the net, and Ebay.

Tell me you don't recognize these names- Dan Gibson, Paul Evans, John
Winnard. No doubt one of them emailed you. These guys would go bananas
if
someone played a 90 minute Scotch blank tape without a label. Recently
their
world has been rocked by a quad blank that sold for $127 on ebay. So
all
their so-called "valuable" vintage 8-track quads, have been devalued
greatly. By contrast, that same seller only got $62 for a real Pink
Floyd
Wish you were Here quad.

Here are the auctions.

The Archies quad blank that sold for $127- this is a home made tape.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=403195958 3

And now a real Pink Floyd quad tape

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=403173259 7


And most "real" quads now sell for less than $20. Yet a home made tape
sells for $127.

This is what the purists just can't stand. Their so-called "valuable"
collections, being devalued.

This is what led to all this commotion- believe it or not. They can't
seem
to handle the fact, that people want NEW tapes already, not the old,
rare,
hard to get tapes that they have jealousy hoarded and want $500 each
for.
Yes, these same guys that contacted you- they sell their quad tapes
for $500
each through word of mouth.

So if some old timer will do a transfer from LP to 8-track for them,
is that
some heinous crime ?? Russ, I've been into 8-tracks heavy since 1976,
I'm 42
years old. Guys like me have been home recording for 30 years now.
Back in
the 1970's, one guy would buy an LP, we'd all make an 8-track copy.
Like,
what's the problem now ?

Malcolm Riviera has always stayed out of this, but has recently tossed
his
lot in with this gang as well. He attacked me for making "fake"
8-tracks. I
had to remind him, he gladly bought a dubbed Nirvana 8-track tape from
me
for $3, and was happy to get it- and he was well aware it was a dub
too.

Do you see the contradictions there ??

Just want you to be aware of it. I actually thought you wouldn't mind
having your movie on ebay based on the positive attitude you always
had-by
what I've read and heard, you kind of gave up on 8-tracking back in
2000.

I didn't think you'd even care now- honestly. It seemed you were done
with
tracking to me.

I guess I was wrong.

By stopping that movie auction, these guys are not hurting me at all-
like I
said there is no profit lost, as their is not profit TO lose there.
Would
you sit and make a recording for me for 2 hours, for $2 ?? Who this
really
hurts, is all the trackers out there who love that movie, and want a
copy-
and can't find it anywhere. You need to be reminded of that.

ps- I didn't give up on 8-tracks. I've been listening to them long
before
you did, and still am. There's no need to get volatile in your emails-
I've
traded letters with you often. You know me better than that.

Charlie

Letter from Nudo to Russ Forster

Group: alt.collecting.8-track-tapes Date: Mon, Sep 6, 2004, 12:39pm
(EDT-3) From: (Malco=A0the=A0Terrible)
After director Russ Forster asked Nudo to stop bootlegging his tapes,
here's the letter that Nudo send back in reply (Russ sent this to me,
asked me to share it with you guys):
Russ,
There is no profit in the movie tape. After ebay listing/commission
fees,
paypal fees, USPS shipping costs, and the tape and time, that is
basically
grattice to other trackers.

//////
I believe the word is 'gratis' and no, claiming typo won't work.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Russel Forster"
Sent: Monday, September 06, 2004 11:23 AM
Subject: Out of Print

Dear Charlie,

SO WRONG THEY'RE RIGHT is still available on quality VHS copies directly
from me via the 8-Track Heaven website, so it is not "out of print" as you
assert. I will contact Amazon to have it removed from their catalog so
there will be less confusion as to this issue. Further, I'm planning a DVD
release of the film next year.

If you want to copy my film and sell it, you will have to get an agreement in writing from me. This is standard business practice, and really wouldn't cost you that much to do.

Sincerely,
Russ Forster

----- Original Message -----
From: "Russel Forster"
Sent: Monday, September 06, 2004 11:23 AM
Subject: Out of Print

Dear Charlie,

SO WRONG THEY'RE RIGHT is still available on quality VHS copies directly
from me via the 8-Track Heaven website, so it is not "out of print" as you
assert. I will contact Amazon to have it removed from their catalog so
there will be less confusion as to this issue. Further, I'm planning a DVD
release of the film next year.

If you want to copy my film and sell it, you will have to get an agreement in writing from me. This is standard business practice, and really wouldn't cost you that much to do.

Sincerely,
Russ Forster

Maybe a new documentary could be made about Charlie--'So Wrong He's Wrong'.
later, ron

On 07 Sep 2004 11:29:24 GMT, (DOGGIE104) wrote:

Maybe a new documentary could be made about Charlie--'So Wrong He's Wrong'.
later, ron

Check out sleazeBay sometime. This Nudo character's not only stealing
Forster's flick, but he's selling dubs of dubs of Audiotex 8 track
alignment carts! Of course, a dub of any alignment tape is useless,
but he's selling them like hotcakes...until he ran into a buzzsaw
named me.

Evidently, this Nudo character is a bottomfeeder, copying, stealing
and ripping off whomever/whatever he pleases. I've put the kybosh on
his phoney alignment tape scams for now, though, and have wised up
many prospective buyers. The problem here is that sleazeBay provides
a worldwide pool of suckers who can be easily conned, and he's conning
them! Also look for bogus cassette alignment tapes from the same guy.
SleazeBay ID is 66fourdoor...check him out.

dB

The Audiotex alignment cart is not copyrighted, is therefore in the
public domain, and anyone can dub it and copy it. The Audiotex Company
is defunct and no longer in business.

I am not selling copies of Russ Forster's movie. The movie was out of
print for a short time- I was informed that he intends to re-release
it in DVD. So line up and get your DVD copies for $20 each then.

After investigating the matter via phone calls and email with the
Copyright Office, I also found out Russ Forster never registered his
movie with the US Copyright Office. The DVD version of the movie,
that came free with "Movies" magazine, is not marked with the
copyright mark or copyright holder's name- which is required by law-
so any copying of the DVD is considered innocent infringement. Not an
issue anyway, as I'm not dubbing or selling the movie.

Your charges are unfounded and not supported by any facts.

The Audiotex alignment cart is not copyrighted, is therefore in the
public domain, and anyone can dub it and copy it. The Audiotex Company
is defunct and no longer in business.


Regardless of whether that's correct or not, a dub of an alignment tape is only
as good as the machine it was dubbed from and onto, which adds too many
question marks for the dub to be reliable. I don't care how good you are or
aren't, it's not the factory-spec tape in the end.

--Bob Farace

"I only believe in fire." --Anais Nin

Regardless of whether that's correct or not, a dub of an alignment tape is only
as good as the machine it was dubbed from and onto, which adds too many
question marks for the dub to be reliable. I don't care how good you are or
aren't, it's not the factory-spec tape in the end.

--Bob Farace


As usual, you're WRONG, AGAIN !! Take a factory alignment tape, align
one recording deck. Then align a second recording deck using the same
tape. Now both decks are properly aligned to the alignment tape. Any
dubbing done from one deck to the other will be dead nuts on for
tracking- as you are using (2) aligned decks.

So music tapes, or alignment tapes, whatever you dub, will be correct
for tracking.

How do you think the record companies did it back in the day ?? They
made alignment tapes the same way.

Why do you think some carts are so far off for track assignments ??
The slave decks went out of adjustment over time, and if not aligned
made tapes that were mis-tracked.

Every 8-track deck should be aligned at least a few times yearly, or
at least checked. The channel switch mechanism & cam wears- and
changes the alignment over time.

I have a factory Lou Reed Rock and Roll Animal tape, that is off by a
mile, plays 2 songs simultaneously, on any deck you try it in. The
slave deck at the factory was out of adjustment that made that tape.

On 5 Oct 2004 14:02:30 -0700,
(trippin28track) wrote:

As usual, you're WRONG, AGAIN !! Take a factory alignment tape, align
one recording deck. Then align a second recording deck using the same
tape. Now both decks are properly aligned to the alignment tape. Any
dubbing done from one deck to the other will be dead nuts on for
tracking- as you are using (2) aligned decks. snip

What a dumbass. Mass produced record heads had a problem with "gap
scatter" and "gap tilt". On big multitrack machines in the studio,
"gap scatter" could really screw up a mix if you weren't watching for
it. "Scatter" is where the gaps of the various tracks do not line up
with each other, if you were to look at a straight line drawn exactly
perpendicular to the longitude of the tape. "Tilt" has to do with the
various gaps having a difference in azimuth from each other, and thus,
when one gap is exactly perpendicular, the other obviously isn't.
Anyone who's properly lined up a cassette deck with 15 KHz knows this
phenomena all too well; at best, the most you can usually do is "split
the difference" between the two gap azimuths. The same goes for
scatter, which causes phase incoherency at high frequency, which makes
those cymbals to come from both channels out of phase rather than
right in the middle, where the mixmeister might have put them.

Also to torpedo Nudo's (66fourdoor's, coolsitesandsounds') ignorant
protestation is the problem of generational loss and inherent
non-linearity. There is NO SUCH THING as a linear analog
recorder...ever. What a REAL alignment tape does is provide various
tones are various frequencies at a CALIBRATED fluxivity. On 8 track,
0 VU usually equals 185 nW/M, early cassetts were lower at 165, and
modern cassettes are much hotter at 250 nW/M. A test tone at a given
fluxivity is used to "zero out" the VU meters. Then, usually, a freq
run is made at 10 or 20 dB down from that to give an indication of the
quality of the playback head, check the equalization curve, and so on.
Simply running off a dub of any alignment tape gives you a picture of
just HOW non-linear each machine is, and is utterly USELESS for doing
any sort of alignment or testing work...PERIOD. Later cart and
cassettes also included a Dolby "B" calibration tone, usually 400 Hz
at a specific fluxivity, for which to calibrate the Dolby decoding
circuit. Dolby mistracking (oft times set that way by the factory) is
a major reason many felt that Dolby "B" sounded "dull". If set
properly, there's no such problem...the problem is setting it
PROPERLY.

So music tapes, or alignment tapes, whatever you dub, will be correct
for tracking. snip

Horse ****, for obvious reasons stated above.

How do you think the record companies did it back in the day ?? They
made alignment tapes the same way. snip

MORE horse ****. Anyone who worked at a dupe plant KNOWS they got
their alignment tapes from Ampex, Nortronics, MRL, or some other
source that could provide laboratory-grade tapes. Most techs WOULD
dub off a copy of the azimuth tone to prevent excessive wear on the
expensive alignment tapes FOR THAT MACHINE ONLY, and, if he was
careful enough, could also record a calibrated reference level
tone...FOR THAT MACHINE ONLY. These would be used as "running checks"
between major alignment services, but would be USELESS from one
machine to another. Also, when doing so on a multitracker, a
technician had to usually "fudge" the record head for each track to
try to provide as perpendicular a line of flux as possible...something
generally considered not worth the effort. What I used to do in such
cases would be to run off a test tone tape, mark the mean deviation
from reference of each frequency, and then mark down the deviation (if
any) from reference that the alignment tone would be, usually 15 KHz.
If something didn't repeat those results on a later playback, it would
be time to get out the REAL alignment tape and do some tests.

Why do you think some carts are so far off for track assignments ??
The slave decks went out of adjustment over time, and if not aligned
made tapes that were mis-tracked. snip

True, to a point. Many dupe plants would run machines as long as
possible between alignment runs, to increase profits, of course.
Quality conscious labels (of which there really were few regarding 8
track) would specify no more than so many runs before running at least
an azimuth and track check. Usually, the "dirtbag" tapes people find
today, including boots and other trash, were duped by fly-by-nighters
(people sort of like Nudo, here) who didn't know much about tape
machine maintenance, and didn't care. Head wear was another big
problem with high speed cart and cassette dupe machines, again with
the purchasing label usually making minimum specifications as to just
how far out of whack frequency response could be before rejecting a
lot. In later years, hardly any QC would be done by the labels, save
for the jazz labels, and, remarkably, CBS. A lot of good it did for
Columbia collectors today; Colubmia's cheap "orange" carts are some of
the worst when it comes to flutter.

Every 8-track deck should be aligned at least a few times yearly, or
at least checked. The channel switch mechanism & cam wears- and
changes the alignment over time. snip

More horse ****. If it's all properly set up, setscrews held with
Glyptol or even nail enamel, there's no reason for anyone to have to
realign an 8 track head any more than once a year, if that, unless the
deck is in use all the time.

I have a factory Lou Reed Rock and Roll Animal tape, that is off by a
mile, plays 2 songs simultaneously, on any deck you try it in. The
slave deck at the factory was out of adjustment that made that tape. snip

Just MAYBE it's those idiotic "aquarium filter" PADS you've been
hawking over on sleazeBay! Proper pressure pad tension AND size are
essential for proper tracking. I've seen the Win-Gib stuff, and noted
there were problems with them as far as being cut both too narrow and
in a wedge shape, and the maker remarked that he probably needed to
redo his tooling and offered to make up any pads that weren't properly
cut...the mark of a trustworthy businessman. Ideally, the backing on
the open cell foam pads should extend about 1 mm beyond the edges of
the tape to ensure proper contact of tracks 1 and 8, and to prevent
"slither" when the head does its up and down movement, one of the
worst features of the multitrack cartridge format. Running a foam pad
with NO backing is stupidity. It just scrapes the graphite
impregnated backing off the tape, and the excess friction causes
mistracking. Of course, the BEST pads were the metal/felt assemblies
seen on various higher-end carts. Foam was used for the same reason
the labels cut songs (of SOME artists, NEVER others) in half in the
middle...PROFIT.

Again, Nudo doesn't know WTF he's talking about and is out to make
whatever money he can off of suckers. I'd recommend avoiding anything
he sells by a mile.

dB