Looking for a good home: Opera Collection from 60s and 70s

[GRC]

I'm sure you can find online guidance on how to clean it. Honestly, it's not rocket science.

Essentially, head cleaning fluid on a Q-tip, applied to certain strategic areas (not the rubber pinch wheel - there's special cleaner for that)

Again, ask here if you want some guidance. Don't just send it to a local dealer without any indication that they specialise in open-reel or have some credentials that they've dealt with servicing them before.

When you power the deck up for the first time, run it for a bit without a tape in place. Select fast forward, rewind a few times. Select Play. Clean it thoroughly first, and frequently. I'll post more later.

[Mr.myxlpyxl]

perhaps you can get in touch with this guy http://www.goodsoundclub.com/ It would definitely be a good home for them

[GRC]

Originally Posted by Mr.myxlpyxl

perhaps you can get in touch with this guy http://www.goodsoundclub.com/ It would definitely be a good home for them

From the site manifesto, it appears the owner is a Software Engineer with a weird rag-bag of kit festooned with cuddly toys.

http://www.goodsoundclub.com/Playback/MyPlayback.aspx

Why him?

[tped]

I'm back .... It was a busy winter

Here's an update ... I brought the following home during our last visit
- The Deck: an AKAI 4000db
- one box of tapes (approx 50), according to tape #'s there are probably >300 total
- Index Cards - two recipe boxes (packed), one indexed by opera, the other by performer

Other observations
- no obvious indication of recording speed
- all appear to be on 7" reels - either 3600 or 2400 ft tapes (RCA, Scotch, 3M and Memorex in sample box).
- Tape labels or indexes card do seem to note Stereo recordings.
- Some tape boxes contain clippings from opera news or high fidelity magazine describing the recording (e.g. Article from 1975 Hi-Fi magazine that describes a 1960 RCA recording of Leonard Warren as Rigoletto).

I guess I'd like to first sample the tapes to make sure they're ok - perhaps convert one to wav file or something - as sanity check before I do too much transcribing of index cards.

Can someone direct me on testing/using AKAI deck and building a contraption to capture to PC, including recommended file format - wav? I have ability to capture from RCA Jacks - but not sure about the deck set up - e.g. amp and such.

[co9ol]

As to how to use it, you'll have to ask someone here that has a reel to reel. But as to "building a contraption to capture to PC" that's not really something you can build. You'll have to A: buy an audio card for a desktop computer that'll allow for high quality audio, B: buy an external device that will allow the same thing, or C: get someone you know to do it for you or borrow their equipment.

Basically you want something that will convert the analogue audio to digital with out making it sound different.

PS i looked up AKAI deck's and noticed some models had Dolby B noise reduction. If your deck has that, check to see if the tapes have any indication that it was used. If it was, flip it back on for playback and the signal should sound less noisy.

[GRC]

The 4000DB is essentially the same as the 4000DS that I have a couple of rooms away.

It was a two-speed machine, 3.75 and 7.5 inches per second. Speed change is achieved by placing an outer sleeve on, or removing from the capstan. It's a four-track machine, so you could find the tapes recorded with an A and B side.

Line output should be two L/R RCA sockets. Connect these to the Line In on your PC or recording device. If you want to make a project out of it, can I suggest a different approach to recording to PC might be to invest in a professional Hard-disk/CDR Recorder such as an Alesis Masterlink, or similar Tascam machine?

If you need to know anything about the machine, please ask