Author: Dave Denyer

David Denyer PR & the reel-to-reel rambler

New from Analogue Productions: John Coltrane’s ‘Love Supreme’ and ‘Ballads’ on tape

January 19, 2022

You may be way ahead of me here, but I just made a very cool discovery – purely by accident while watching a couple of YouTube videos! The first one was the livestream event hosted by Analog Planet below, in which Michael Fremer and Mike Esposito duke it out on the subject of vinyl, specifically lacquer longevity. … More New from Analogue Productions: John Coltrane’s ‘Love Supreme’ and ‘Ballads’ on tape

Another tape vs. vinyl experiment: in which I enlist the ears of a friend to see if she’s as bowled over as I am by The Band’s ‘Stage Fright’ from The Tape Project

December 21, 2021

You might be wondering why there hasn’t been a review of anything from The Tape Project here so far, given that they were arguably the first label to start issuing classic albums on tape and should probably be credited with playing a key role in the R2R revival. Well, it’s not for want of being … More Another tape vs. vinyl experiment: in which I enlist the ears of a friend to see if she’s as bowled over as I am by The Band’s ‘Stage Fright’ from The Tape Project

Analog Audio Design now taking orders for new TP-1000 tape deck

December 1, 2021

Back in the summer we got wind of another brand new tape deck on the way, from French company Analog Audio Design. In an earlier blog in August I promised to find out more and report back. So, here we go… a Q&A with founder and designer Christophe Martinez, perfectly timed to coincide with the … More Analog Audio Design now taking orders for new TP-1000 tape deck

Back in the day: Ken Kessler continues to mull over the history of pre-recorded tapes

November 19, 2021

There’s a history lesson in music, sociology and economics in open-reel tape. Ken Kessler takes us on a tour. Musing about reel-to-reel users of the Golden Age of Pre-Recorded Tapes, based on the evidence provided by the 2,200+ tapes I’ve acquired, I stand confused. The dichotomy between skilled enthusiasts and clumsy oafs is, I suppose, … More Back in the day: Ken Kessler continues to mull over the history of pre-recorded tapes

The price of decks, Dark Side of the Moon and pirates: talking tape with Russia’s Stereo.ru

October 28, 2021

As part of my recent virtual visit to Smart Audio Recording Lab in Kirov, Russia, I also ‘met’ (virtually) with Dmitry Alexandrov who blogs for the Russian website http://www.stereo.ru. Dmitry, who in ‘normal life’ (as he puts it) is an architect, wanted to put a few R2R questions my way and of course I was … More The price of decks, Dark Side of the Moon and pirates: talking tape with Russia’s Stereo.ru

New titles from Horch House – and a special offer on shipping (but be quick!)

October 22, 2021

One of the first master tape copies I ever bought was Bert Kaempfert’s A Swingin’ Safari from Horch House, which I blogged about way back in December 2015. “The album was known in America by the title of the second track, ‘That Happy Feeling’ – which is precisely what it delivers,” I wrote. The other … More New titles from Horch House – and a special offer on shipping (but be quick!)

Those Studer battery blues: Neville Roberts saves his beloved deck with a chip, a board and little help from his friends

October 13, 2021

This is a tale of how a relatively simply upgrade to Neville Roberts’ Studer A810 turned into a major problem, and how it led him to find a company that specialises in Studer MPU boards – solving all his issues! Over to Neville… While scanning interesting pages on eBay recently (as we do!), I happened to … More Those Studer battery blues: Neville Roberts saves his beloved deck with a chip, a board and little help from his friends

A virtual visit to Smart Audio Recording Lab in Kirov, Russia

October 7, 2021

Smart Audio Recording Lab is a custom-designed recording studio that also operates as a tape label, releasing its own recordings as master tape copies. It’s run by father and son team Mikhail Mamonov and Artem Suntsov, who designed and built the studio from scratch in 2018. These guys are clearly passionate about what they do, … More A virtual visit to Smart Audio Recording Lab in Kirov, Russia

Magnetic tape: the format of choice for world-leading scientists!

September 13, 2021

A bit of a side-ramble here, triggered by an article in The New Scientist magazine that caught my attention. The headline was ‘Large Hadron Collider sticks with reels of tape for vast storage needs’ and I thought, woah, hang on a minute, are they seriously suggesting that the immense volumes of data generated by one … More Magnetic tape: the format of choice for world-leading scientists!