Using VHS videotape stock for audio recording

Beyond the quest for analog half-generations, I had one buddy that did the whole PCM digital thing. The boatload of gear that he hauled into Dead shows (as an audience member) was insane.

 

D'oh! I actually used the VCR as the mixdown deck (from a Yamaha 8-Track recorder). I used a Technics DCC deck to create a digital master.

 

I had a JVC that was one of the first VHS Hi-Fi decks. It had manual sliders for the audio and a switch for AVC/Manual. So there were at least some decks where you could switch automatic volume control off and use faders. I loved that machine--paid $800 for it mid-1980s! It lasted forever, thousands of hours' viewing and listening time.

As far as repurposing VHS tape for audio use, I'd be wary about the type and minimal use of lubricants. I do believe that very little lube was used to avoid clogging video heads. The heads flew fast so that significant lube wasn't needed to prevent wear or stiction. In audio use, you may find that the tape "squeals" across the heads after only very minimal use or perhaps right away. That, plus the super-thin nature of it, would seem to be good reasons to avoid it. I realize it is attractively cheap--though you'd have to splice a good bit together to fill a full reel and get any sort of record time at 15ips. You could try it as a brief experiment, but I wouldn't risk the head wear by using it for long in a standard R-R transport.

 

I can't believe I never saw this gadget before. Awesome!

Back in the '80s I thought Sony missed a good opportunity to further establish their 8mm video format - they should have also marketed it as a digital-audio format with the ability to record PCM and decks designed for use in stereo systems and car and portable models. But by that point they'd bought a record label, which proceeded to f the whole company up.

 

i *knew* this thing would kill the record industry. just look at that tape label.

 

I sooooooo wanted one of these back in the day.

 

There must be many early Alesis ADAT studio machines from back in the day available today for cheap (made obsolete by hard disks) - you can record 8 tracks digital on SVHS tape. Whether SVHS tape is still available, I don't know...

 

Only new old stock. The Alesis decks were terribly unreliable, and the original company went bankrupt. I think the DA88 decks (competing 8-track digital recorders using Hi8 tape) were much more reliable, and were used for more than a decade on every sitcom I can think of that was shot in LA. Those were good machines for their time. Eventually, everything went to optical media, mostly DVD-RAM, and I know a handful of sitcoms still recording in that format.

 

I had a Toshiba VHS deck from the late 80s that had a built in PCM converter. I used it for archiving music but once in a while you'd get static clicks with dropouts in the tape and I think it was only 14bit. Sounded pretty decent for what it was though. Certainly better than VHS hifi.

 

Ahh..the Hitachi 1000. My very first CD player. A thousand bucks! A very happy day when I got that. Have no idea what happened to it now!

 

I still use an SVHS machine in the back room to play recorded music. It sounds bloody great through my vintage Panasonic SX950.

 

Here's an experiment I saw online a while ago which may interest you



The tape used was that of a 1" c-type video recorder. The audio track is being played back on here. I have no idea how well the studer would bias to the tape, and I have no idea how similar this video tape formulation is to that found in VHS shells.

 

I have a special nostalgia for the ADATs, I guess because I recorded on one (as a bass player) way back in 93. A friend had just opened a studio and he advertised it as "fully digital", so I would get to record "fully digitally" The ADATs behind the control room window looked like something out of a SF film to me. Funny he never had issues with them, but did have problems with the "fully digital" mixdown deck - which was a first gen DAT...errors, constant head cleaning etc. I think he eventually replaced it with a standard old fashioned 1/4" analog tape machine and was way happier.

 

I used to like Maxell Gold Hi Fi at SP mode.

 

I had a Scott VHS Hi Fi deck with manual controls that I bought from Best Buy in the early 90's. Had to pay extra for that feature for sure, in an "off-brand" deck. The other brands in the store didn't offer that option.

 

P.S. Sony PCM F-1. Needs either 3/4" U Matic or needs Beta. Only a very few VHS machines worked reliably with one. Tracking on VHS and AGC on the format didn't play nice.