Roots Archives Forum

Master tapes completely wet and onovery.
In Studio's and at home.
I got tears in my eyes.
All kind of productions gone.

It's a pitty that a lot of labels don't work with mastertapes but only work from vinyl.


Lion

it's really getting rougher out there, sadly the 70's reggae vinyl collection is so scarce that most companies are putting out bootleg stuff from cassette tapes and vinyl. so sometimes the quality of recording from these features are sounding like they've been recorded in somebodies toilet.

When you say DAT, do you mean the mini-2 track format, or ADAT multi-track on super VHS? What gets lost when the master multi-track oxidizes is gone forever, because mastering down to two tracks diminishes the sound no matter how hard you tweak the compression, EQ, and whatnot. So the masters are a always generation down from the original multi tracks. The fat multitrack tape was expensive, and some engineers would bulk them and use them again and again after mastering down. The old decks themselves are dying off too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they record most Studio One stuff on a 2 or 4 track revox? The slight distortion on the vocals (from cranking it too loud and not watching the VU's) is characteristic of many Lee Perry and C.Dodd recordings from the late '60s. I kind of like it. Like good dirt.

Digital Audio Tape is a normal format to record or save old mastertapes.


Lion