Reel to reel to CD

Factual Questions
1

I see there are some businesses on the net to convert reel to reel to CD. Has anyone used one?

2

i haven’t.

if you don’t get a direct strong recommendation from someone you trust then you might test by sending a single less valued reel as a test.

3

I’m an audio engineer. What type of tape? 1/8" 1/4" 1/2" 2 track? or MTR (multitrack tape such as 8 16 or 24 track in 1" or 2" format?

If you have the formulation and brand (i.e. Quantegy 456 or 478 etc) as well as your location I can give some guidance. You’d be better off contacting a local audio engineer, lots of us have R2R at home or work in various formats and could both convert and clean up the tapes to CD better and cheaper than a commercial operation for a lower price in our down time. Plus a local guy avoids shipping hazards and whatnot.

I’m assuming you’re probably talking 2 track in 1/4 or 1/2" - those were common for commercial and home recordings.

4

Thanks. I have one tape. 1/4 inch x 1800 feet on a 7 inch reel. AMPEX 341.

I am outer island in Hawaii.

5

I do have a 1/4" machine here. If nothing else I might be able to do it for you. I’m in Sacramento.

I’ve also posted the info on a pro audio message board, asking for an engineer in HI.

Feel free to PM me for details on either option.

6

These questions come up often. As long as you have the device to play it on it’s not difficult to transfer any audio into digital form. As long as you can get it piped into a LINE OUT 1/8" mini-jack most any PC’s AUDIO IN port will accept it. You just need some audio software (lots of freeware available) and you’ll have to spend a few minutes of trial & error getting the levels right. After that it’s cake. Just capture it into a (digital) file and you can do whatever you want with it, make an MP3, burn it onto CD etc.