This is the video I had always wanted to make... But have never been able to afford the entire set of open reels. It took me years and lots of money just to get the original cassettes! soundhog.moonfruit.com
@@danieldaniels7571 Same goes with Tamla Motown UK releases of the original Motown albums which were from the US which were made on a 5” EMITAPE reels.
This is so impressive I'm actually afraid to write a comment. Your Beatles collection and Beatles knowledge is on the highest level. I suspect that you are in fact the best in the world in this field. Your RUclips-channel is mindblowing. Thank you. 🙏
It may interest some, but I look after reel-to-reel tape recorders for private clients and studios. One of my client's owns the 24 track tape machine that came out of George Harrison's studio after his estate auction. When I work on it, it makes me wonder what famous songs have gone through its heads. "My Sweet Lord"?, "All Those Years Ago"? Makes you think!
Hello, please expand on what information you can provide about you client's "G. Harrison" 24 tkr tape machine as I have 2 Otari 24 track machines in my studio. Thanks.
@@radiogreenduck Hello Iain, I'm very surprised that its a MCI 24 track. I was expecting a Studer if it was from George's England estate. I know George had several other residences including a place in Hawaii. Years ago I was going to purchase a MCI 24 but I ended up several Otari 24 trackers.
Well I think it's safe to say All Things Must Pass was recorded on 8-Track not 24 (would have been the same 3M machine EMI used). Studios were still in the process of moving from 8 to 16 track in 1972.
That was a fascinating piece. I've been a Beatles fan since I first heard them in the early sixties. I have all their singles, EPs and abums on vinyl, all the CD albums and even a few cassette versions. And yet... this is the first time I've ever heard of their albums having been released on the reel to reel format!
I remember listening to a tape of the White Album backwards, listening to Revolution 9, hoping to hear the spooky Turn Me on Dead Man during the Paul is Dead frenzy.
Yes! This is exactly what i hoped you'd discuss because I'm a collector of their UK cassette releases (Gold label and earlier). In fact that's how I first discovered the band back in the mid 80s as a young teen. I transferred my collection to computer via a high-end cassette deck and often listen that way. They sound smashing despite the alternative track listings.
Parlogram Auctions Excellent! When I first listened on cassette I had no reason to believe that the track listings on many of the albums were incorrect. I remember browsing through the records at my local Our Price and seeing the truth.... argh! Abbey Road will always start with Here Comes The Sun to me. Dam you EMI tapes!
I have lots of old tapes in a box in the attic that I made in the late 60’s and 70’s, I haven’t heard them in over 40 years, I recorded music shows on the radio, I’ve never bothered to find a tape player ever since, cool vlog!
I remember having nearly all of the Beatles albums on tape, I had a Stellaphone reel to reel but a cheaper one than used in this video. I was devastated when I accidentally pressed play and record on the first track on With the Beatles, It won’t be long, recorded a replacement from the radio but it was never quite the same. Happy memories, great video !
A fascinating and very informative video. I loved watching this piece as I grew up hearing The Beatles on my mum's reel to reel tape recorder. This is how I was introduced to the music of The Beatles and I've been a fan ever since. My mum had 3 Beatles reel tapes in her collection, they were Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road and Rubber Soul. They are actually my top 3 favourite Beatles albums. I spent many an afternoon listening to these tapes on her Grundig, singing along to these fantastic albums. I can still remember the thrill of having my own reel to reel tape machine when I was about 10 years old bought for me as a birthday present I think, can't remember the name of it now though. Love the video, this brought back some great childhood memories for me. Thanks Andrew.
7.5 ips stereo would definitely have produced different spectrum results. For recording equipment that old, there weren't many decks that would have probably recorded over 10 kHz at 3.75 ips. It's still cool to see this stuff though. Thanks for sharing.
@bert smith I have a few myself including a 2 track tape from 1957 called Blood and Thunder Classics and that tape sounds unbelievable. The dynamic range is incredible and is only one direction. On a normal stereo 4 track reel to reel the right channel is lower and not nearly as dynamic. I have a machine that is a 2 track that will play that properly.
I must applaud you, Andrew, on these fantastic videos. Impartial, insightful and visually pleasing. They are becoming the go-to videos for serious fans worldwide.
Excellent video. I have "Help" and a" Hard Days Night" with the cardboard boxes ( given to me by my late Uncle). The boxes are a bit ' tired' but they are kept in the dark and away from heat. Must resurrect my old RTR. Once again, ta for this.
Hi Andrew...so good to see how much your subs have grown...deservedly so. Loved this segment. I had the opportunity to buy most Beatles albums on reel to reel for a very cheap price back in the 80s but passed. Maybe I should have ! Cheers from Australia Steve
Excellent series here on the history of the reels. It’s a real hunt otherwise to try to find information on these tapes. They’re seldom seen today, UK and US.
I don’t remember writing this comment but it defines holds up must have been a night at the cavern to put me to rest lol 😂 but I love how well these videos are put together and how in depth it goes so hard to find good factual info on these sort of Beatles anomaly’s
@Parlogram Auctions Wooooaaaaahhhhh, you have reel to reel tapes??!! In my opinion this is the most fascinating format of all, even more so than vinyl or cassettes. At age 12, one of me older brothers let me have his tape machine complete with one tape recorded by himself consisting of various really great 60s and 70s stuff, including The Beatles' It's All Too Much, John's Jealous Guy and Paul's Jet. It was, well not just fun but, to me, a real revelation to listen to. With the amplifier within the case the sound had such a very special ambience of its own, which you don't get for example from record players with the amp within the case. Sadly, the tape did not survive, but I still have the machine. I'm not sure if it still works - it hasn't run for 30 years now... Reel-to-reel tape versions of the Beatles' albums - maaan, I never knew such even existed! Exciting!
Straange the voices on one side and the instruments on the other a wierd kind of stereo but it helped me in the 70s when I was playing along to Beatles LPs on the guitar.
I’ve got the 5 inch double white reel to reel somewhere. When I first opened my S/H record store in 1976 a lady came in and said she was wondering if I was interested in purchasing the Beatles reel to reel collection. Signed by the Beatles. Well I had to maintain a poker face but I did say “certainly bring them in, I’m interested” Sadly she didn’t return 😢
I know you did the UK reel to reel tape review here but you may want to do one for the US equivalent. There are somethings about the US versions that are unique. Like there is 6 versions of Meet the Beatles, which is the only album that was released in mono on reel to reel. Magical mystery tour was released but some of the songs were out of order. The first batch was recorded at 3.75 IPS but the second issue was at 7.5 IPS. Some of the first batch were issued as value pack doubles. The biggest of all is the white album. The first version combined both albums to 1 tape at 3.75 but the second separated at 7.5. When the second version was released, it was during the Paul is dead time and as a result some of the songs were edited to remove death related clues. The reel to reel is the only place these edits happened. Maybe you know all this and more but it may be worthy of an episode. Thanks and keep it going!
I've forgotten the time mark, but you mentioned that in the mid 1980s that they'd released tapes with the "yellow biscuit" color, or something like that. I immediately recognized these. When I was 16-17ish, EMI/Parlophone decided to release the Beatles albums in the USA as they'd been recorded originally, before Capitol chopped them into bits. These "biscuit" albums were what we got over here. I immediately recognized the color and font in your video. I didn't care....I just wanted to hear "Doctor Robert", "And Your Bird Can Sing", and "I'm Only Sleeping". We got cheated out of these originally on Revolver. I also bought Rubber Soul, and A Hard Days Night. I was in hog heaven, as we say down here in the south. 😄
Thank you for making a most informative video. I agree 7 1/2 ips would have been amazing. Sadly costly! It’s. Videos like this that keep music alive and listened by a new and old audience.
I didn't know pop albums were released on reel to reel. I remember mid sixties seeing a lot of jazz, big band & some classical on tape; I assumed they were audiophile types. A friend had a Grundig reel to reel, we used to muck around making amusing recordings.
I bought the Please Pleas Me reel-to-reel album when it was first released. It was the only prerecorded tape I ever bought and also the only Beatles album I bought until Sgt Pepper was released on CD. Unfortunately, I no longer have the Please Please Me reel-to-reel, having given it away when I sold my tape recorder. Still my favourite Beatles album.
I was 25 yrs old when I joined EMI''s tape record dpt. in Hayes. My first Beatle's album as a tester was A Hard Days Night. That opening chord( CLANG!!) imprinted on my brain after 14days hearing it day in day out. I'm 85 and still hear it. but I had a wonderful long career with the firm .I was there at the start of music cassettes when a lot of us thought they were just a flash in the pan. How wrong were we. I ended up as a transfer engineer. Thank you for your video. It's brought back happy memories. ED.
How fascinating! Thanks you so much for posting, I would love to hear more. Please email me if you are interested in sharing more of your stories with me: andrew@parlogramauctions.com
Good question, not that anything above 12K is a too big a deal - apart from that dog whistle of course. In the 1960s it was mostly what was happening below that really counted.
In the video he says the open reels were duplicated in real time... Unfortunately that's one detail that I don't think he's correct on, although everything else is spot on!
And speaking of Beatles on 5” reel-to-reel tapes, there was another label called Tamla Motown where they also put out a bunch of original Motown albums from the US which were released in the UK from 1965 through 1970. The albums were recorded on EMITAPE 5” reel tapes, same goes with all of the Beatles UK releases.
I have the suspicion that the Japanese bootleg CDs "Perfect Collection" Vol. 1-9 (from 1987) use stereo reel-to-reels as the source. They have very little frequency response above 10 kHz and sound nicely lo-fi. Sadly mastered very quietly, mostly peaking at -9dB.
Many tape recorders (or tapes for that matter) from the 1960s could barely go over 12kHz when running on 3 3/4'. It was always recommended that quality recordings should be done on 7½' but many tape recorders didn't have that speed.
This video is amazing Andrew, some much detail well presented. This retired tape and cassette recording engineer really enjoys your stuff. No I didn’t even know EMI sold tapes of the Beatles either, I guess it’s because I’m in Sydney ... 3 3/4ips! oh boy.
Got a question about this. You are converting the half-track mono using your A77 quarter-track? If so, it means your heads are getting less than half the recorded information from the tape, so you might see such a frequency rolloff.
This video had excellent details and high quality images. Thanks for sharing. I find this format to be quite interesting however I doubt I will buy a machine.
I have almost 200 of these EMI tapes I spent years collecting them, I have mostly mono with some stereo including at least one mono Beatles album, One important thing to note here is the mono versions of these tapes sound better when being played back with a half track mono tape head, if you use a stereo quarter track head to playback the mono tapes you're not reading all the information... Can I ask if you used a half track mono A77 and not a stereo 4 track A77 to play back the mono tapes? if the answer is no then i'm not sure your results playing back the mono tapes on a 4 track stereo machine would be accurate.... I know from my own personal experience playing back these mono tapes, they sound much better with a proper mono machine and nowhere near as good on a stereo machine.. afterall on a stereo quarter track machine your not reading "all" the information
@@duncan-rmi I can only speak from experience of listening to over a hundred of these tapes on 4 track and 2 track machines and there is a noticeable audio difference when playing them back on proper 2 track machines. I have the luxury of being able to play them back on very good quality machines both 4 track and 2 track machines and the difference was such that I specifically sought out the best quality 2 track machine I could afford to play these mono tapes back on as I wasn't happy with the playback performance on any 4 track machine. All I can say is again from experience these tapes sound very good playing them back on say a 2 track Uher machine or my own preference a Grundig TK 3200, as my 4 track stereo Revox just didn't sound as good with noticeable dropouts. Try it sometime you might be pleasantly surprised even if "technically" there might be no difference as with anything analogue it's all very much suck it and see!! I'll never claim to know what im doing im just trusting my ears... foolishly perhaps..
@@duncan-rmi Out of the 200 I think I have 15 - 20 stereo ones and about 5 that are not EMI they are the same cardboard box format but not EMI branded I think 2 are Saga branded tapes and they use Scotch tape, I can only tell that from the spool branding the tape looks like the typical scotch type from that era. But all the rest are EMI branded spools and center spool label. I was very fortunate enough to talk with some who worked at the place they made these tapes, it was only a short casual chat and I don't remember much but the one thing I was interested in was the stereo versions and why there are very few copies of albums in the stereo format about, interestingly I was told they made at the factory about the same amount of stereo and mono albums when they changed to the jewel type cases, so it is assumed that the the stereo copies did not sell as well.. This would make sense as a stereo tape recorder as the time would have been much more expencive and not as economical with the tape for home recording so not perhaps a popular choice for the domestic buyer at the time.. Hence less stereo albums sold and I believe unsold stock was just sent back, this I can guess to be true as I have a few cardboard tapes that have had other printed paper labels just pasted on top!! if you look carefully you can still read what the boxes used to be printed with!! I am also lucky enough to have the "first advance list" from the first one to the 7th edition.. a little 2 page leaflet printed by EMI advertising these tapes with prices and the lists of latest releases, sadly a little to early to have any of the Beatles albums listed on there. I must make a little video about these tapes soon... They really are fascinating little collectables that don't sound half bad!
@@Vintage-Tech I've got quite a few EMI stereo "jewels" (no Beatles sadly, wallet is too short) but I enjoy seeing people get fooled thinking they're CDs, then opening them up and seeing their face when they see a spool of tape inside!
The problem with playing a half track recording on a quarter track machine is indeed due to the difference in height of the head tip, which wouldn't be a problem in theory if the magnetic footprint of the signal was uniform all the way across the track. But in practice it hardly ever is. Magnetic footprints can be thought of like a record groove in reverse; the signal protrudes away from the tape surface, but with a peak in the middle and walls that slope away from that middle. The further away you are from the peak of that magnetic ridge, it's like a stylus that's riding the edge of a groove... Noisy,raspy sound without treble detail. Magnetic heads can't "drop into" the magnetic footprint like a stylus can drop into a groove, so it stays put and unless you deliberately misalign the tape machine to cater for this there's little you can do. I haven't invested in a twin track machine but it's on my to do list if one comes along at a decent price that won't need hundreds spent on it to make it operational.
As a person who grew up playing with Reel-to-Reel machines and eventually had a career as a Recording Studio Engineer, this video was of particular interest. Somehow a commercial 3¾ ips Stereo Reel of Revolver on U.S. Capitol came my way. The channel separation is remarkable. The box is cardboard with a brown covering and sheets with the printed front and back cover slicks glued on. The tape doesn't have any leader. I've often wondered if it is actually worth anything.
Around 1970, I remember seeing stacks of reel to reel copies of Live Peace in Toronto and McCartney in department stores here in the US. They were quite expensive. My parents did have a reel to reel machine so I considered getting the tapes but balked at the price.
Would Love to have a 4 Track Reel to Reel , Really Happy you covered this . In the 80s I had a Fostex cassette 4 Track , did a ton of recording , Beatles Sgt.Pep. ELO , ALAN PARSONS were inspiration on recording
Very informative and it answers some questions I had regarding the mono and stereo releases. You should really do a video on the US pre-recorded reels, both original Capitol duplicated (brown box) and later Ampex duplicated reels (blue box and at 7.5 IPS). I have a number of both, buying my first Beatles album on reel at age 13 in November 1967 (I had gotten a 4 track stereo deck for my birthday previously). That was Revolver, from Capitol's initial run at 7.5 IPS (all subsequent runs were at 3 3/4 IPS until they farmed out to Ampex). Surprisingly, the 3 3/4 IPS version pretty much matches the Capitol 7 1/2 IPS in overall sound and is a bit smoother. I still have these and they still sound great. They were more expensive than the UK reels too. About twice the price of the LP. Capitol only released Meet The Beatles in both 1/2 track mono and 1/4 track stereo as far as I know, on 5" reel initially in a black box. The only other one I know of is the initial release of Yesterday and Today (brown box). Later released on 7" reel. Supposedly the stereo reels of Y&T were all true stereo with no Duophonic tracks (fake stereo), unlike the stereo LP. Yellow Submarine was also released on open reel as well. The Capitol/Apple release of The White Album was also on a single 7" low torque reel. The Ampex version at 7.5 IPS is on two reels. The Ampex duplicated tapes were all at 7.5 IPS, but the trade off was scrambled playlists in order to economize on pancake. I have Abbey Road on Ampex reel, and prior to the 2009 CD remasters, it had no peer. I received that for Christmas in 1969. Still sounds great! Like the UK tapes, there is a whole world to the US versions.
US single Lp tapes are 7 1/2 ips, but of course the Capitol versions of the albums. They also issued several albums in 2fer pairs at 3 3/4 ips, with one full alb per side of tape. Interestingly, there is a 1969/70 Y&T stereo tape, which should include the true stereo mixes and the rare early mixes of Revolver cuts.
Just to keep in mind that Capitol released a handful of Beatles albums in the US on reel-to-reel tape during the 1960’s, and it was on a 7” reel rather than the 5” reel where it had a big gap to have more space. Both “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Yellow Submarine” like the one you mentioned were only released in the US on Capitol in 1967, and Apple in 1969. I looked on eBay and these reel-to-reel tapes of the US Beatles albums are quite expensive, and it became collector’s items.
Another well done video. Question... what was the original source(s) for these tapes (e.g. copies of copies of copies of the original first generation mono or stereo master tapes, needle drops transferred to tape, something else, etc.)?
That was super Andy , I’ve got 3 Akai machines in 3 separate rooms the best being a 474 dbx. I’ve got multiple copies of the early-mid period mono earlier tapes and the mono Abbey Road too .Im pretty certain I’ve got the USA White Album somewhere too but I’m damned if I can ever find , I’m starting to think that I’ve never had it?? In the past I’ve bought some cheap “World record club” tapes just to get the plastic boxes to switch them over if the boxes had broken hinges or deep scratches on the plastic. I just wish I had bought more of them when they were still out of vogue and dirt cheap to buy still. Quite a few of the USA Capitol releases seemed to be released as “2fers” over the years ..... The Beatles seemed to be pretty well served with reel to reel tapes in the U.K. , but there’s a definite dearth of other bands of that era on reels , the USA seemed far better served.
Parlogram Auctions ...well start resisting bidding on the Let It Be tape , that’s one I’ve been out bid on any times in the past!...yer bastard. I think I already know the answer , but were Beatles reel tapes ever made on Continental Europe?.....do you tend to find them in Austria at all?
@@davidheafield1436 I've found a few of the later stereo tapes in Germany but they're pretty thin on the ground around here. The next LIB reel is yours! ;)
Hello I just finished watching your post about the Beatles master you found on reel to reel and I to came across some Beatles tapes a few years ago unfortunately shortly after finding them I needed money and sold them to a collectable shop here in topeka these were in boxes that had a label on back said property of national masters museum then on the front they had hand written the content of that tape some were just one or two songs others were hour or more long there was 28 in total of the Beatles and the content was auditions, practice sessions, interviews, and BBC broadcast plus there was one of a song by a artist I never heard of and another of John cash live from Soledad prison 1968 i knew I messed up as soon as I sold them but considering I found them in a trash can and I needed the money $25 each sounded pretty good at the time I still deal with person who bought them and there is a good chance he still has them and I have thought about trying to buy them back I just don't have the extra money but if you or anybody else may be interested in checking into it let me know and I will give you the info needed
What a great video. Great knowledge about beatles reel to reels. It made me want to dig mine out and make a video for my channel. The sound quality is far superior. Thanks.
I had both a Grundig and the Please please me tape in 1978 which i sold to a classmate. It was the only tape i had and used a standard cassette deck w inbuilt mic for recording. Never tried the reel to reel. Most had separate mic inputs and the mics were pretty bad. Wish i had kept mine but well, it was considered obsolete tech at that time. PPM was the only record my hippy brothers did not have. Dont know where i got mine..
Fun to find this video after I shared my story the other day about hearing a great Abbey Road reel tape. Despite the stunning impression I had (I wonder now if it was a US tape?), it sounds from your reviews that the vinyl editions often represent the albums better. Perhaps my experience was largely informed by the amazing system and listening room and the lack of groove distortion etc.
I have never heard any real to reel tapes before in my life I would love to get my hands on route to relatives including the Beatles it would be great to hear I’d love to hear how it sounds when you’re trying to play them forwards and backwards.
You didn't point out that by releasing them on 4" and 5" reels in mono and 2 track gave the tapes the advantage of being able to play it on a battery operated portable or on a home unit too , thats probably why they were offered that way in the first place
Hi Andrew, great video as always. I hadn't realised the stereo reel to reels where issued as late as 1970 and I'm curious about when Sgt Pepper was first released on stereo reel to reel. It had already been issued as a stereo cassette in 1967 (or 1968?) and therefore wasn't issued alongside the first cassette editions of the earlier albums in 1970. I have seen images of a stereo Pepper reel to reel with the "sold in UK" info which suggests it was released no later than 1969 so I'm wondering if it would have predated the 1970 issues of the other stereo reels.
Hi Richard, Unfortunately I don't have a stereo Pepper reel, but I'd be surprised if it came out at the same time as the cassette. I'll try and answer that question when I do a video on the cassettes, which will be coming soon. Thanks again for watching. Andrew.
@@Parlogram I can tell you - the Ampex 7.5 ips release of the Pepper album is superb. Period. The only thing I added to my copy is protective leaders on both the head and the tail.
Id trade either my totally restored Pioneer RT-909 or Otari MTR 12/2-C reel machines for a complete stereo set of UK Beatles reel to reel tapes. On THIS side of the pond, you can-could only get the Ampex prerecorded tapes. Some were made for 3 3/4 speeds and some at 7 1/2, depending on title. I think most were bulk produced using specially equalized high speed analog bin machines. Therefore, they might not spec as well on the spectrograph. Now all my Moody Blues open reel tapes sound surprisingly good on both speeds. People will pay crazy money for these tapes, but I'm betting the EMI tapes sound better double mono and stereo alike. Might make an interesting future video, comparing the US AMPEX reel to reel tapes with the UK EMI R-2-R and original UK LP's. You never know though, some of the American Ampex pre-recorded R-2-R tapes sound pretty good on a first rate machine. Looking forward to more videos. Cheers!
@@danieldaniels7571 I have some, they are played back using a A3340S I also restored. I feed the 4 channels into my preamps External 7,1 inputs, quad never sounded better. Shame there isn't a In Search Of The Lost Chord quad, but one was never made or mixed.
Wow...what an interesting video...thanks for all your research and info! Now there's another interesting Beatles format that I need to collect! The audio quality of your video is excellent...it would be even better if you could play a few seconds of some of those tapes, and audibly compare them to the LPs, since many viewers/listeners don't really know how to interpret the graphics. My other collectibles are a few Beatles 10" 78rpm records from India. I'll send you an mp3 if you like to hear one!
Thanks for watching, Hank. I hope I will be able to offer sound clips for comparison in the future. Do feel free to email mp3 of our 78s: andrew@parlogramauctions.com
Very interesting never knew the Beatles were on reel to reel heard DG and EMI classical though when they came out never sounded as good as a good turntable set up.what machines did they use to transfer on ? shame the Beatles didn't us 7/half ips speed would have made hell of a difference.Had same Revox myself long time ago.
I've been restoring two reel to reel recorders for a while . One I've had for ages and bought quite a few blank tapes for it.Back when Tandy sold the large reels. I've just been given an old 1965 model National stereo reel to reel that's in half decent condition. It just needed a good clean and re-oiling. But its got me interested again in the format. It didn't occur to me about Beatles tapes but I knew there were other prerecorded stuff out there. I'll bet their worth a fortune. The good thing about reel to reel tapes is that they last if you look after them where cassettes fall to bits no matter how you store them . One of the worse ways of storing them is in a case not sure why but the leader tape falls off the cotton bud falls off ect ect. Mind you my TDK tapes are perfect so prerecorded tapes quality wise are crap. Luckily I digitized all mine before they were unplayable or I had to do major surgery .
The White album version takes the song Glass Onion and takes out the second verse on the reel to reel. I don't have it but I heard it on a Beatles special.
I think open reel is hanging on by its fingernails. But there are enough of us old audiophiles out here to keep the format young. Nothing like watching a restored Teac A-3440, with 10.5 inch reels, turning at 15 ips!
In my humble opinion EMI should make an elite set of 15 IPs tapes on all the albums. Obviously as that speed you would have to have two or possibly three tapes for each single record . I realise this would only be applicable to very high end audiophiles . However there are quite a few high market collector’s out there . In a pragmatic sense 7.5 IPS would make more sense , we know this could just take two tapes rather than three or four tapes . I like many others have or had Revox A 77 machines , most 7.5 but other have the 15 ips capstans . EMI could have all the tapes remastered . In Japan they received 30 IPS tapes on Abbey Road in the late 1970s. I know there were a few quarter inch 30 ips masters sent to other countries, but that’s rare as the masters were always 15 ips quarter inch tapes.
In the late 70s I was given a reel to reel machine that had been owned by an uncle of mine. It only came with one tape: Austrian folk music. I often wondered if the Beatles LPs had been released on reel to reel but concluded (incorrectly) that the Beatles were too modern. I've carried that ignorance around with me for over 40 years and now find out there were in fact tapes. No Google or eBay back in the 70s.
Wil C-137 .....you’ll need at least the uk and USA examples as the boxes were completely different , the U.K. follows the classic “white” packaging but the USA is in a brown box with portrait heads on it.
Very informative. Thank you Andrew! But it is no wonder why this reels don’t have such frequency response as vinyl. This 3.1/4 ips too slow for it. It’s too bad that EMI ( due to economical and marketing reasons) won’t release this masterpieces on reels with 7.1/2 ips speed. This would be definitely better than LPs!
its the type of thing, you might get an audiophile label to do, like the MFSL pressing boxset. reel to reel is a very much niche market. years of selling vinyl, only a few people have asked for reel to reel.
j anon You are right, that’s why I mentioned economical reasons. And after all vinyl has more chances to save a better condition after decades (magnetic tape often suffer from humidity).
I would love to hear the Beatles on the real to reel tape thank you so much Andrew by the way happy Christmas to you and everyone else in your family Jesse from Portland Oregon. Growing up in 1984 I never knew that we are real to reel tapes existed it’ll be cool to hear the Beatles forwards and backwards. I wonder why yellow submarine and magical mystery tour were not released on a real to reel tape machine? I think John Lennon did have a real Terrell tape of the song rain and he played it back and it was backwards. I love the song tomorrow never knows it is great.
Question.....you said that EMI stopped producing reel to reel in 1970....but I thought that Pink Floyd's "Pigs on the wing" included the middle verse...only on the reel to reel...and that LP came out in 77....have I got my facts all buggered? I thought that Harvest (The PF Lable) was a subsidury of EMI???...thanks for the cool channel!! Danny
Wow, this was brilliantly researched and detailed, I'm 62 and had no idea Beatles Albums were released on reel tapes, fascinating info.
Thanks for watching, Nigel. Glad you liked it.
I did, but never understood why they were in 5” boxes
This is the video I had always wanted to make... But have never been able to afford the entire set of open reels. It took me years and lots of money just to get the original cassettes!
soundhog.moonfruit.com
@@danieldaniels7571 Same goes with Tamla Motown UK releases of the original Motown albums which were from the US which were made on a 5” EMITAPE reels.
@@Musicradio77Network That’s interesting. I have several Motown reels, but they’re all US releases on 7” duplicated by Ampex
This is so impressive I'm actually afraid to write a comment. Your Beatles collection and Beatles knowledge is on the highest level. I suspect that you are in fact the best in the world in this field. Your RUclips-channel is mindblowing. Thank you. 🙏
Thank you, much appreciated!
at 4:14 - I've never seen the "Sgt. Pepper" cover this uncropped on a commercial release!
Looks very good with a white border as well.
It may interest some, but I look after reel-to-reel tape recorders for private clients and studios. One of my client's owns the 24 track tape machine that came out of George Harrison's studio after his estate auction. When I work on it, it makes me wonder what famous songs have gone through its heads. "My Sweet Lord"?, "All Those Years Ago"? Makes you think!
Hello, please expand on what information you can provide about you client's "G. Harrison" 24 tkr tape machine as I have 2 Otari 24 track machines in my studio. Thanks.
I have a Scully 280 - It sounds so lush! I wish I knew where it lived...
@@radiogreenduck Hello Iain, I'm very surprised that its a MCI 24 track. I was expecting a Studer if it was from George's England estate. I know George had several other residences including a place in Hawaii. Years ago I was going to purchase a MCI 24 but I ended up several Otari 24 trackers.
Well I think it's safe to say All Things Must Pass was recorded on 8-Track not 24 (would have been the same 3M machine EMI used). Studios were still in the process of moving from 8 to 16 track in 1972.
The White album , and going forward
I remember still seeing some of these tapes stocked on a record shop shelf
way into the mid 1970s.
That was a fascinating piece. I've been a Beatles fan since I first heard them in the early sixties. I have all their singles, EPs and abums on vinyl, all the CD albums and even a few cassette versions. And yet... this is the first time I've ever heard of their albums having been released on the reel to reel format!
I remember listening to a tape of the White Album backwards, listening to Revolution 9, hoping to hear the spooky Turn Me on Dead Man during the Paul is Dead frenzy.
Yes! This is exactly what i hoped you'd discuss because I'm a collector of their UK cassette releases (Gold label and earlier). In fact that's how I first discovered the band back in the mid 80s as a young teen. I transferred my collection to computer via a high-end cassette deck and often listen that way. They sound smashing despite the alternative track listings.
Glad you enjoyed it. I'll be doing a video about the cassettes soon.
Parlogram Auctions Excellent! When I first listened on cassette I had no reason to believe that the track listings on many of the albums were incorrect. I remember browsing through the records at my local Our Price and seeing the truth.... argh! Abbey Road will always start with Here Comes The Sun to me. Dam you EMI tapes!
@@Parlogram I wonder if you'll be going down the 8 track tape rabbit hole!
I have lots of old tapes in a box in the attic that I made in the late 60’s and 70’s, I haven’t heard them in over 40 years, I recorded music shows on the radio, I’ve never bothered to find a tape player ever since, cool vlog!
I remember having nearly all of the Beatles albums on tape, I had a Stellaphone reel to reel but a cheaper one than used in this video. I was devastated when I accidentally pressed play and record on the first track on With the Beatles, It won’t be long, recorded a replacement from the radio but it was never quite the same. Happy memories, great video !
A fascinating and very informative video. I loved watching this piece as I grew up hearing The Beatles on my mum's reel to reel tape recorder. This is how I was introduced to the music of The Beatles and I've been a fan ever since. My mum had 3 Beatles reel tapes in her collection, they were Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road and Rubber Soul. They are actually my top 3 favourite Beatles albums. I spent many an afternoon listening to these tapes on her Grundig, singing along to these fantastic albums. I can still remember the thrill of having my own reel to reel tape machine when I was about 10 years old bought for me as a birthday present I think, can't remember the name of it now though. Love the video, this brought back some great childhood memories for me. Thanks Andrew.
Thanks for watching Stephen. Glad it bought back some nice memories. More reel-to-reel action coming soon on the channel.
Fascinating. Very informative. I’m also impressed on how well the tape itself has not deteriorated much over time. Proper storage is a must of course.
I still remember the first time when I heard a 4 track tape of The Reiner Sound on STUDER A80, made the day of my Hi-end experience forever.
7.5 ips stereo would definitely have produced different spectrum results. For recording equipment that old, there weren't many decks that would have probably recorded over 10 kHz at 3.75 ips. It's still cool to see this stuff though. Thanks for sharing.
@bert smith I have a few myself including a 2 track tape from 1957 called Blood and Thunder Classics and that tape sounds unbelievable. The dynamic range is incredible and is only one direction. On a normal stereo 4 track reel to reel the right channel is lower and not nearly as dynamic. I have a machine that is a 2 track that will play that properly.
Wow... I'm really a true fan of your videos, my friend Andrew!!!
Thanks you Luis, my friend. I'm a big fan of your videos too!
I must applaud you, Andrew, on these fantastic videos. Impartial, insightful and visually pleasing. They are becoming the go-to videos for serious fans worldwide.
Thank you, Danny.
Excellent video. I have "Help" and a" Hard Days Night" with the cardboard boxes ( given to me by my late Uncle). The boxes are a bit ' tired' but they are kept in the dark and away from heat. Must resurrect my old RTR. Once again, ta for this.
I have been an open reel fan since the late 50's. I had no idea these open reel tapes existed! Very interesting. Thank you.
You're welcome, Tom. Thanks for watching.
Andrew thanks for sharing once again, superb!!
Hi Andrew...so good to see how much your subs have grown...deservedly so. Loved this segment. I had the opportunity to buy most Beatles albums on reel to reel for a very cheap price back in the 80s but passed. Maybe I should have !
Cheers from Australia
Steve
Thanks a lot, Steve. I might be putting the ones on the video up for sale soon, so you may finally get the chance to get hold of them.
My dad had a Panasonic reel to reel he got in the early 70's. It sounded great!
These videos have such brilliant quality and production and research to them I love it !
Glad you like them!
Excellent series here on the history of the reels. It’s a real hunt otherwise to try to find information on these tapes. They’re seldom seen today, UK and US.
Seriously bloody phenomenal!
I don’t remember writing this comment but it defines holds up must have been a night at the cavern to put me to rest lol 😂 but I love how well these videos are put together and how in depth it goes so hard to find good factual info on these sort of Beatles anomaly’s
Great video Andrew.. very informative. thank you for posting.
@Parlogram Auctions Wooooaaaaahhhhh, you have reel to reel tapes??!!
In my opinion this is the most fascinating format of all, even more so than vinyl or cassettes. At age 12, one of me older brothers let me have his tape machine complete with one tape recorded by himself consisting of various really great 60s and 70s stuff, including The Beatles' It's All Too Much, John's Jealous Guy and Paul's Jet. It was, well not just fun but, to me, a real revelation to listen to. With the amplifier within the case the sound had such a very special ambience of its own, which you don't get for example from record players with the amp within the case.
Sadly, the tape did not survive, but I still have the machine. I'm not sure if it still works - it hasn't run for 30 years now...
Reel-to-reel tape versions of the Beatles' albums - maaan, I never knew such even existed! Exciting!
I love the stereo sound of Beatles' recording.
Straange the voices on one side and the instruments on the other a wierd kind of stereo but it helped me in the 70s when I was playing along to Beatles LPs on the guitar.
I believe Ram was released on Reel-To-Reel. I think. Nice video!
My dad has a few of these, great to learn a bit of info about them!
I’ve got the 5 inch double white reel to reel somewhere.
When I first opened my S/H record store in 1976 a lady came in and said she was wondering if I was interested in purchasing the Beatles reel to reel collection. Signed by the Beatles.
Well I had to maintain a poker face but I did say “certainly bring them in, I’m interested” Sadly she didn’t return 😢
Would be worth a million today 😥
Another great video! Thanks!
That`s very useful, thank you so much!
Fascinating stuff! Can't believe how rare & pricey all those albums are. :/
Your retro credits are killing it!
I know you did the UK reel to reel tape review here but you may want to do one for the US equivalent. There are somethings about the US versions that are unique. Like there is 6 versions of Meet the Beatles, which is the only album that was released in mono on reel to reel. Magical mystery tour was released but some of the songs were out of order. The first batch was recorded at 3.75 IPS but the second issue was at 7.5 IPS. Some of the first batch were issued as value pack doubles. The biggest of all is the white album. The first version combined both albums to 1 tape at 3.75 but the second separated at 7.5. When the second version was released, it was during the Paul is dead time and as a result some of the songs were edited to remove death related clues. The reel to reel is the only place these edits happened. Maybe you know all this and more but it may be worthy of an episode. Thanks and keep it going!
A U.S. reel-to-reel review is on my list, Mario!
I've forgotten the time mark, but you mentioned that in the mid 1980s that they'd released tapes with the "yellow biscuit" color, or something like that. I immediately recognized these.
When I was 16-17ish, EMI/Parlophone decided to release the Beatles albums in the USA as they'd been recorded originally, before Capitol chopped them into bits.
These "biscuit" albums were what we got over here. I immediately recognized the color and font in your video. I didn't care....I just wanted to hear "Doctor Robert", "And Your Bird Can Sing", and "I'm Only Sleeping". We got cheated out of these originally on Revolver. I also bought Rubber Soul, and A Hard Days Night. I was in hog heaven, as we say down here in the south. 😄
Although I am not a reel to reel tape collector, this is another great video of yours. Bye for now, Nelio.
Thank you for making a most informative video. I agree 7 1/2 ips would have been amazing. Sadly costly! It’s. Videos like this that keep music alive and listened by a new and old audience.
I didn't know pop albums were released on reel to reel. I remember mid sixties seeing a lot of jazz, big band & some classical on tape; I assumed they were audiophile types. A friend had a Grundig reel to reel, we used to muck around making amusing recordings.
It was only cassettes out when I was growing up in the 80's Cd's were pretty rare and expensive.
I don't think much was released on cassette that was not also on vinyl.
Very enjoyable video.
Glad you enjoyed it
I bought the Please Pleas Me reel-to-reel album when it was first released. It was the only prerecorded tape I ever bought and also the only Beatles album I bought until Sgt Pepper was released on CD. Unfortunately, I no longer have the Please Please Me reel-to-reel, having given it away when I sold my tape recorder. Still my favourite Beatles album.
I was 25 yrs old when I joined EMI''s tape record dpt. in Hayes. My first Beatle's album as a tester was A Hard Days Night. That opening chord( CLANG!!) imprinted on my brain after 14days hearing it day in day out. I'm 85 and still hear it. but I had a wonderful long career with the firm .I was there at the start of music cassettes when a lot of us thought they were just a flash in the pan. How wrong were we. I ended up as a transfer engineer. Thank you for your video. It's brought back happy memories. ED.
How fascinating! Thanks you so much for posting, I would love to hear more. Please email me if you are interested in sharing more of your stories with me: andrew@parlogramauctions.com
Did you adjust the head-azimuth (for each tape) to ensure maximum high frequencies?
Good question, not that anything above 12K is a too big a deal - apart from that dog whistle of course.
In the 1960s it was mostly what was happening below that really counted.
@@jozefserf2024 It DOES affect lower frequencies as well. It's just easier to adjust by listening for maximum treble.
In the video he says the open reels were duplicated in real time... Unfortunately that's one detail that I don't think he's correct on, although everything else is spot on!
And speaking of Beatles on 5” reel-to-reel tapes, there was another label called Tamla Motown where they also put out a bunch of original Motown albums from the US which were released in the UK from 1965 through 1970. The albums were recorded on EMITAPE 5” reel tapes, same goes with all of the Beatles UK releases.
I have the suspicion that the Japanese bootleg CDs "Perfect Collection" Vol. 1-9 (from 1987) use stereo reel-to-reels as the source. They have very little frequency response above 10 kHz and sound nicely lo-fi. Sadly mastered very quietly, mostly peaking at -9dB.
Many tape recorders (or tapes for that matter) from the 1960s could barely go over 12kHz when running on 3 3/4'. It was always recommended that quality recordings should be done on 7½' but many tape recorders didn't have that speed.
Reel to reel quad was the BEST !
This video is amazing Andrew, some much detail well presented. This retired tape and cassette recording engineer really enjoys your stuff.
No I didn’t even know EMI sold tapes of the Beatles either, I guess it’s because I’m in Sydney ... 3 3/4ips! oh boy.
Thank you, Allan. Glad you enjoyed it.
Got a question about this. You are converting the half-track mono using your A77 quarter-track? If so, it means your heads are getting less than half the recorded information from the tape, so you might see such a frequency rolloff.
This video had excellent details and high quality images. Thanks for sharing. I find this format to be quite interesting however I doubt I will buy a machine.
I have almost 200 of these EMI tapes I spent years collecting them, I have mostly mono with some stereo including at least one mono Beatles album, One important thing to note here is the mono versions of these tapes sound better when being played back with a half track mono tape head, if you use a stereo quarter track head to playback the mono tapes you're not reading all the information... Can I ask if you used a half track mono A77 and not a stereo 4 track A77 to play back the mono tapes? if the answer is no then i'm not sure your results playing back the mono tapes on a 4 track stereo machine would be accurate.... I know from my own personal experience playing back these mono tapes, they sound much better with a proper mono machine and nowhere near as good on a stereo machine.. afterall on a stereo quarter track machine your not reading "all" the information
@@duncan-rmi I can only speak from experience of listening to over a hundred of these tapes on 4 track and 2 track machines and there is a noticeable audio difference when playing them back on proper 2 track machines. I have the luxury of being able to play them back on very good quality machines both 4 track and 2 track machines and the difference was such that I specifically sought out the best quality 2 track machine I could afford to play these mono tapes back on as I wasn't happy with the playback performance on any 4 track machine. All I can say is again from experience these tapes sound very good playing them back on say a 2 track Uher machine or my own preference a Grundig TK 3200, as my 4 track stereo Revox just didn't sound as good with noticeable dropouts. Try it sometime you might be pleasantly surprised even if "technically" there might be no difference as with anything analogue it's all very much suck it and see!! I'll never claim to know what im doing im just trusting my ears... foolishly perhaps..
@@duncan-rmi Out of the 200 I think I have 15 - 20 stereo ones and about 5 that are not EMI they are the same cardboard box format but not EMI branded I think 2 are Saga branded tapes and they use Scotch tape, I can only tell that from the spool branding the tape looks like the typical scotch type from that era. But all the rest are EMI branded spools and center spool label. I was very fortunate enough to talk with some who worked at the place they made these tapes, it was only a short casual chat and I don't remember much but the one thing I was interested in was the stereo versions and why there are very few copies of albums in the stereo format about, interestingly I was told they made at the factory about the same amount of stereo and mono albums when they changed to the jewel type cases, so it is assumed that the the stereo copies did not sell as well.. This would make sense as a stereo tape recorder as the time would have been much more expencive and not as economical with the tape for home recording so not perhaps a popular choice for the domestic buyer at the time.. Hence less stereo albums sold and I believe unsold stock was just sent back, this I can guess to be true as I have a few cardboard tapes that have had other printed paper labels just pasted on top!! if you look carefully you can still read what the boxes used to be printed with!! I am also lucky enough to have the "first advance list" from the first one to the 7th edition.. a little 2 page leaflet printed by EMI advertising these tapes with prices and the lists of latest releases, sadly a little to early to have any of the Beatles albums listed on there. I must make a little video about these tapes soon... They really are fascinating little collectables that don't sound half bad!
@@Vintage-Tech I've got quite a few EMI stereo "jewels" (no Beatles sadly, wallet is too short) but I enjoy seeing people get fooled thinking they're CDs, then opening them up and seeing their face when they see a spool of tape inside!
The problem with playing a half track recording on a quarter track machine is indeed due to the difference in height of the head tip, which wouldn't be a problem in theory if the magnetic footprint of the signal was uniform all the way across the track. But in practice it hardly ever is. Magnetic footprints can be thought of like a record groove in reverse; the signal protrudes away from the tape surface, but with a peak in the middle and walls that slope away from that middle. The further away you are from the peak of that magnetic ridge, it's like a stylus that's riding the edge of a groove... Noisy,raspy sound without treble detail. Magnetic heads can't "drop into" the magnetic footprint like a stylus can drop into a groove, so it stays put and unless you deliberately misalign the tape machine to cater for this there's little you can do. I haven't invested in a twin track machine but it's on my to do list if one comes along at a decent price that won't need hundreds spent on it to make it operational.
As a person who grew up playing with Reel-to-Reel machines and eventually had a career as a Recording Studio Engineer, this video was of particular interest. Somehow a commercial 3¾ ips Stereo Reel of Revolver on U.S. Capitol came my way. The channel separation is remarkable. The box is cardboard with a brown covering and sheets with the printed front and back cover slicks glued on. The tape doesn't have any leader. I've often wondered if it is actually worth anything.
The U.S. Capitol tape is worth about $100-150. But it should run 7 1/2" ips.
Around 1970, I remember seeing stacks of reel to reel copies of Live Peace in Toronto and McCartney in department stores here in the US. They were quite expensive. My parents did have a reel to reel machine so I considered getting the tapes but balked at the price.
Capitol Reel To Reels have twofers in their collection! Usually in Beige colored Reels. Gold labeled Reels.
Would Love to have a 4 Track Reel to Reel , Really Happy you covered this .
In the 80s I had a Fostex cassette 4 Track , did a ton of recording ,
Beatles Sgt.Pep. ELO , ALAN PARSONS were inspiration on recording
Very informative and it answers some questions I had regarding the mono and stereo releases. You should really do a video on the US pre-recorded reels, both original Capitol duplicated (brown box) and later Ampex duplicated reels (blue box and at 7.5 IPS). I have a number of both, buying my first Beatles album on reel at age 13 in November 1967 (I had gotten a 4 track stereo deck for my birthday previously).
That was Revolver, from Capitol's initial run at 7.5 IPS (all subsequent runs were at 3 3/4 IPS until they farmed out to Ampex). Surprisingly, the 3 3/4 IPS version pretty much matches the Capitol 7 1/2 IPS in overall sound and is a bit smoother. I still have these and they still sound great.
They were more expensive than the UK reels too. About twice the price of the LP.
Capitol only released Meet The Beatles in both 1/2 track mono and 1/4 track stereo as far as I know, on 5" reel initially in a black box. The only other one I know of is the initial release of Yesterday and Today (brown box). Later released on 7" reel. Supposedly the stereo reels of Y&T were all true stereo with no Duophonic tracks (fake stereo), unlike the stereo LP.
Yellow Submarine was also released on open reel as well.
The Capitol/Apple release of The White Album was also on a single 7" low torque reel. The Ampex version at 7.5 IPS is on two reels.
The Ampex duplicated tapes were all at 7.5 IPS, but the trade off was scrambled playlists in order to economize on pancake.
I have Abbey Road on Ampex reel, and prior to the 2009 CD remasters, it had no peer. I received that for Christmas in 1969. Still sounds great!
Like the UK tapes, there is a whole world to the US versions.
US single Lp tapes are 7 1/2 ips, but of course the Capitol versions of the albums. They also issued several albums in 2fer pairs at 3 3/4 ips, with one full alb per side of tape. Interestingly, there is a 1969/70 Y&T stereo tape, which should include the true stereo mixes and the rare early mixes of Revolver cuts.
I played and recorded on my dad's Grundig recorder to death! Seeing those machines, bring back great memories!
Just to keep in mind that Capitol released a handful of Beatles albums in the US on reel-to-reel tape during the 1960’s, and it was on a 7” reel rather than the 5” reel where it had a big gap to have more space. Both “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Yellow Submarine” like the one you mentioned were only released in the US on Capitol in 1967, and Apple in 1969. I looked on eBay and these reel-to-reel tapes of the US Beatles albums are quite expensive, and it became collector’s items.
The U.S. ones sounded much better.
I have Abbey Road on reel to reel
Love this Channel. Great stuff 👍
I’ve now added the word “gobbledygook” to my vocabulary, thank you!
Another well done video. Question... what was the original source(s) for these tapes (e.g. copies of copies of copies of the original first generation mono or stereo master tapes, needle drops transferred to tape, something else, etc.)?
Great Information and great Video too. He knows everything// Greetings from Spain.
Thanks for watching!
Very good information thanks
Hello Andrew: luv the tune 0:08 - 0:32.
That was super Andy , I’ve got 3 Akai machines in 3 separate rooms the best being a 474 dbx.
I’ve got multiple copies of the early-mid period mono earlier tapes and the mono Abbey Road too .Im pretty certain I’ve got the USA White Album somewhere too but I’m damned if I can ever find , I’m starting to think that I’ve never had it??
In the past I’ve bought some cheap “World record club” tapes just to get the plastic boxes to switch them over if the boxes had broken hinges or deep scratches on the plastic.
I just wish I had bought more of them when they were still out of vogue and dirt cheap to buy still.
Quite a few of the USA Capitol releases seemed to be released as “2fers” over the years .....
The Beatles seemed to be pretty well served with reel to reel tapes in the U.K. , but there’s a definite dearth of other bands of that era on reels , the USA seemed far better served.
Cheers, Dai. The reels are getting harder and harder to find, but I can't resist them. I need more machines too!
Parlogram Auctions ...well start resisting bidding on the Let It Be tape , that’s one I’ve been out bid on any times in the past!...yer bastard.
I think I already know the answer , but were Beatles reel tapes ever made on Continental Europe?.....do you tend to find them in Austria at all?
@@davidheafield1436 I've found a few of the later stereo tapes in Germany but they're pretty thin on the ground around here.
The next LIB reel is yours! ;)
Hello I just finished watching your post about the Beatles master you found on reel to reel and I to came across some Beatles tapes a few years ago unfortunately shortly after finding them I needed money and sold them to a collectable shop here in topeka these were in boxes that had a label on back said property of national masters museum then on the front they had hand written the content of that tape some were just one or two songs others were hour or more long there was 28 in total of the Beatles and the content was auditions, practice sessions, interviews, and BBC broadcast plus there was one of a song by a artist I never heard of and another of John cash live from Soledad prison 1968 i knew I messed up as soon as I sold them but considering I found them in a trash can and I needed the money $25 each sounded pretty good at the time I still deal with person who bought them and there is a good chance he still has them and I have thought about trying to buy them back I just don't have the extra money but if you or anybody else may be interested in checking into it let me know and I will give you the info needed
Fascinating stuff. Many thanks.
What a great video. Great knowledge about beatles reel to reels. It made me want to dig mine out and make a video for my channel. The sound quality is far superior. Thanks.
Thanks for watching, Andrew. Glad you enjoyed it. Good luck with your reels.
thanks nice share
I had both a Grundig and the Please please me tape in 1978 which i sold to a classmate. It was the only tape i had and used a standard cassette deck w inbuilt mic for recording. Never tried the reel to reel. Most had separate mic inputs and the mics were pretty bad. Wish i had kept mine but well, it was considered obsolete tech at that time. PPM was the only record my hippy brothers did not have. Dont know where i got mine..
Some of the American RXRs were recorded at 7 1/2. Wonder how those compare to their vinyl counterparts.
Fun to find this video after I shared my story the other day about hearing a great Abbey Road reel tape. Despite the stunning impression I had (I wonder now if it was a US tape?), it sounds from your reviews that the vinyl editions often represent the albums better. Perhaps my experience was largely informed by the amazing system and listening room and the lack of groove distortion etc.
How did the signal to noise ratios fair compared to the vinyl ? Are the tapes quieter between tracks ?
I have never heard any real to reel tapes before in my life I would love to get my hands on route to relatives including the Beatles it would be great to hear I’d love to hear how it sounds when you’re trying to play them forwards and backwards.
You didn't point out that by releasing them on 4" and 5" reels in mono and 2 track gave the tapes the advantage of being able to play it on a battery operated portable or on a home unit too , thats probably why they were offered that way in the first place
Hi Andrew, great video as always. I hadn't realised the stereo reel to reels where issued as late as 1970 and I'm curious about when Sgt Pepper was first released on stereo reel to reel. It had already been issued as a stereo cassette in 1967 (or 1968?) and therefore wasn't issued alongside the first cassette editions of the earlier albums in 1970. I have seen images of a stereo Pepper reel to reel with the "sold in UK" info which suggests it was released no later than 1969 so I'm wondering if it would have predated the 1970 issues of the other stereo reels.
Hi Richard, Unfortunately I don't have a stereo Pepper reel, but I'd be surprised if it came out at the same time as the cassette. I'll try and answer that question when I do a video on the cassettes, which will be coming soon. Thanks again for watching. Andrew.
@@Parlogram I can tell you - the Ampex 7.5 ips release of the Pepper album is superb. Period. The only thing I added to my copy is protective leaders on both the head and the tail.
Excellent!!
I got a repressing of Revolver and dubbing it to a type 2 tape.
Id trade either my totally restored Pioneer RT-909 or Otari MTR 12/2-C reel machines for a complete stereo set of UK Beatles reel to reel tapes. On THIS side of the pond, you can-could only get the Ampex prerecorded tapes. Some were made for 3 3/4 speeds and some at 7 1/2, depending on title. I think most were bulk produced using specially equalized high speed analog bin machines. Therefore, they might not spec as well on the spectrograph. Now all my Moody Blues open reel tapes sound surprisingly good on both speeds.
People will pay crazy money for these tapes, but I'm betting the EMI tapes sound better double mono and stereo alike. Might make an interesting future video, comparing the US AMPEX reel to reel tapes with the UK EMI R-2-R and original UK LP's. You never know though, some of the American Ampex pre-recorded R-2-R tapes sound pretty good on a first rate machine.
Looking forward to more videos. Cheers!
M favorite reels are 7 1/2 ips quad Moody Blues tapes. They sound amazing
@@danieldaniels7571 Good lord, those are rare to find.
Joshua Zimmerman yep, but worth the search.
@@danieldaniels7571 I have some, they are played back using a A3340S I also restored. I feed the 4 channels into my preamps External 7,1 inputs, quad never sounded better. Shame there isn't a In Search Of The Lost Chord quad, but one was never made or mixed.
I just subscribed. Enjoyed your talk about the Beatles tapes.
Fascinating.
If only the format was the same as the 1950s. 7.5 ips, 7" box.
I remember they were like little pro tapes, being 2 track and one sided.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Regards from Medellín.
Glad you enjoyed it
Wow...what an interesting video...thanks for all your research and info! Now there's another interesting Beatles format that I need to collect! The audio quality of your video is excellent...it would be even better if you could play a few seconds of some of those tapes, and audibly compare them to the LPs, since many viewers/listeners don't really know how to interpret the graphics. My other collectibles are a few Beatles 10" 78rpm records from India. I'll send you an mp3 if you like to hear one!
Thanks for watching, Hank. I hope I will be able to offer sound clips for comparison in the future. Do feel free to email mp3 of our 78s: andrew@parlogramauctions.com
Very interesting never knew the Beatles were on reel to reel heard DG and EMI classical though when they came out never sounded as good as a good turntable set up.what machines did they use to transfer on ? shame the Beatles didn't us 7/half ips speed would have made hell of a difference.Had same Revox myself long time ago.
I've been restoring two reel to reel recorders for a while . One I've had for ages and bought quite a few blank tapes for it.Back when Tandy sold the large reels. I've just been given an old 1965 model National stereo reel to reel that's in half decent condition. It just needed a good clean and re-oiling. But its got me interested again in the format. It didn't occur to me about Beatles tapes but I knew there were other prerecorded stuff out there. I'll bet their worth a fortune.
The good thing about reel to reel tapes is that they last if you look after them where cassettes fall to bits no matter how you store them . One of the worse ways of storing them is in a case not sure why but the leader tape falls off the cotton bud falls off ect ect. Mind you my TDK tapes are perfect so prerecorded tapes quality wise are crap. Luckily I digitized all mine before they were unplayable or I had to do major surgery .
Sentimental Journey was also issued on R2R by EMI in the UK
Thank You for this. Well done.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Parlogram Auctions Reel to Reel is the only format of the Beatles catalog I haven’t owned.
The White album version takes the song Glass Onion and takes out the second verse on the reel to reel. I don't have it but I heard it on a Beatles special.
Very cool! I've often wondered if Reel to Reel will make a comeback much like vinyl has.
I think open reel is hanging on by its fingernails. But there are enough of us old audiophiles out here to keep the format young. Nothing like watching a restored Teac A-3440, with 10.5 inch reels, turning at 15 ips!
No way, people are way too lazy for that.
The font used for the spines looks super similar to that used on the modern releases (same font?)
In my humble opinion EMI should make an elite set of 15 IPs tapes on all the albums. Obviously as that speed you would have to have two or possibly three tapes for each single record . I realise this would only be applicable to very high end audiophiles . However there are quite a few high market collector’s out there . In a pragmatic sense 7.5 IPS would make more sense , we know this could just take two tapes rather than three or four tapes .
I like many others have or had Revox A 77 machines , most 7.5 but other have the 15 ips capstans . EMI could have all the tapes remastered . In Japan they received 30 IPS tapes on Abbey Road in the late 1970s. I know there were a few quarter inch 30 ips masters sent to other countries, but that’s rare as the masters were always 15 ips quarter inch tapes.
Unfortunately Apple don't do 'elite'. I'd settle for decent 7.5ips tapes. Most A77 only have 3 3/4 and 7.5 ips. 15ips on those machines is quite rare.
In the late 70s I was given a reel to reel machine that had been owned by an uncle of mine. It only came with one tape: Austrian folk music. I often wondered if the Beatles LPs had been released on reel to reel but concluded (incorrectly) that the Beatles were too modern. I've carried that ignorance around with me for over 40 years and now find out there were in fact tapes. No Google or eBay back in the 70s.
I collect white albums on various formats and all I need is the reel to reel!
Wil C-137 .....you’ll need at least the uk and USA examples as the boxes were completely different , the U.K. follows the classic “white” packaging but the USA is in a brown box with portrait heads on it.
Ian Swinton that’s so cool!
Very informative. Thank you Andrew! But it is no wonder why this reels don’t have such frequency response as vinyl. This 3.1/4 ips too slow for it. It’s too bad that EMI ( due to economical and marketing reasons) won’t release this masterpieces on reels with 7.1/2 ips speed. This would be definitely better than LPs!
its the type of thing, you might get an audiophile label to do, like the MFSL pressing boxset. reel to reel is a very much niche market. years of selling vinyl, only a few people have asked for reel to reel.
j anon You are right, that’s why I mentioned economical reasons. And after all vinyl has more chances to save a better condition after decades (magnetic tape often suffer from humidity).
I would love to hear the Beatles on the real to reel tape thank you so much Andrew by the way happy Christmas to you and everyone else in your family Jesse from Portland Oregon.
Growing up in 1984 I never knew that we are real to reel tapes existed it’ll be cool to hear the Beatles forwards and backwards.
I wonder why yellow submarine and magical mystery tour were not released on a real to reel tape machine?
I think John Lennon did have a real Terrell tape of the song rain and he played it back and it was backwards.
I love the song tomorrow never knows it is great.
Happy New Year, Jessie.
Happy new year to you too Andrew@@Parlogram
Question.....you said that EMI stopped producing reel to reel in 1970....but I thought that Pink Floyd's "Pigs on the wing" included the middle verse...only on the reel to reel...and that LP came out in 77....have I got my facts all buggered? I thought that Harvest (The PF Lable) was a subsidury of EMI???...thanks for the cool channel!!
Danny
Hi Danny, 'Animals' was released on reel-to-reel by Columbia in the U.S., but not by EMI in the UK. Thanks for watching!
How to do the Beatles reel to reel compare to vinyl. Better or worse?
In the States, the reels and packaging was somewhat larger and not quite as, uh, shall we say particular. ;-)