I have some reels I’ve been storing since the mid-90s and I want to send them someplace to have them digitized and have the tracks separated. Is this an expensive process? I don’t know how many tracks they have, what size tape etc., got to dig them out of where they’ve been stored most of that time, but they were recorded at the sort of run of the mill studio a hardcore band would use around that time. Should I bake them first if I decide to send them off to have this done or is it possible that they aren’t degraded after so many years?
Edit: is the correct plural reels to reels or reel to reels? Trying to keep it real.
First of all you should figure out which machine recorded these tapes, otherwise you have no reference points. If you are lucky, this information was written on the tape case by the sound engineer.
After that, you should understand how much this material is: in case you have a lot of tapes, it might be cheaper to buy the reel to reel, and do the work yourself instead of renting a studio.
An example: a popular 8track in the 90’s was the Fostex 80: you can find it used and it’s not too expensive
Thanks… I guess I’ll dig them out and see but this was a professional/semi-professional studio so I’m guessing they are 2" 16 track reels and not something like those home studio Fostex which I am guessing are 1/2"?
