[atlantaprog] Re: Last Analog Tape Plant in World Closes (Opelika, AL)

The NPR story indicates that this was the last plant *in America*. I suspect that boutique tape suppliers will continue to operate for what little market is left.

The Scholz article was interesting. He sounds like a bit of a Luddite to me! A well-designed digital system shouldn't experience the failure rate he describes, and his griping about having to use a mouse - I guess he hasn't done his research. There are devices out there that provide the same sorts of push-button, punch-in controls he laments.

As far as the permanence of digital files - data exists independently of its medium. The files on the hypothetical "IDE hard drive" will have no doubt been preserved on several media types, and will no doubt be transferred to more robust media as they emerge. The software issues you describe are relevant to "in progress" projects. Once a project is finished, it typically exists as a series of universally compatible data files (such as AIFF).

In other words, I'm not too concerned!!!

AWG


On Jan 5, 2005, at 9:33 PM, Wheat Williams wrote:

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/06/ 004226&tid=141&tid=188&tid=1

Last Manufacturer of Pro Analog Audio Tape Closes

Posted by CowboyNeal on Wednesday January 05, @07:37PM
from the reel-too-real dept.
goosman writes "Quantegy, the last manufacturer of professional reel-to-reel analog audio tape in the world has closed their plant in Opelika, AL leaving a reported 250 workers without jobs, according to the Opelika-Auburn News. Emtec (the former BASF, which used to be AGFA) was the last European manufacturer and ceased manufacuring in 2002. An audio account of the closing can be heard at NPR."

http://www.oanow.com/servlet/Satellite? pagename=OAN%2FMGArticle%2FOAN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=10317799767 67&path=!news!localnews

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=4259503

------------------
Wheat sez--

Tom Scholz, legendary engineer/bandleader for Boston, recently gave an interview published at Gibson.com where he stated that he knew he was going to have to give up on analog reel-to-reel in the next year or two. He has switched to ProTools but hates it, and says he has to have an extra full-time professional engineer on his payroll just to operate ProTools. And he goes on and on about the specific limitations of digital recording (frequent computer crashes) and the digital medium, and the audible superiority of analog tape.

"Classic Sound of Boston is Still Tom Scholz, Still Recording on Tape"

http://www.gibson.com/absolutenm/templates/FeatureTemplate.aspx? articleid=175&zoneid=2
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Wheat sez--

The big problem here is that analog tape is the universal archival medium.

100 years from now, engineers will be able to play back 2-inch 24-track tape if it's been carefully environmentally preserved. But in 2104, who will be able to access and remix the individual tracks on an IDE hard disk of an elaborately mixed album recorded in Cubase SX 2.2 optimized for a Motorola G4 processor running Mac OS X 10.2? Nobody. All we will have, if we are lucky, is a 16-bit CD with a stereo mix.

In 1997 I interned at Crawford Productions. The Martin Luther King Foundation brought in Reverend King's entire library of sermons and speeches, which were on 1/4 inch reel-to-reel and cassette, for archival restoration. While Crawford made DATs and CDs, they explained to the Martin Luther King Foundation that they were also re-copying everything to fresh 1/4 inch analog tape, and that this would be the preferred archival method and the tapes they should most jealously protect.

What now?

Wheat Williams




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