THE END HAS ARRIVED! TAPE IS OFFICIALLY DEAD!

[frenchman]

I'm really miss the smell of a rewinding 2" in the morning.

True that a good old Ampex 456 rewinding somewhat helped mask the morning stale smoke smell !

I won't regret the ones (3m I seem to remember) that smelled of bleach !!!

[Lee Blaske]

Quantegy Inc in the USA ceased operations pending a restructure. This is due to the severe fall in worldwide sales of open reel products due to the introduction of new and different formats.

The repercussions to the raw material suppliers of tape have been that they have raised their costs. Subsequently the whole Quantegy operation has had to be reviewed.

For the moment Quantegy EAME (Europe and the Middle East) will still be operating in the short term, in its present form as normal, until further notice.

Please note that Quantegy is not in anyway in any form of bankruptcy.

Angel Ramos
Quantegy France

Assuming that you are who you say you are, and that what you say is true, shouldn't there be a prominent statement about the current situation on the Quantegy website? It appears this closing has triggered a round of panic buying by lots of people hoping to stock up before the last reel of tape is gone. I just checked, and the last press release on the Quantegy website as dated 4/1/03 (and oddly enough, it was about Quantegy getting into the FW hard drive business).

This doesn't affect me, because I got rid of my 2" machines years ago. But, if you have hopes of maintaining analog tape as a viable pro format, you're shooting yourself in the foot by creating anxiety over whether fresh tape supplies will continue to be available. If tape is truly no longer available, facilities that use it are going to need to make other plans. In short, it's a really weird way to run a business.

Lee Blaske

[Muzoid]

The thing I miss most about tape is the ear break. The constant (quite) rewinding helped keep me fresh through long sessions. With Pro Tools there are no ear breaks.

I get artists all the time wanting me to loop a tune so that they can work on the lyrics in the control room (same as they always did with tape), so now I just put a blank 8 or 16 bars at the end, for an ear break. It's funny, they are so used to the music never stopping. Just about when they turn to me and say "could you play it again?", it usually starts up again. Works for me.

Occasionally you do get some maniac who asks that I loop it without the break... go figure!

[B. Randall Carter]

Well I know most of you won't agree but it's just another nail in the coffin of true talent and creativity.
Sure, isn't it great when the talentless git sitting at the back of the control room says "I hit a couple of bum notes but you can fix them later" instead of "drop me in and I'll try for a better one"

Too many tools not enough talent! If you can't play go away!!

That is CRAP! Did creativity end when recordings started? How about when we shifted from records to tape? How about when we went from mono recordings (1 take recording) to multitrack recording? How about when we could start punching in. Yea, I think that's when it ended, the moment that musicians weren't forced to do a perfect take all the way through. That is definitely when true talent and creativity ended. Give me a break.

Apparently you haven't noticed that musicians are required to be far more proficient than they used to be, and that we use the new tools to be MORE creative and musical than we used to be. Yes, better tools breeds laziness, but it also breeds intuition. True talent and creativity do not rely on tools, but come from within, and they can't be destroyed by an advancement in technology or the end of an era. If they are, they are not true talent and creativity.

Absolutely a ridiculous statement.

[thothprod]

Is yall Crazy....Somebody somewhere is going to be needing and using tape...Bet most of yall thought nobody was pressing Vinyl anymore either....WRONG.
Just the other day I was looking at some present day Audiophile Turntables (not DJ)...seen one for 3500 and another for over 5 grand...and these babys are selling...(I would buy one myself if I could afford it).....and they our still pressing new Vinyl...and Vinyl from tape masters from back in the day...(especialy Jazz)...Tape and Vinyl have never went away...you just got to have the Jack to be able to afford it...Dam some of those turntables are gorgeous...and with a well recorded "VINYL" LP and system ...they Kick....Fo Real...yea everybody is right when they talk about the ergonomic superiority of Digital Media...but Tape/Vinyl/Analog is still alive and kicking hard...and on the Production side...Yall should know one of the most prolific figures in AUDIO of the 20th and 21st century Rupert Neve made the 1st New Analog Console in many years...Naw Analog never went away....the stage for it just got smaller...and the price of admission expanded astronomically...

ThothProd

[thothprod]

As matter of fact....Check this out


http://www.home-cinema.com/zara/zarathustra.htm

ThothProd

[electrok]

OK I have to chime in here. Quantegy did not go bankrupt. They closed for restructuring.
Quantegy has a million sq foot campus and they can get by with less than half of that. The company has closed to restructure so they can run a profitable business.
It's my belief that the outcome will actually lower the cost of tape.
Here's the real question.

Why are so many people out their cheering for the death of analog? If analog is such a inferior medium then why would people be so happy to see it go? what's it to them if I want to record with analog?

I think it's because there's a real threat that digital still doesn't sound right. and analog is a constant reminder that digital recording is not up to snuff. If analog dies then there is no longer a comparison to be judged by.

Hey vaccuum tubes arn't used anymore but you'll be hard pressed to see a guitar player that wants to play through a transistor amp. The 1980's were supposed to be the death of the tube. also the death of acoustic strings and acoustic drums.

so go ahead and slam me. but I can still hear above 15k and what's up their ain't right

Electrok

[thothprod]

BOTTOM LINE IMO....
There are advantages to both digital and analog....I believe that there was never a need for analog to be negated for digital....they could have co-existed very nicely...and made it cheaper for those to stay with analog who chose to...But because the whole digital thing was PUSHED....we have exactly what we have....A marketplace where only rich people can afford to Do analog..(both consumers and Producers)....and a digital industry too many times trying to "recapture" that "Analog Warmth"....or Analog Haters who are to young to even remember what a good analog recording or Reproduction system sounded like making ignorant statements about the superiority of Digital over Analog...

ThothProd

[LFOT]

To quote just ONE of the news articles on the subject...

"In a brief statement Friday, Quantegy officials said the company "has ceased operations pending restructuring." Quantegy has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Gunter said plant officials told city leaders in early 2004 that the company was struggling."

So...

What part of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy is misunderstood?
I hope that the press is wrong, and I really do hope I am forced to eat crow on the subject. However, anybody want to place some bets?

Also, just because I think it needs to be said. [bleep] QUANTEGY. Yeah, I said it (and it will probably be edited out at some point)... [bleep] QUANTEGY and the way they let their employees know of their new situations.

"Happy [bleep] newyear. Thanks for the years of hard work and all. We know that all of you probably got some cash in cute little bank envelopes for x-mas from people that care about you but don't really know enough about you to actually buy you something. So that should tide your 50 year old only-had-one-job-most-of-your-life-and-are-completely-unqualified-for-any-other-work-in-the-local-area-other-that-telemarketing-or-fast-food ass. Oh, and don't call us after the 'restructuring.' We'll call you."

And to the dude that's trying to compare vinyl production with tape production:

There's no comparison with vinyl production. Vinyl can be produced in much smaller quantities with MUCH LOWER TOLERANCES FOR QUALITY than professional analog tape. Why do you think there was only ONE company left doing it?


I'm really not pissed-off at anyone. I just don't have anything better to do right now.

[Lee Blaske]

There's no comparison with vinyl production. Vinyl can be produced in much smaller quantities with MUCH LOWER TOLERANCES FOR QUALITY than professional analog tape. Why do you think there was only ONE company left doing it?

That's really important to understand. Cranking out 2" tape at the quality level that people expect is not something you can easily do on a small scale (like starting up a boutique mic pre business in your basement or garage). It's a very complicated process, and expensive as all get-out to get up and running. Unless they're already set up for it, I doubt any off shore companies are going to get interested in the business. It would take a huge investment to get going, and if the quality wasn't there, customers would be brutal. Also, no matter what, it's a dying industry (since no company is making new 24 tracks anymore), and sales will continue to diminish. All in all, not a great business to get into. Maybe ATR will get a boutique tape business started, but it seems to be a struggle for them and they're not close to having product for sale.

If Quantegy really does intend to bounce back, they're making a huge mistake by not expending effort to paint a rosy picture and inform their customers that they will return. A major disruption in supply like this will definitely cause more analog tape machines to be unplugged for good. If there is no predictable source for new media, recording studios simply cannot rely on the format.

When you read various lists and forums, you see a lot of people waxing eloquently about analog. I really wonder, though, how much of that equipment is being used. I think a lot of people on budgets end up tracking to analog, transferring to digital, and then using that same reel of tape over and over and over again. That's not going to keep a tape manufacturer in business. The cost of a reel of 2" tape these days is bizarrely expensive compared to what a lot of people are charging for an hourly studio rate. What happens if 2" costs rise dramatically from where they're at? How many people would fork over $300 or $400 for a single reel of tape?

Lee Blaske