Analogue Tape Machines

Exploration
Published in SOS May 1997

Technique : Theory + Technical

HUGH ROBJOHNS dons his technical head and invites you on a guided
tour of what makes an analogue tape recorder tick...

Though magnetic audio recording has been around since before the Second World War,
tape recording in the form we know it today is really a post-war phenomena. The first
generation of paper-backed tapes made by BASF have long since been superseded by
modern polyester designs with vastly improved magnetic coatings. The mechanics and
electronics of the recording apparatus have also benefited from technological
developments, to the stage where, to all intents and purposes, current magnetic tape
recorders represent the very pinnacle of the medium. It is hard to see any means of
making further significant improvements -- at least cost-effective ones -- to the medium,
and digital formats are already coming to the fore, as we all know.
The inherent properties of magnetic tape recording mean that it is far from 'perfect'.
Harmonic and dynamic distortion are part and parcel of the medium, but these qualities
are so ingrained in our audio culture that technically more accurate digital recordings often
seem 'flat' by comparison. Inevitably, the great open-reel tape machine manufacturers,
such as Studer, Tascam, Otari and the rest, will gradually phase out their production of
analogue recorders in favour of digital systems, so this is probably the best time to acquire
an analogue machine if you don't already have one!

TAPE TALK
Before we look at how the tape recorder works, perhaps it's worthwhile to spend a few
moments considering the actual recording medium -- the tape. Recording tape is coated
with a metallic compound capable of storing a pattern of magnetisation. This
magnetisation is varied in strength and direction to represent the original sound waveform.
In other words, the magnetisation pattern is analogous to the air pressure variations of the
original sound.
Modern tape formats use polyester as the tape base, with a suitable magnetic coating.
Polyester has the ideal combination of strength and flexibility, such that it will not snap or
stretch under normal usage. The thickness of the backing material is important: if it's too
thin, the tape transport may have difficulty in handling it (the C120 cassette being the most
obvious and notorious example). If it's too thick, the amount of tape which can be wound
on to a given spool is limited, reducing recording and playing times.
Typical 'Standard Play' open-reel tape is about 50 microns thick, with a full 10-inch reel of
tape (the standard professional size) lasting a little over 30 minutes at 15 inches per
second, or ips (a common speed for a professional machine). However, other thicknesses
are available, notably the 'Long Play' version, which is only 35 microns thick. This type of
tape is most commonly used on machines with particularly twisty tape paths, or where the

spool size is restricted, the most obvious example being the infamous Nagra tape
recorders used for location sound recording. In its portable mode, the Nagra will only
accept 5-inch spools, and its tape path involves a couple of very sharp 90 degree bends,
so Long Play tape is the ideal choice.
Most modern tapes are 'back coated', which means that they have a slightly matt and
rough-feeling surface, as opposed to a shiny, slippery one. The back coating is to improve
how the tape winds (by offering improved friction between layers) and to exclude trapped
air during fast winding. Neat and even winding is important in avoiding edge damage to the
tape -- the most common cause of drop-outs and poor head-to-tape contact. On the
subject of edge damage, a correctly wound tape should not touch either spool flange but
should sit between them, and any tape spools which are bent, so that they rub against the
tape during recording or playback, should be thrown away and replaced with new ones
immediately!
Depending on the requirements of the tape, the detail of the magnetic material used to
make up the magnetic coating may vary, but is usually either a metal oxide or metal alloy
compound. The most common material is gamma-ferric oxide (gamma referring to the
shape of the ferrous particles) but chromium-dioxide formulations are also used. In the
early to mid-'80s, metal-particle tapes were developed, primarily for compact cassette
recorders, but few machines were equipped to make best use of the formulation, as metal
tapes need extremely high levels of magnetisation (they have a high 'coercivity', which is
the ability of the tape to become, and remain, magnetised). The majority of domestic
cassette machines simply could not achieve the required field strengths, although those
that could benefited from better distortion and signal-to-noise ratios. In fact the metalparticle tape has become more commonly used for digital audio and video recording,
where its very high recording density is ideally suited to the high-frequency requirements
of digital formats. It should be noted that tapes intended for digital recorders have radically
different compositions to those for analogue recorders, because the nature of the recorded
information is entirely different -- never use digital-formulation tapes on analogue
machines!

"Modern machines can extract a far better frequency

response from old archive tapes than was ever possible
at the time of their recording."
Fundamentally, recording tape is little more than a highly sophisticated rusty ribbon, the
nature, shape and depth of the 'rust' particles bestowing the combination of properties the
manufacturer is seeking.
The magnetic properties of recording tape are far from linear, and, if used 'raw', would
produce very quiet but heavily distorted recordings. To 'linearise' the medium, a highfrequency signal (typically about 150kHz) called bias is used. The amount of bias needed
to produce optimum results depends largely on the precise construction of the magnetic
layer, and will affect output level, noise, distortion and frequency response. This is a point
I'll return to later.

Another characteristic of recording tape is that high-frequency signals tend to be retained

by the top surface of the magnetic layer, whilst lower-frequency components tend to be
recorded throughout its full depth. This has a bearing on the requirements of the recording
heads and the longevity of recordings.

THE FORMATS
There are many analogue tape recording formats available today, all broadly standardised
around the world. The largest professional format uses 2-inch tape and the smallest uses
eighth-inch:
2-inch: originally recorded 16 tracks, but now the international standard is 24 tracks on
2-inch tape and is probably the most common multitrack format in use around the world.
1-inch: an 8-track format which was also available as 16-track from some manufacturers.
Half-inch: widely used for mastering (in stereo), or occasionally for 4-track work.
Quarter-inch: there are a number of common versions: stereo (also known as DIN
format); 2-track (also known as NAB format); 4-track; semi-pro 8-track and occasional 16track machines (with noise reduction systems built in).
All these tape formats record across the whole width of the tape, allowing blank areas
(guard bands) between the different channels or tracks, and therefore operate in one
direction only. The upper edge of the tape is always track 1 (or the left channel in the case
of a stereo machine) and the lower edge corresponds to the highest numbered track (right
channel in a stereo machine).
There are also a couple of domestic formats, and these all use the tape as a bi-directional
medium -- you turn the tape over when it reaches the end of one side, and play it back the
other way. The compact cassette works in this way, of course, as does the now very rare
domestic 4-track (two stereo pairs) on quarter-inch tape. The latter uses tracks 1 and 3 in
the first direction (for left and right respectively) and tracks 4 and 2 (ditto) in the reverse
direction.
In general, background noise and susceptibility to drop-outs (areas of tape where the
recording material is absent or inefficient) is reduced as the recorded area of tape is
increased. For this reason, multitrack formats used to maintain the recorded area ratio
established by the 2-track quarter-inch format: two tracks on quarter-inch, four tracks on
half-inch, eight tracks on 1-inch and 16 tracks on 2-inch. However, noise reduction
systems allowed a reduction in recorded area for similar noise performance, hence the
advent of the 24-track format. For the ultimate signal-to-noise ratio, though, greater
recorded area is the only way to go and consequently the half-inch stereo mastering
format is very popular, as is increased tape speed to 30 or 15ips as opposed to 7.5 or
3.75ips.

MECHANICS
The tape transport is critical to the performance of the entire tape recorder. An analogue
tape machine must be strong enough to be able to support the heavy spool and capstan

motors, and the tape guides, control panel and interconnection panels must be robust
enough to withstand typical operational abuse.
The tape path involves a collection of guides, tension-sensing devices and anti-flutter
rollers, as well as the capstan and pinch roller, all of which are constructed from nonferrous (thus non-magnetic) materials. Some of the guides will be fixed pillars, accurately
machined to support and control the alignment of the tape, while others are free to rotate
on high-quality bearings.
Most professional machines employ three heads -- erase, record and playback. However,
not all machines have three heads, as some combine the functions of the record and
replay heads into a single head. This compromises the quality of both the record and
replay functions but reduces cost significantly, and can simplify some other aspects of the
machine. The advantage of a three-head machine is that recording quality can be checked
by listening to the signal replayed from the third head. This is often called confidence
monitoring: not only does it confirm the technical quality of what is going to tape, but the
small replay delay due to the spacing between record and replay heads also verifies that
the machine really is recording something!
The tape must be kept in constant contact with the record and replay heads to ensure
good high-frequency response and uniform levels. This task was originally performed by
felt pressure pads, but fortunately this crude and unreliable technique has largely been
discontinued in favour of accurately controlled tape tension determined by the feed-spool
motor. However, cassette formats and some older domestic open-reel machines still rely
on felt pads. Any unsupported length of tape under tension is likely to resonate or vibrate
as it is pulled across the heads and this may become audible as a modulating tone, or as
speed variations. Many professional machines use a roller guide between the erase and
record heads to help control this 'scrape-flutter', as it's called. As the tape leaves the head
block, it might pass over a second tensioning arm and, finally, on to the take-up spool.

"To all intents and purposes, current magnetic tape

recorders represent the very pinnacle of the medium."
The speed of the capstan motor is possibly one of the most important aspects of the entire
transport. If the overall speed is not correct, replaying a tape on another machine will result
in pitch and timing errors. If the speed is not accurately maintained, short-term pitch
variations will be heard as wow (low speed variations) or flutter (high speed variations),
neither being desirable on a modern machine, of course. However, there are many causes
of wow and flutter, not all of which are directly attributable to the capstan motor. Eccentric
pinch-rollers and badly worn rotating tape guides are actually the most common culprits.
The vast majority of open-reel tape recorders are arranged so that the tape heads face the
front of the machine and the backing side of the tape faces the operator. This is very
convenient for mechanical tape editing, but means that the recording oxide comes into
contact with all the guides and rollers, sometimes leading to scratches and drop-outs. In
contrast, many European tape recorders are arranged so that the tape is used 'oxide-out',

the head block facing away from the operator and the tape backing coming into contact
with most of the guides.

HEAD CASE
The three magnetic heads of a professional tape recorder are each optimised to perform
their own particular job, but fundamentally consist of what can be thought of as an iron Cshaped core, wrapped with a coil of wire. When an electric current is passed through the
winding, a magnetic field is produced across the gap in the iron core, the latter being
arranged so that it is in contact with the recording tape (see Figure 1). If the current
through the head varies in direct proportion to the sound signal, a varying magnetic field is
produced, and as the tape is pulled past the head, its oxide layer becomes influenced by
this magnetic field, effectively retaining its magnetic state as it departs the head. The
replay head is constructed in a similar way but operates in reverse, so that the magnetic
field embodied in the recorded tape sets up alternating electric currents in the head
winding. These currents are then amplified and processed to recreate the original audio
signal.
The erase head may cover the entire tape width (normal on a true stereo machine), or it
may be split to allow independent erasure of individual tracks. During the erase process it
is fed with the very high-frequency signal (typically in the region of 150kHz or so) called
bias, which I mentioned earlier, and the magnetic field this creates becomes weaker with
increasing distance from the centre of the head gap (in both directions). As the tape is
pulled towards and past this head, the magnetic particles in the tape experience gradually
increasing levels of high-frequency signal, reaching a maximum value and then gradually
decreasing to zero. The tape is not capable of storing this high-frequency bias signal, and
so leaves the head with its magnetic particles effectively randomly magnetised. Thus any
previous recordings will have been erased.
The record head has to impart an audio frequency signal to the tape, but in its raw form
this signal is found to be grossly distorted on replay, a phenomenon caused by the nonlinear characteristics of the oxide particles within the tape. The solution is to add a highfrequency bias signal to the audio signal, which effectively forces the magnetisation
process to become far more linear (note that the bias signal is not retained by the tape -- it
merely enables the recording process). The size of the gap in the recording head is not
particularly critical, provided a sufficient field strength can be created, so relatively large
gaps tend to be used to ensure that the magnetic field is large enough to reach the full
depth of the magnetic layer in the tape. In fact, the effective recording zone is not in front
of the head at all, but is actually at the point where the tape leaves the influence of its
magnetic field.
The replay process relies on the generation of electric currents in a coil of wire wrapped
around an iron core which gathers the varying magnetic field embodied in the tape. The
inherent sensitivity of the replay head to magnetic flux means that it must be properly
shielded from fields generated by the transport motors and mains transformer, so the head
is usually enclosed in a protective case, often with a fold-down front piece which can be
raised after the tape has been laced.
The physics of the situation are such that the voltage induced across the head windings
increases in direct proportion to the rate of change of the magnetic field, thus the head
produces a much greater output for a high-frequency audio signal recorded on tape than it
does for a low-frequency one. This increase in output voltage with increasing frequency

can be compensated for with a 6dB/octave equaliser, but at very low frequencies various
magnetic anomalies result in an uneven frequency response, often referred to as 'head
bumps' or 'woodles'.
The size of the gap in the replay head has a critical effect at high audio frequencies. When
the recorded signal on the tape has a wavelength equal to the width of the head gap, there
will be no net magnetic flux, so the electrical output from the head will be zero. This is
called the extinction frequency, and the frequency response of the head falls rapidly as the
extinction frequency is approached (see Figure 2). Clearly it's desirable to design the head
such that the extinction frequency is well above the highest required audio frequency, so a
very narrow head gap is used. While this was difficult to achieve in early tape machines,
modern engineering has allowed the sub-micron sized gap.
Note that if a lower tape speed is used, the recorded wavelengths will be correspondingly
shorter, so the extinction frequency will fall, potentially reducing the frequency range on
replay -- a common problem with cheaper cassette machines, for example. The dichotomy
between the head gap requirements for recording and replay functions also explains the
preference for three separate heads in professional machines!
An interesting point related to the reduction in replay head gap sizes over recent years is
that modern machines can extract a far better frequency response from old archive tapes
than was ever possible at the time of their recording. As the recording process is largely
independent of the record head's construction, recordings made in the late '50s and early
'60s are frequently found to be of extremely good technical quality when replayed on
modern machines. The quality limitations of early tape recorders were generally related to
their large-gap replay heads and antiquated amplifier circuitry; the recordings themselves
were often to a far higher standard than could be replayed at the time!