What was your favorite song to test wow and flutter?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Rubycon

Rubycon

Madame President
Aug 10, 2005
17,768
485
126
Caution! This thread contains things from the past. :p

I liked to record Neil Young's 'Heart Of Gold' to tape. If there was objectionable flutter I'd pick it up immediately when I heard the harmonica. It's a good tune too! :)

Some cassette tapes (and decks) just were atrocious. Of course as a Nakamichi Dragon owner I was picky. ;)
 
B

BUTCH1

Lifer
Jul 15, 2000
20,433
1,769
126
Rubycon said:
Caution! This thread contains things from the past. :p

I liked to record Neil Young's 'Heart Of Gold' to tape. If there was objectionable flutter I'd pick it up immediately when I heard the harmonica. It's a good tune too! :)

Some cassette tapes (and decks) just were atrocious. Of course as a Nakamichi Dragon owner I was picky. ;)
Click to expand...

That was a dual-capstan unit, correct?, those were lots better in all areas but were expensive at the time..
 
feralkid

feralkid

Lifer
Jan 28, 2002
16,815
4,910
136
Rubycon said:
Caution! This thread contains things from the past. :p

I liked to record Neil Young's 'Heart Of Gold' to tape. If there was objectionable flutter I'd pick it up immediately when I heard the harmonica. It's a good tune too! :)

Some cassette tapes (and decks) just were atrocious. Of course as a Nakamichi Dragon owner I was picky. ;)
Click to expand...


Love Nakamichi.

Played through a McIntosh pre-amp, power amp and a set of ESS Heil AMT's.


Oh, almost forgot to send it through a DBX "Compander" to eliminate any residual tape hiss.

1979, baby.


Oh, yeah..."Welcome to The Machine" was a good W&F test.
 
Last edited:
Rubycon

Rubycon

Madame President
Aug 10, 2005
17,768
485
126
gophins72 said:
is this some sort of world of warcraft reference?
Click to expand...

LOL, just LOL :biggrin:


BUTCH1 said:
That was a dual-capstan unit, correct?, those were lots better in all areas but were expensive at the time..
Click to expand...

Dual capstan, three heads!

feralkid said:
Love Nakamichi.

Played through a McIntosh pre-amp, power amp and a set of ESS Heil AMT's.


Oh, almost forgot to send it through a DBX "Compander" to eliminate any residual tape hiss.

1979, baby.


Oh, yeah..."Welcome to The Machine" was a good W&F test.
Click to expand...

Finally someone gets it! ;)

Old Hippie said:
Nakamichi Dragon, ESS Heil AMT's.......I'm having a flashback!
Click to expand...

You were blown away too? :biggrin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DP89iMe0BY
 
skyking

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
22,667
5,788
146
I had a 600 II, a fairly inexpensive ( dare I say cheap?) Nakamichi. I wore the heads out:(
 
amdhunter

amdhunter

Lifer
May 19, 2003
23,332
249
106
Rubycon said:
Caution! This thread contains things from the past. :p

I liked to record Neil Young's 'Heart Of Gold' to tape. If there was objectionable flutter I'd pick it up immediately when I heard the harmonica. It's a good tune too! :)

Some cassette tapes (and decks) just were atrocious. Of course as a Nakamichi Dragon owner I was picky. ;)
Click to expand...

Damn. I used to be one of "those" who avoided CDs like the plauge. I had no money back in the day so all I had was a Gemini 1800Q and Gemini BD10. They were both pretty decent turntables.

I also had a 3 Head Fisher cassette. Imagine my horror when it died, and I had to go to a plain old Fisher dual cassette. I couldn't afford another 3 head deck and had to suffer without being able to "tweak."

I wished so hard that DCC would take off. I seen one at a Tower Records back in the day and almost bought it, glad I didn't.
 
Rubycon

Rubycon

Madame President
Aug 10, 2005
17,768
485
126
amdhunter said:
Damn. I used to be one of "those" who avoided CDs like the plauge. I had no money back in the day so all I had was a Gemini 1800Q and Gemini BD10. They were both pretty decent turntables.

I also had a 3 Head Fisher cassette. Imagine my horror when it died, and I had to go to a plain old Fisher dual cassette. I couldn't afford another 3 head deck and had to suffer without being able to "tweak."

I wished so hard that DCC would take off. I seen one at a Tower Records back in the day and almost bought it, glad I didn't.
Click to expand...


Ah yes DCC. Never tried it as I was already a DAT head. :D
Mini Discs to me sounded awful. (like an improperly encoded lossy file)

I'm waiting for the next delivery method if it ever comes to fruition - flash cards! Imagine a deck with slots for SDHC memory cards in them! Being able to read multiple formats with a link to a PC to manage them, instant random access, a connection for effect pads/pedals. It would be a musician/DJ wet dream! :eek:
 
Modelworks

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
I was mainly into ACDC , Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, at the time and used records when I could, but I think Def Leppard's ,Billys got a gun, was the song I remember being upset about because the cassette deck I was using just sucked at playing it back compared to the record.
 
rudeguy

rudeguy

Lifer
Dec 27, 2001
47,351
14
61
oooh IN!

When I was selling car audio, we'd still get people that INSISTED on a tape deck. I got a $1 Christmas bestof album at the gas station for those people to listen to. I figured I would help them transition.
 
sandorski

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,663
6,234
126
Didn't have a song, just listened closely to whatever was playing. W&F was far from the worst issue with cassettes, but it sure sucked nonetheless. Fidelity was the worst IMO, not just from the Players, but from the physical Tape and Sound Engineering as well. second place goes to Damage, especially from being Eaten, but also from the constant friction on the tape.

Glad those days are over.
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,636
30,912
146
are you talking Analog or DAT? I never got into that stuff at the time or later, but wasn't DAT already around (though pro-summer to pro level) before analog came onto the scene?
 
Rubycon

Rubycon

Madame President
Aug 10, 2005
17,768
485
126
zinfamous said:
are you talking Analog or DAT? I never got into that stuff at the time or later, but wasn't DAT already around (though pro-summer to pro level) before analog came onto the scene?
Click to expand...


Analog cassettes. DAT was available in Japan in the 70s but did not come to the USA later due to (drumroll) copyright issues. Consumer decks sold in the USA had serial copy management system (SCMS) that allowed a SINGLE copy off a CD digitally. A bit flag was recorded on this copy and if you tried to copy it digitally the recording deck would display a message that you were prohibited from doing this. This would not stop unlimited analog copies, however. The intent was to prevent bit perfect copies to be generated without limits. It was a form of DRM in a sense.

W&F without a doubt was the most annoying thing in cassette recordings for me. I could deal with frequency response roll off, hiss, etc. These are things one has to deal with today when listening to original recordings, etc. Misuse of Dolby NR is another issue as well but that's essentially PEBKAC. :p

Another way to get very good recordings was to use a hifi VHS deck and record audio in only. 20-20kHz response, inaudible W&F, excellent SNR and dynamic range. :)
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,636
30,912
146
Rubycon said:
Analog cassettes. DAT was available in Japan in the 70s but did not come to the USA later due to (drumroll) copyright issues. Consumer decks sold in the USA had serial copy management system (SCMS) that allowed a SINGLE copy off a CD digitally. A bit flag was recorded on this copy and if you tried to copy it digitally the recording deck would display a message that you were prohibited from doing this. This would not stop unlimited analog copies, however. The intent was to prevent bit perfect copies to be generated without limits. It was a form of DRM in a sense.

W&F without a doubt was the most annoying thing in cassette recordings for me. I could deal with frequency response roll off, hiss, etc. These are things one has to deal with today when listening to original recordings, etc. Misuse of Dolby NR is another issue as well but that's essentially PEBKAC. :p

Another way to get very good recordings was to use a hifi VHS deck and record audio in only. 20-20kHz response, inaudible W&F, excellent SNR and dynamic range. :)
Click to expand...

ah yeah, I remember coming across some of those audio-only VHS tapes. I was like, "WTF man?" at the time. :D
 
ComputerWizKid

ComputerWizKid

Golden Member
Apr 28, 2004
1,188
0
86
My favorite test song is "Eagles - Hotel California" I just got a Record player and I can tell if there is too much WOW & Flutter just by hearing the opening of the track
Anyone know how to fix a warped Eagles Record?D:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom