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To own one album - $450! Self indulgence to the max when you can get a really good sound for $5 (used) to $30 (reissue) for a title. I have a lot of AP reissues, but good luck to them on this one.

the tapes are like that of tape project 1/4-inch and 2-track.

If Beatles to tape ever became a reality... I would pay $1,000 per album and more.. hahahaha

EMI, tap into the 'idiot market' - comprising of fanatics like me.... Gold rivers await.

realtime copying ?

Each copy is "sourced from a copy of the original analog master tape". http://store.acousticsounds.com/s/462?keywords=NL100416&utm_source=NL100...

Anytime the Tape subject is brought up it generates controversy. Tape is prohibitively expensive with a catelog that is microscope. This just demonstrates what is possible in home audio reproduction. Only after you've sorted out the rest of your system and have built a great collection of records or cd's should you even think about tape.
Use it as a reference but not as a source for daily listening. Tapes like documents is all about providence, supposely copies of master tapes are poping up all over, stay far away from them. I've purchased many of the Tape Project and Groove Note releases and they are the real deal just like I'm positive Chad's will be.

I've definitely been burned on some dubious tapes a few times, which isn't fun knowing how much these things can go for... often times on the "underground market" they will cost much more than what they are charging here, and with no provenance! The funny thing is that if you look hard enough often times you can actually find original masters. 1st generation, or even sub masters. Sure most of the time it'll be obscure stuff on smaller labels, for better or worse, but you'd be surprised at the amount of very well known major stuff that's flown completely under the radar. Not dubs. Originals. And sometimes even with more provenance than you'd get from these bogus dubs. A few weeks ago I got a whole lot of jazz masters from a NYC studio, something like $18 for the whole thing. I had to make a few trips to get them all into my house. Some on 1/4" some on 1/2".

I digress. This kind of project is the best thing that can possibly happen for anyone interested in tape - one more major provider of legitimate software is a godsend, and the prices are believe it or not, "cheap". I just wish there was more info on their dubbing process, and what tape they're using - nothing indicates they are coming on 2 reels, so I can only presume they are dubbing these on cheap thin tapestock? That's a deal breaker, especially at a similar price point to tape project. I also think TP offers much better titles, I personally have no interest in anything announced for this first year of titles. I'm hoping licensing isn't so restrictive that they can't put out more interesting recordings in the future.

To anyone's knowledge will these tape copies have test tones on them? without correct tape azimuth and frequency alignment the playback results from consumer deck to deck will vary widely.
Then again there are a lot of 1/4 track consumer decks that don't have external adjustments for that anyway.

My point about 1/4 track, 1/2 track or whatever is, you use an mrl tape for reference only in aligning your own deck for playback only. It does not apply for audio that is recorded on other decks in other studios with other head gap specs and other electronics. That's how engineers and technicians take tapes from studio to studio in the analog world and achieve consistency. You need tones to properly align the frequency response on the specific deck that you have. I'm sorry to disagree with you but please do your homework when you make comments like this. You would not believe the discrepancies I've seen as a recording engineer for 30 years between playback response between Studers, Scully's Ampexes and Mci"s
They are all somewhat different and test tones are important. Personally as an engineer/producer, I think the whole thing is a money grab. Kudo's to Analogue productions though, you guys do fantastic work and I love the work that you do . Keep it up.

People have the right to listen to music anyway they want on whatever they want. The price seems high, but that is only in terms of a comparison to a CD or DVD high resolution release.

I would have to say that that these same mastered files and record them on a $1,000 Tascam DA-3000 at 24/192 and DSD and then decide if you want to spend the money and the time with the maintenance issues that come with this. Compare the sound quality and then decide if it is worth it to you.

I know there are no cool spinning reels on the DA-3000, but that is hardly the point is it. The highest sound quality that won't degrade over time is the Tascam DA-3000 compared to this. Put the files on an SD card and shoot them in the mail.

I would like to see someone issue 7.5ips (15ips is not as common), of Rush, Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis even newer artists like Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree or Marillion.....Only then will my wallet open up.

Seems like AP, Tape Project think the only people who have money or appreciate a high quality recording are the ones who listen to classical/Living Stereo stuff.

Over the past 15-20 years (that internet has been around -- and not), I have bought what is now a sizable collection of prerecorded reel to reel tapes. The vast majority are Dolby or DBX-encoded, most from Barclay-Crocker, a few master tape copies. There is NOTHING like it in the world. The quality, the background silence...it is astonishing.

To those who worry about azimuth. Once it is set, it works well for most tapes. There is no real magic to it. I used to try to set it "perfectly" with MRL reference tapes. Truth is, your ear, listening to a decently recorded tape, does as good a job as any other way. In the end it is about how it sounds.

Are four other types of adjustment which get taken for granted -- "Factory set!" Not so. These are head height, parallelism to the tape, forward-backward positioning and clockwise / counterclockwise rotational positioning (there are words for each, like "zenith" but I forget).

Setting these properly is VERY dfficult. But there is a simple trick, which I learned from an old issue of the Audio Amateur. You paint the head with a permanent Sharpie pen. Then play a length of scrap tape until a wear pattern forms on the Sharpie patch. That worn patch tells you almost all you need: how much the tape wraps around the head, whether it is symmetrical, parallel (rectangle is good, trapezoid -- not quite parallel) and positioning of tracks. It only takes 10-15 minutes to complete.

Or he will be selling "Hot Dubs" at $1200 a clip.

I see comments from some who question why would anyone pay that much for one album and lip is just as good. Well ... lol you obviously have not heard a true and well done dublicate copy at 15ips on a good machine. You are seeing more and more audio shows with reel to reel machines playing master tape. I spent hours in the Pranafidelity room demonstrated by owner Steven Norber by the way who is so nice and makes a really nice product. He had two incredible options of playback a very nice turntable setup with a My Soniclabs Ultra Eminence phono cartridge ( which by the way is currently my favorite sounding cartridge it's outstanding even better in my opinion than the Airtight PC-1 which is also outstanding). Then he had a modified Ampex ATR 102 modified by Bernie Grundmen with master tapes at by Bernie Grundman and as good as the Lp was the master tape was a whole other level. It was so amazing and I even ended up buying a Ampex 351-2 had it completely restored for that reason.

My question will be how well a job they do with the dublication, on which machines, with which generation of master tapes etc.

Hopefully we will get to hear these reissue master tapes at the show next year, by the way I noticed isn't until September of next year ? Dang why so far out ? June was a good time of year to have the show. Anyway it's wonderful to see master tape make such a wonderful comeback like vinyl has. Digital has just never done it for me. Do yourself a favor and go to the Pranafidelity room their room is always great sounding, in my opinion the best sound at the show.

Kevin L

For $600, I bought a semipro Otari RTR deck that had been checked and aligned by a 40 year expert (he has a brick and mortar store just for RTR service!). Tapes likes those being released sound amazing. While expensive, what does a great turntable, cartridge, tonearm and phono section cost? I have had many nice setups, but for a low initial cost RTR gets you very high quality sound for a small investment. So to me, $450 for that sound quality, paid every once in a while, is not unreasonable...just my opinion.

At least the AP tapes won't be pressed off-center, like Chad's records... (rolls eyes)

If your into tape Gearbox records in London are now making their excellent all analogue mastered catalogue available on R2R

https://gearboxrecords.wazala.com/products/tape-transcriptions/