DA-88 tapes are recorded by a digital multi-track recorder such as a Tascam DA-88 device. The tapes are very much like the Hi8 or Digital8 type of video tape except that the tape formula is better. These tapes could have up to eight tracks of audio.
DAT (Digital Audio Tapes)
We can help transfer your DAT tape. Digital Audio Tape or DAT tape is an audio record and playback media that Sony launched in 1987. The tapes are about the same size as miniDV video tapes, just a little larger and thicker; 73 mm X 54 mm x 10.5 mm. The tapes recorded in qualities higher, lower, or equal to CD’s. The tapes were recorded using 48 or 44.1 or 32 kHz sampling rates and 16 bits.
The intention of these tapes were to replace the audio cassettes but in fact due to expense they only seemed to stay in the realm of recording studios and high end audio systems.
Vinyl Records
Vinyl records, also known as gramophone records (phonograph records in American English) or vinyl record, commonly known as “a record”, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat polyvinyl chloride (previously shellac) disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. Phonograph records are generally described by their diameter in inches (12″, 10″, 7″), the rotational speed in rpm at which they are played (331⁄3, 45, 78), and their time capacity resulting from a combination of those parameters (LP − long playing, SP − single, EP − 12″ single or extended play); their reproductive quality or “fidelity” (“high fidelity”, “orthophonic”, “full-range”, etc.), and the number of audio channels provided (“mono”, “stereo”, “quad”, etc.).
Why?
We find that people transfer their records for two main reasons:
Preserve your valuable record to prevent further damage occurring to these treasures. Every time you play the record, the record player’s needle gradually damages the records grooves. This does not even consider the fact that records get scratched or damaged through means. I had one lady deliver a recording of her mother singing….she had wrapped the record in multiple layers of protection to protect this valuable memory of her mother.
Access to special recordings is the other reason people transfer their vinyl records to CD’s. Not many of us still own a record player and therefore playing one’s classic records may not even be possible. Once transferred to a CD, the recordings can now be played anywhere…. in an ipod, on your computer, and in your car (imagine a record player in your car).
Why Should You Not Transfer?
I sometimes receive inquires about transferring a LP record to CD and find that the LP record is commercially available on CD. In this case I highly recommend that the customer purchase the commercially available CD.
Micro-Cassette
A Microcassette (often written generically as microcassette) is an audio storage medium introduced by Olympus in 1969. It uses the same width of magnetic tape as the Compact Cassette but in a much smaller container. By using thinner tape and half or a quarter the tape speed, microcassettes can offer comparable recording time to the compact cassette. The original standard microcassette, the MC60, gives 30 minutes recording per side at its standard speed of 2.4 cm/s, and double that duration at 1.2 cm/s; an MC90, giving 45 minutes per side @ 2.4 cm/s, is also available from a few manufacturers. Unlike the Compact Cassette, a choice of recording speeds was provided on the original recorders and many others; the tape also spools in the opposite direction, from right to left. For transcription purposes, continuously variable speed was provided on many players.
Audio Cassette
We transfer audio cassettes to audio CD’s to preserve those special memories. We’ve had customers bring in their audio recordings of weddings, oral histories, and more precious memories. Magnetic tape is a very fragile media to trust your memories to.
The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is a magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Compact cassettes come in two forms, either already containing content as a pre-recorded cassette, or as fully recordable “blank” cassette. It was designed originally for dictation machines, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel tape recording in most non-professional applications.[1] Its uses ranged from portable audio to home recording to data storage for early microcomputers. Between the early 1970s and the late 1990s, the cassette was one of the two most common formats for prerecorded music, first alongside the LP record and later the compact disc.
Stereo 8, commonly known as the eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, or simply eight-track, is a magnetic tape sound recording technology. It was popular in the United States from the mid-1960s to the late-1970s, when the Compact Cassette format took over, but aside from a brief early period of moderate popularity in the UK was relatively unknown in many European countries.
Reel-To-Reel Tape
Have you got your treasures on a reel to reel audio tape. Maybe your grandparents used reel to reel audio tapes to record “letters” to send back to the old country. I’ve seen many reel to reel audio recordings with precious audio of relatives that have long since passed away. Do you have reels of tape like these?
Physical Description
Typical Reel Diameters: 7.6, 10, 12.7, 18, 27 cm (3, 4, 5, 7, 10.5 inches)
Width of tape: 6.35mm (0.25 inches)
Reel-to-reel audio tape or open reel audio tape is a form of magnetic audio recording media that is held on an open reel rather than being contained in a cassette. These tapes were popular from around the mid 1950′s into the mid 1980′s. Most reel-to-reel tapes have either one or two stereo tracks recorded on them. This means that the tapes typically have four tracks (a left and right for each stereo pair). One stereo track was recorded on the tape and when the end of the tape was reached, the tape was flipped around and the second stereo track was recorded. This results in the two stereo tracks being recorded in opposite directions.