Better Mag striping!

[Osi Osgood]

I don't have too many modern releases, but the ones that I have, l have noticed something very good. The balance stripe on these new releases, ( of which Alberto must receive credit ), is a g ood deal thicker than what I have seen in earlier mag striping. On some of my prints, that balance stripe has been incredibly thin and one of the things that always burned me about stereo prints in the past, is that the "iffy" balance stripe would offer poor to downright awful sound, but I am betting that this thicker balance stripe is allowing for some great sound from those balance stripes. Could anybody give any feedback on how good they're efforts with the balance stripe has been?

[Tom Photiou]

The balance stripe was not originally intended for sound recording, those few stereo films we do have, especially the Disney features, has as loud a sound recording as track 1.

[Douglas Meltzer]

My experience with the balance stripe is the same as Tom's. When doing my own re-recordings I am constantly amazed at how good the audio is on that .45mm track.

[Osi Osgood]

I wonder if the lack of a great stereo recording, was due to the speeded up recording capabilities used at Derann. In a documentary about super 8 sound and Derann Films, they use a recording machine that records at a very fast pace. For instance, for a good while, there were repressings ofclassic pop/rock rock a from "half speed masters". Therefore, could this be why the stereo soundtracks of the past had such, well, compared to a good rerecord, such mediocre sound quality? The tech was there, but the use of that tech was flawed?

[Adrian Winchester]

I sincerely hope an audio expert can answer the above question from Osi, as such doubts sound credible to me. I can understand the rationale for the high-speed recordings, because in days of 'bulk' prints it was probably essential, and the great days of mono recordings on Kodak pre-stripe stock indicate the quality could be excellent, but I wonder if the combination of Derann striping - in which the stripes may not always have been of identical thickness - and the high speed could have made the results less reliable.

[Brian Fretwell]

I'm sure Ged has posted (or re-posted from Derann newsletter) that their machines were originally designed fro two times speed recording and the manufacturers reluctantly made them run at four times playback speed as they thought the results would not be good. They were then surprised how good the recordings at that speed were.

[Lee McCaffrey]

Half speed mastering applies to vinyl LPs where it is said the slower cutting speed is beneficial to the cutting of the groove which corresponds to improved fidelity. I'm not sure the same can be said for magnetic tape although it may make an interesting experiment for someone, I suspect some low end would disappear unless the heads could go below 20Hz.
With mass produced audio tape high speed dubbing is considered acceptable although the heads have to be up to the task, capable of reading/writing at a much higher frequency. Supposedly the high end rolls off when high speed dubbing, but considering super 8mm magnetic's frequency response isn't that high to start with it probably wasn't a problem.
Don't get me wrong I still think that a real-time rerecording taking into account the response of the stripe etc. will always gain better results and countless statements from users testify to that. It just wasn't even an option for Derann given the sheer amount of material to go through, so thankfully they achieved a system that was 'good enough'

[Brian Fretwell]

I think half speed mastering of vinyl LPs has something to do with the fact that at full speed the cutter head can heat up too much and distort the medium that it is cutting. Half speed lowers the heat generated at high frequencies.

[Osi Osgood]

I have not been able to get the Jurrasic 600ft yet, but I am certainly looking forward to putting on the headphones and listening to the JAWS when it arrives! It will be my first new digest with modern stereo tracks on it, on this new mag stripe

[Stuart Reid]

HSM is also used to help with transients between loud and soft passages, giving the cutting head more time to produce them and theoretically enabling increased dynamics on vinyl. i have some of the recent Abbey Road High Speed Masters and I'm hard pressed (pardon the pun) to tell the difference, and that's on a fairly good hi-fi.

[Lee McCaffrey]

There have been all sorts of super processes lauded as improving the sound of records: Direct metal mastering, half speed cutting, 180g (even 240g!) pressings, virgin vinyl etc.
Yet I have a lot of the flimsy 90g vinyl and it sounds great. Technically it should be awful! But the thing with vinyl is so much is down to the mastering itself, certain pressings have legendary status as the masters were so good. Porky's Prime Cuts, for example