[78-L] Stereo half-track tapes

[Royal Pemberton]

On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 2:35 PM, Sammy Jones <sjones69 at bellsouth.net> wrote:

>
> It's certainly possible to play a half-track stereo tape like that, but I
> think you're getting seriously compromised audio.  Because the stereo half
> tracks don't line up exactly with the quarter track heads, the left channel
> head is not hitting the left track in the same place that the right channel
> head is hitting the right track.
>
> In addition to the volume problem, you may also be getting audio that is
> going in and out of phase.  Also the pre-emphasis EQ is not the same for
> half track as it is for quarter track.


'Pre-emphasis EQ'?  NAB curve is NAB curve (or IEC aka CCIR, etc.)
regardless of track widths.  There is also the previously unmentioned
phenomenon of 'fringe effect' whereby the low frequencies will be slightly
more predominant due to the recorded track widths being wider than the gaps
in the reproduce head.