In my opinion, one of the wonderful things about WBF is the diversity of our members and their roles in the industry. Two of our Canadian colleagues Edward Pong and Tony Ky Ma are such examples. Over the past few years Tony has offered up excellent advice in all things reel to reel as well as repair and modification of tape decks. The two have formed Ultra Analogue Recordings and have begun to offer up tape for sale.
I received a brief tape sampler from Ed Pong a few days ago along with a CD for my listening pleasure. Boy was I astounded by what I heard. The tape contained the following…
1. Mozart Duo In G Major, K423, Handel-Halvorsen-Passacaglia
2. The Chaccones, Vitali-Bach, Monti-Czardas
3. Debussy-Claire de Lune
The CD which was DSD transfer contained the following…..
Beethoven Ghost Trio,Opus 70 No 2-Allegetto
Mozart Duo In G
Claire De Lune
The first thing that struck me was the dynamics of the tape recording and just how well it sounded. Ed Pong gives the following explanation,
These master tape duplicates are recorded on RMG SM900 tape at +4 dB above 250 nWb/m. which equals 396 nWb/m. This will give you the most realistic dynamic range and best S/N ratio possible. The output level of your tape deck must be adjustable and needs to be calibrated to this level to realize the best playback of these tapes. I have recorded a 30 sec track of 1 kHz tone behind the leader to help you calibrate your tape machine. Use this to set the output level of your tape deck to show 0 VU.Tapeproject tapes are recorded at 250 nW/m so have 4 db less range..Since the tapes they are duplicating are older, likely those masters were recorded at 185-250 nW/m.
The group performing much of the music was put together by Ed. They were truly superb. According to Ed, these are young musicians who he knows & met a few years ago….the violinist Xiang Yu was the Menuhin winner in Oslo Norway 2 years ago…he has a Boston Symphony debut in March 2014. He met the cellist Sietse-jan Weijenberg in Paris at the Rostropovich competition a few years ago. This was the 1st time he got them both together & they hit it off right away….the Passacaglia is special for him as he waited 2 years to get them together for that…
This is one remarkable tape. I kept playing it over and over before I listened to the Cd which was derived from DSD source. This contained some of the music from the tape and it too was exceptional.
I want to give a big shout out to Ed Pong and Tony Ky Ma in their endeavor to bring us closer to the music and I must say that this was as good or better than anything I have previously heard.
For those looking for the best sound possible have a look to buy at www.ultraanaloguerecordings.com
I must admit that what I heard was better than any Tape Project Tape I have.
Steve Williams