Re: Will these old tapes be playable?
 

This is something new to me Simon, v. interesting. Do you have any links to where I may find to to do this? Thanks
Tony

Re: Will these old tapes be playable?
 

Audacity is a free program that can do this using the speed control (changing pitch and tempo just like changing speed on a tape recorder). If a tape was recorded at 7 1/2 IPS and a machine with only 3 3/4 IPS is available, Audacity can record from the low speed machine and then the replay speed can be set to double.

The link below covers changing speed with or without a change of pitch.

https://www.lifewire.com/audacity-tu...-pitch-2438167

Re: Will these old tapes be playable?
 

Thanks for the steer, Simon. Had quite forgotten about Audacity which I use regularly if infrequently. A great program with more features than I will ever use. I believe the speed changer will be fine though I've gotten mediocre results with Pitch Change and poor with removing the vocals from a music piece. Understandable this since the signals are all buried together in an analogue single track recording
Rgds
Tony

Re: Will these old tapes be playable?
 

Pitch changing in Audacity should work fine, however, since the playback tone correction curves don't necessarily follow the same octave (1:2 ratio) change as the actual speed, the tone correction will be slightly incorrect after a pitch change. This could be corrected with a subsequent equalization; someone may even have calculated the required equalization required. The discrepancy is not that large so it will not be that noticeable on man recordings though.

Re: Will these old tapes be playable?
 

I use this all the time. From the 'Effect' menu use 'change speed'. I often digitize spoken word tapes recorded at 1 7/8 or 3 3/4 ips by playing them into the PC at 7 1/2 ips then selecting 0.500 in the 'speed multiplier' box to reduce the speed. (1.500 would double it). Fine for speech, music would be more problematical for EQ reasons stated above.

Re: Will these old tapes be playable?
 

Will give it a go anon
TT

Re: Will these old tapes be playable?
 

Success has been my experience too. Tapes recorded in 1963 still play well on a twin track machine. Recording was on Civic (Collaro Studio deck two track) On this recrdr they are now playing back too fast. A knowledgeable friend suggests that the surface of the pinchwheel has hardened allowing slip and giving the take up reel a too free ride
TT