I was lucky because I came in during the Type C era and appreciated (and was TAUGHT TO appreciate) the joys of the Sony 3100 decks with the vacuum threading!
A friend of mine owes me twenty bucks because he insisted that the old IVC One-inchers “NEVER SAW BROADCAST USE” and I argued strenuously to the contrary that plenty of local outlets used them for public affairs shows, promos, bumpers etc.
I recall going from an RCA shop to an Ampex shop… Kicking the bottom of the machine, trying to release the supply reel – nothing happened, except colleagues laughing. Then going from the Ampex shop to an RCA shop, pulling the supply guide to release the supply reel – reel stays locked, and colleagues laughed.
I was a tape dog for 5 years,keeping UNC-TV on air. We had 4 Ampex VR1200 quads, 1 Ampex VR1000 (old) quad, and a low-band IVC 1″ that we ran the promos on. We also used our VTR’s for post production, with a CMX computer editor running the machines, trying to get them all in sync with time code on the audio track. It was a very busy tape room.
This
Was life at KTLA in Los after the projectors went away! I still miss the 35mm and the quads.
Doug fredericks
I was lucky because I came in during the Type C era and appreciated (and was TAUGHT TO appreciate) the joys of the Sony 3100 decks with the vacuum threading!
A friend of mine owes me twenty bucks because he insisted that the old IVC One-inchers “NEVER SAW BROADCAST USE” and I argued strenuously to the contrary that plenty of local outlets used them for public affairs shows, promos, bumpers etc.
Ahhh, the days of quad…
I recall going from an RCA shop to an Ampex shop… Kicking the bottom of the machine, trying to release the supply reel – nothing happened, except colleagues laughing. Then going from the Ampex shop to an RCA shop, pulling the supply guide to release the supply reel – reel stays locked, and colleagues laughed.
How things have changed. Now we just have to worry about ‘BitRot’ and hard drives crashing!
Brings back memories.
I was a tape dog for 5 years,keeping UNC-TV on air. We had 4 Ampex VR1200 quads, 1 Ampex VR1000 (old) quad, and a low-band IVC 1″ that we ran the promos on. We also used our VTR’s for post production, with a CMX computer editor running the machines, trying to get them all in sync with time code on the audio track. It was a very busy tape room.
My pal Steve Rosenberg could relate to this!!
Hey, I was, among many other things, a tape op back in the day; we never had time to sit around like that 🙂
@Scott, watch out for the end of tape rewind if the mini light bulb burns out. Wow, what a thrill.
LOL!! I was never the tape op, but we did have one at RNNTV. Jason was the last before they went digital.
Those big ole 2″ machines!!! I know someone that took that cabinet and made it a bar.
But there’s nobody to be kind to anymore, though! Most of the field are (pathetically) one-man bands any more!
Ampex AVR2 on the left