Not many people have access to valuable master tapes. We build playback machines for those that do.

Why use an ATAE precision reproducer?

1. To prevent the loss of irreplaceable audio tapes. All tapes undergo chemical degradation over time, often making them fragile and susceptible to damage. Playback on a recorder is dangerous because the frictional stresses from traveling through the recorder's headblock can damage or even destroy a tape. Further, a recorder could erase or overwrite the recording. For the responsible conservation of high-value tapes, a dedicated playback platform is needed.

2. To reveal how a recording actually sounds. Analog master tapes can have astonishing sound quality. The popular cost-saving compromise of playing tapes back on a recorder adds unwanted scrape flutter (a time base distortion) masking the recording’s inherent fidelity. Heritage master tapes especially deserve the highest quality playback available only on a dedicated platform.

If you work with high-value tapes and are interested in the science behind our state-of-the-art tape machines, get in touch and request the list of our technical briefs. We’re in California, USA

Learn about the effort to preserve heritage master tapes at: recordedmusicpreservation.org