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Nagra Stories Sound-men won’t ever tell


JBond

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I never saw one anywhere before either. If the serial numbers are dated and consecutive as all Nagra items were back then. They made a lot of them in 1963

Hard to believe we never saw any before. Looks thin is it the same height as the common one or thinner? That's a keeper. 

On your profile you said you had 19 Nagras in you collection. That's a large collection. Any other items we never saw before?

On 6/24/2020 at 1:01 AM, Ashley Booth said:

We always knew the SN as the Small Nagra.

I missed this when I read it on my phone. 

That is a pretty important piece of information in Nagra's Sn history .

Also proves you read my  Nagra story  The Mystery of the Nagra “Serie Noire"  on post  373 

Only people who read it would know what you are talking about.

You are the second Nagra employee that made that point.  Thank you for that statement.

 

Is that advertisement for the job at Hayden a poster by any chance? 

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It’s taller than the ATN and ATN2. See pic. The reason I thought it was called ATU is that the old PAR charger mentions it on the label.

 

The 19 Nagras aren’t all R2Rs. Amongst my collection are 2 TA's, a D, an SJ, a VPR5, A faulty V, an LB, an E, an IS, a IVSTC, a number of III's in various states of repair, a faulty ARES-MII, a Pico etc.

E4B1ACB2-AA24-4292-8D78-1FD7AA97A092.jpeg

Another III PSU. Not by Nagra but by Livingston who were the UK Nagra agents before Hayden.

It includes a charger.

3F55F289-77C4-4266-B5DE-BAD8F53F62DB.jpeg

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What's a GAL?   I forgot what a Nagra V was and had to look it up. I bid on one of these years ago but got outbid,. The first true digital Nagra recorder I think, A computer hard drive attached to the reel deck I would think highly collectable today.  Did anyone go from a IVS TC to the V?    Anybody record a movie on one? 

 

 

Copy and paste from Nagra Website 

24 BIT LINEAR LOCATION RECORDER

The Nagra V was originally designed as the successor to the renowned Nagra IVS-TC and a replacement for R-DAT. The Nagra V is a light, compact, and reliable recorder manufactured to suit on-the-shoulder / on-location engineer needs. Its extremely high audio quality makes it excellent for all types of music recordings. It can be delivered in the “single” or “double” modulometer configuration and can be completed with a wide variety of accessories. Available with an optional INTERNAL hard disc, it can be delivered with either the removable hard disk OR removable compact flash media.

nagra-v4-1920x1080.jpg

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Just had this email from Nagra:

Dear Sir,

Your request for the repair of your Nagra V has been forwarded to us.

What you need is to get a new GAL programmed. As far as I understand, you would be able to change it yourself ?

We can get you one of the last 2. Price is CHF 50,- plus the shipping.

Would you like to place an order ?

 

                Thank You

               Best regards

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Sorry to diverge on a tangent but I had a question regarding tape stock for my 1960 Nagra III. What is the consensus on what to look for these days or does it even matter? What was everyone using back then?

 

From what I've read here it seems 3M/Scotch 208 was preferred. Looks like that's from '71 though so prior to that probably 2xx right? I've also heard of people using 608/808/908. There is a post here about LSC liquidating old Quantegy 478 so that's an option.

 

I ask because I just happened to pick up some sealed NOS Quantegy 480 locally that is branded for use on Nagra recorders. Dumb question; what does low print mean? I have an idea but need a better understanding if someone could kindly explain it. Here is what I've found re: 478/480:

 

Quote

478-- 1.5 mil low-print mastering tape (250 nWb/m)
480-- 1.5 mil Quantegy equiv. of 3M 908, modified 478 coat w/ smoother B (1997) for Nagra

 

 

Thanks!

Q480_Nagra.jpg

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In this context it meant "print-through".  Loud sounds recorded on the tape will magnetize nearby layers of the tape wrap so the loud sound will repeat, faintly.  This was why many of us used 1.5 mil tape whenever we could, since dramatic dialog recording always had serious print-through issues.  Thicker base=lower print through.   One reason we used to store our tapes "tails out" ie fully wound onto the take up reel so it would need to be rewound to play is that the print through, which happens in the tape wrap after recording, would occur AFTER the original sound, like an echo--much easier to take than having the echoes come BEFORE the real sound!. 

 

RE: 208, that didn't come along until a bit later than the 1960s--I think a more period correct tape might be 111 or something in that number range (starting with a 1, as I recall).   208 would work fine--I ran a great deal of 208 and especially 209 (1 mil, so longer rolls, handy on 5" reels) on my Nagra III.  Dan Dugan did a fab set up for that and it sounded great.  (I miss full track mono!)

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18 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

In this context it meant "print-through".  Loud sounds recorded on the tape will magnetize nearby layers of the tape wrap so the loud sound will repeat, faintly.  This was why many of us used 1.5 mil tape whenever we could, since dramatic dialog recording always had serious print-through issues.  Thicker base=lower print through.   One reason we used to store our tapes "tails out" ie fully wound onto the take up reel so it would need to be rewound to play is that the print through, which happens in the tape wrap after recording, would occur AFTER the original sound, like an echo--much easier to take than having the echoes come BEFORE the real sound!. 

 

RE: 208, that didn't come along until a bit later than the 1960s--I think a more period correct tape might be 111 or something in that number range (starting with a 1, as I recall).   208 would work fine--I ran a great deal of 208 and especially 209 (1 mil, so longer rolls, handy on 5" reels) on my Nagra III.  Dan Dugan did a fab set up for that and it sounded great.  (I miss full track mono!)

 

Thank you Phil for that detailed and informative response! Hopefully it is useful and relevant to other readers here. Print through is indeed what I was thinking. I think I'll be good with my 480 since it is new and exactly right for the situation. This is a fantastic thread. I think I may have been bit by the Nagra bug...and I'm exited about full track mono!

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You probably already know this but, for the benefit of readers less familiar with the Nagra, it's important to note that, for best performance, the recorder needed to be biased for the particular tape used. The various tape formulations (3M 908, Quantegy 480, etc.) can't be interchanged at will. The machine needs to be adjusted for each tape. This applies to recording; I don't think there is any problem with playback from different tapes.

 

David

 

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