Teo Macero 1970 phone interview

[Christiern]

In case anyone is interested, I have posted a 36-minute phone interviewe that I did with Teo Macero in October of 1970, when I was gathering material for a Miles cover story in Saturday Review. You can get to it here.

[Chuck Nessa]

Thanks again.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

brillant

[Shrdlu]

Thanks a lot for posting that, Chris. Very interesting.

By the way, it's easy to transfer any analog source (tape, LP etc.) to the hard drive, and thence onto a CDr. Get Musicmatch Jukebox and plug the sound source into the computer's line-in jack. After the content is uploaded onto the hard drive, you can edit with Nero (or similar software) and burn it to CDr.

If it's an LP, you need an intermediate little amplifier in line, to boost the turntable's output to "line level". And you need to connect a ground wire from the turntable to the computer chassis, to get rid of hum. The results, with several LPs that I have transferred to digital, sound better than any of the CD reissues, because you get the original LP mix, with none of the much-discussed issues that some people don't like (McMaster, RVG and so on).

[Christiern]

Thanks for that advice, Shrdlu. I have a USB turntable that I never really hooked up, but most of my old interviews, etc. is on cassettes. I do have a cassette player, so I guess I can figure that out. The real problem I have is with the reel to reel, especially the 10 1/2" reels. My reel-to-reel is so old that I think the belts have turned to dust!

I use a Mac, so I have just purchased WavePad, which is super easy to use, much more so than Audacity.

[Shrdlu]

Great. The cassette player's output will be at line level, so it can go straight into the line-in jack on the computer.

As a curiosity, I did this once with a mini disk that a friend in France sent over to me to be transferred to CDr. Those mini disks disappeared fast, most likely because of the arrival of mp3.

I used to have an open reel deck too. It was a (Norwegian) Tandberg, and it was very good at 3 3/4 ips. The main problem with those was tape dropout, even with brand new BASF tapes.

[Christiern]

Tandberg was a very good brand. My friend, Danny D'imperio (DEEP) occasionally transfers 7" reels to disc for me and I am amazed that the tape hasn't disintegrated or lost the magnetic oxide—some of these tapes have been in my closet for close to 50 years, and they were 5 to 10 years old when I put them there!

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!!! i have the money now!!!!!!!! i have the money now!!!!!!!!!!

[Joe]

Thanks for posting this; very much enjoyed the listen. And you CAN print that.

[Shrdlu]

I don't recall ever seeing Tandberg tape. I wish it had been around back then, with the recommendation you give it, Chris. BASF, which was regarded as a top brand in its day, regularly gave me trouble. And Ampex tapes have not lasted very well, as witness the masters for the Gil Evans Ampex LP (a fabulous album, by the way).

[AllenLowe]

my only advice is to do a straight, flat transfer - and then send it to me - there's a lot of ways to improve the sound on these things, just be careful with your average de-noise software. Once it's (badly) processed, you can never get back the original sound without doing the whole original transfer again.

Also, good external A to D converters make a major difference.

[Christiern]

I don't recall ever seeing Tandberg tape. I wish it had been around back then, with the recommendation you give it, Chris. BASF, which was regarded as a top brand in its day, regularly gave me trouble. And Ampex tapes have not lasted very well, as witness the masters for the Gil Evans Ampex LP (a fabulous album, by the way).

Sorry, Shrdlu, I should have said Tandberg tape recorder. I don't know if they put their name to tape.