For the majority of the 20th century magnetic tape was the dominant medium to which music was captured and stored.
Shrouded in mystic and at times hailed as the holy grail of music mediums, this relic technology went through massive changes over the decades before eventually being surpassed by the rampant advancements of the digital age and its associated technology with capturing audio. Very few names come to mind when documenting the advances of reel to reel tape machine innovation and technology revelation. Swiss company Studer was a true pioneer of tape machine development, creating some of the most iconic recording devices to ever grace the recording studio let alone their contributions to broadcast and film. Quite literally helping shape the sound of popular music, Studer’s sophisticated tape machine technology really found its heights in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s with the introduction of the A800, considered by many as the “Rolls Royce” of analogue tape machines.
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Engineer Willi Studer founded the Studer company in 1948, originally building oscilloscopes for high voltage labs, but it was in oscilloscopes that Willi found his name in the audio industry. After the first import of consumer tape machines into Europe from the USA, Willi Studer was contacted to modify the Brush Soundmirror machines to meet the standards of the European market, as without modification the machines simply weren’t sellable. Through this came the first release from Willi Studer’s company, the Dynavox consumer tape machine.. From this initial foray into the world of tape machines, Studer was inspired to begin making more reliable and superior tape machines. Soon after Studer / ReVox’s first professional recorder the A27 was released, a 1/4” mono machine brought to market in 1951. After an order of 27 units of the A27 from Swiss Radio, the Studer and Revox company had it commercial breakthrough.
Throughout the 1950’s and into the early 60’s Willie Studer continually improved upon his products spanning across tape machines and mixing consoles, which quickly became embedded into broadcast houses, film and recording studios. The introduction of more modular designs, meticulous build quality and with more and more components being manufactured in-house meant that Studer’s quality control was some of, if not the best in the world at the time.
By the mid 1960’s the release of the J37 4-track machine truly changed the landscapes of tape machines and how music was being recorded, captured and manipulated in new creative ways., Studer was launched into the stratosphere by this particular machine with Abbey Road Studios in London, ordering a handful of them which in turn recorded many of the The Beatles records.
In 1973 the release of the A80 set another benchmark in the design and capabilities of tape machines, with faster transport and editing capabilities, but it wasn’t until 1978 that the technical innovations found their full potential, with the release of the A800.
Still revered today, the A800 is considered by many as the pinnacle of analogue tape machines. Their seamless workflow and feel made them incredibly easy and gratifying to work on, with incredibly precise and fast locating and punching, let alone the sound which is silky smooth, giving a roundness and fullness like no other, ranging from 8 track through to 24 track 2” machines, these new machines covered an enormous amount of ground in the studio giving engineers flexibility and fidelity like never before.
The A800 introduced several revolutions with technological leaps that literally changed the pace of recording studios and broadcast facilities alike. Being the first Studer tape machine to operate with microprocessor control, this huge advancement made for light work of editing, locating and other such tasks that were were previously far more time consuming and manually operated. This made the A800 incredibly desirable in recording studios for its reliability, ease and speed of use let alone its improved spec, which boasted a lower noise floor and overall cleaner sound compared to its A80 predecessor.
The speed of the locator alone was such a vast improvement not just within the Studer family of tape machines but for reel to reel recorders as a whole. The precision and control of the spooling motor was remarkable and still pretty much unparalleled to this day, and with its ability to store multiple locations allowed operators to move around on a reel of tape at a pace never experienced before, which in the high pressure broadcast and recording studio environments was a game changer. Aside from the motor and locator functionality getting a serious upgrade, so too did the EQ, with phrase compensated equalisation being available for the first time.
This made for an incredibly smooth and full sounding machine, which could operate at either 15 IPS or 30 IPS and could be easily adjusted between CCIR or IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and NAB (North American Broadcast) equalisation. This would require a re biasing of the machine via the master bias control but the ability to switch between the two EQ curves was significant at the time, making the A800 that much for versatile and capable of catering to the preferences of engineers across the globe.
So meticulously made, these machines do of course require a high level of care and maintenance, it is the case with any analogue gear of the studio. But a well maintained and cared for machine, the results speak for themselves, they are just stunning and imprint something quite special to any sound source recorded to it. Meticulous design and reliability made for a new era of tape machine that was lapped up around the world, breaking new ground for recording studios, broadcast facilities and film studios, by the time the A800 MKIII was released, could things really get any better?
As the decade rolled on so did microprocessing technology and by the time the A820 was A827 machines were released the vast majority of processing was able to be managed by these processors, including auto alignment which was revolutionary. But still to this day, people still go back to the vibe and the sound of the A800. Classy, elegant, sophisticated. A true workhouse and icon of the recording studio.
Studer is still providing audio solutions today, keep reading about them here.
