Axelrod Master on eBay?

asstro

Anyone think this is the real Master or just a safety copy?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121723004262?rmvSB=true

cai

There's nothing to suggest that it isn't just a CD recorded on to tape in the sellers lounge room, unfortunately.

LaserWolf

OK I know next to nothing about reel to reel.

But that box looks just like the boxes we had for home recording in the 60s and like boxes I sometimes see at sales of peoples home recordings.

I'm sure if that is studio quality tape that a master is likely to be on someone will correct me.

While THE master tape would be a rare collectible it wouldn't be as interesting as an alternate mix, early raw mix, or mono mix or some other oddity that would differ from the lp.

ppadilha

would he have made his master on 1/4" tape?

TheKindCromang

ppadilha said:

would he have made his master on 1/4" tape?

THIS

Doubt it

djtopcat

Looks like a normal 2" studio tape box to me. Could be copies of the master,or alternates. Axelrod is 82
maybe he doesn't even care about the early stuff. The seller sells lots of jazz it looks like.

LaserWolf

Box says 1/4".

Somebody bought the lp, taped it, named the tape First Master because he was going to make copies for friends.

Beatsoup

This is a 1/4" tape on a 10.5" reel which allows recording at 15-30ips which is studio quality.
2" multi track tapes are mixed down to 1/4" master tapes and then sent for pressing.

So this is possible but given the lack of info from seller. Date, engineer personal credits, studio tape speed, tracks ect would often be on the case or some where.

Also Scotch tape is suspect.

djtopcat

Beatsoup said:

Also Scotch tape is suspect.

Not really, legendary Seattle studio engineer Kearney Barton (Topaz label,Sonics etc) had Scotch brand tapes among others. I took a pic of his cluttered studio with stacks of tapes and remember making a comment that I didn't know Scotch brand made audio recording tape too. I wasn't as knowledgable back then which must have been late 90's? The University of Washington music department now has his entire recording archives. I think Light in the Attic has access too. He told me he recorded some very early Jimi Hendrix and some Quincy Jones. Cool stuff.

Attached files

Horseleech

TheKindCromang said:

ppadilha said:

would he have made his master on 1/4" tape?

THIS

Doubt it

Of course he would, that was the pre-digital industry standard for many decades. 'The Master' usually refers to the final mixdown, not the multi track master, which would most likely be on 2" or 1". And Scotch tape was pretty much the industry standard also, nothing unusual there. It is also highly unlikely that DA himself would ever be in possession of these, so it's not a matter of what he would or would not do with them.

What is fishy is the lack of song titles/times and mastering/production notes. It's possible that they would have been written on a separate piece of paper, but that would be pretty sloppy and unprofessional as the paper could of course get lost.

My guess is bogus.

Beatsoup

Ahh okay cool, thought Scotch was more geared to the home reel to reel market.

Horseleech

Beatsoup said:

Ahh okay cool, thought Scotch was more geared to the home reel to reel market.

I think by the early/mid 70s Ampex had taken over in pro studios, but Scotch seemed to be standard before then.

Oddly enough, a lot of Scotch tape from the 60s is in better shape today than Ampex tape from the 80s.

LaserWolf

I think the record was recorded at Capitol.
I'm trying to balance the idea, things have a way of going home with employees, with the idea, Capitol probably kept a tight reign on things like master tapes.