i am looking to buy a reel to reel?

Question

probably a 4 track [ as the 8 - 16 tracks are a bit expensive ] can you 'bounce tracks' on them to gain more tracks ?

Answer 1

Yes you can, but as it is analogue, everytime you copy tracks to another track the sounds quality drops.

Answer 2

The finest of all the reel-to-reel recorders were the Revox and Studer machines; the Studer being bulkier, and designed for studio use.

The Revox machines were used by many top-class recording labels, and even by the digital standards of to-day, they are still quite impressive if well maintained.

Other possibilities are the top-end Japanese offerings which came from the likes of Sony and Technics .

For sheer build-quality, the British made Ferrographs take some beating, and these were used by the BBC for years.

If you are only bothered about sound-quality rather than vintage interest, then you might consider the top of the range Nakamichi cassette decks, which often outperformed some of the above using chrome tape.

As another respondent suggests, sound-on-sound is possible on most 4 track + machines, but after the first couple of track transfers, the quality does fall off, as tape-hiss starts to intrude.

By far the best machines, are those which used high tape-speeds. Domestic type tape recorders operated at 3.75 inches per second, and more advanced "hi-fi" machines at 7.5 inches per second. The recording studios always went for the highest speed, of 15 inches per second, but they used an awful lot of tape very quickly.

Get a high-speed Revox which has been looked after, and you've got a nice machine.
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Answer 3

There are a couple of eBay. Here is one of them

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRENELL-MK5-M-REEL-TO-REEL-TAPE-RECORDER_W0QQitemZ170076363618QQihZ007QQcategoryZ109002QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

just type in reel to reel in the search and when the results come up, just click electronics