SOT 4 and How To Read A Tape Log

[Shane]

A few questions about SOT 4.....

First off, "If it Cant Be You"... does anybody know who sings on this track?  I've wondered for years.  What a great, underdeveloped song.

While listening, I found myself staring at the copy of the tape box for "Endless Sleep".  The engineer for the session made a bunch of notations, and I'm trying to discern their meaning.

Each take is numbered, and a code is written next to the number.  They include "FS" "PB" "INC" "HT" and "M".  I'm thinking "FS" stands for "false start", "INC" stands for incomplete, and "M" means master, as in master take.  What do these others mean?

At the top, there is room to check boxes, indicating mono, binaural, and stereo.... but there are a couple of boxes labeled "NAB" and "AME".  "NAB" is checked.  What does this mean?

At the bottom, strangely, it says (in messy handwriting) there is some indication of a mix being made, which appears to bear the date of 10/78.  If that is correct, I guess people were messing with these tapes in the late 1970s.  Or perhaps the numbers say 12/18, indicating 12/18/63.  Its hard to read!


Anyways, any info would be appreciated.

[Andrew G. Doe]

The 1978 notation is a result of a survey of the BB vaults in that year. I believe saftey copies were made.

[c-man]

The 1978 notation is a result of a survey of the BB vaults in that year. I believe saftey copies were made.

And some of these tape boxes bear the initials "JP" or "TM" next to those notations...for "Jeff Peters" and "Tom Murphy", the engineers who did the surveys & made the safety copies (in this case, it looks like "TM", and it looks like either "quick mix made" or "quad mix made").

"NAB" and "AME" are two different types of EQ curves employed in recording studios for analog tape ("CCIR" is another). 

[lupinofan]

Each take is numbered, and a code is written next to the number.  They include "FS" "PB" "INC" "HT" and "M".  I'm thinking "FS" stands for "false start", "INC" stands for incomplete, and "M" means master, as in master take.  What do these others mean?

PB = Playback. Usually refers to a dub or bounce-down from one tape to another.

AME is Ampex Master Equalisation, a board fitted as standard to Ampex tape machines. NAB is the Association of North American Broadcasters, who developed their own, superior, system of tape equalisation. (The other common one is CCIR, also known as IEC, which was developed in Europe.)

[Andrew G. Doe]

HT = halted take, I seem to recall... though how that might differ from "incomplete" is a bit of a poser.