While I like analog tape the best, working with tape is not easy. Tape can be fragile; it can get flaky; it can get sticky. My favorite tape was made in The Netherlands and was originally known as Agfa 468. This is a high bias tape with open, transparent sound. Even though Agfa is no longer in business, our friends at Recording the Masters in France manufacture this tape using a 468 formula.

Trickier even than finding the right tape, is playing it back on properly designed equipment. Record circuitry is relatively uncomplicated. Playback circuitry, on the other hand, is considerably more sensitive and requires precise and very quiet electronics for music to sound correct.

Fortunately, people like Arian Jansen make superb analog tape playback equipment that sounds wonderful and fits beautifully in your listening room. Arian designed the SonoruS ATR10 with all custom tube output stage electronics and a honed Studer/Revox transport. Available by special order. We are grateful to Arian for creating such fine analog equipment, and for generously underwriting our first analog tapes. I use the ATR10 when I make your tapes. It is indeed a superb playback machine.

– Bob Attiyeh, producer