My all-time favourite Techmoan video! As a BBC local radio reporter from the mid-80s till the late 90s, these were the workhorse -- and yes, the BBC did use loads of these 4000 Report Monitors, always in mono (so you have the best version IMHO), always running at 7.5ips and always with manual level control. And they were used well into the late '90s ... for the simple reason that there wasn't much alternative. Don't forget, you could whip the reel with your interview straight off the Uher (always pronounced You-her in the BBC) and onto a Revox PR99 or Studer B67 to edit and then play out - first generation recording straight to air, or second generation if you mixed a package. Interestingly with BBC-spec tape, you only would get about 15 mins recording -- maybe the tape was thicker (you would get 30 mins on a 7" spool and an hour on a 10" spool). Very newsroom would have a rack of Uhers - usually personally issued - with a central charging system - each slot would have the DIN charger cable dangling down ready to plug back in when you returned from an interview. The BBC normally used these with an AKG D130 mic, and always with a locking metal DIN plug on the end. The Sony WM6DC was never a mainstream machine due to its fragile 3.5mm mic input and the need to dub before you could edit - no good in news. Come the late 90s, the Uhers started to be replaced with MiniDiscs -- but the lifespan of a MiniDisc recorder could be measured in months compared with the indestructible Uher (I laughed when you got it out of the box and said "lets's be careful not to break it" -- it's impossible to break a Uher. I don't think you'll find an old-school radio reporter without a lot of love for their Uher. And I don't think you'll find an old-school radio reporter without a bad back.
Well said Robert, (O hope all’s well with you) yes we loved these recording beasts - and learning how to edit on them, mastering that gave me a real sense of achievement.
My Dad always stated that he fled east germany in the 60s because he wanted to get his hands on a Uher Tape Recorder. It might not have been the only reason, but he swears it was one of the bigger ones on his teenage mind at the time. He still owns a couple of those i'm going to inherit. So thanks to Uher i grew up in west germany :)
@@roboftherock There's nothing wrong with improving one's vocabulary. 😉 It adds variety to life. The word 'cromulent' also possesses pulchritude, and uses fewer syllables, so it's gratifying to see someone using it in their UA-cam Comments. Incidentally, there is no need to resort to using a dictionary; simply highlight the word and choose 'Look up'. It takes no more than a couple of seconds. 👈 🙂 🖖
UHER 4000 & 5000 series machines were widely used in the US for recording and transcribing court proceedings. I suspect the long tail of the usage was due to the slow adoption of digital recording by the courts due to the concerns about the reliability of digital recording and the ability to authenticate such recordings. (I think the paper transcript became the official record once certified by a court reporter, and the tape record could then be destroyed or erased.) I serviced, cleaned and repaired many of these machines in the first half of the 1980s, which I consider the golden age of reel to reel recorders. The UHER recorders were typically reliable, but did require regular cleaning. The recorders could be easily damaged by exposure to high summer heat such as storage in a auto boot / trunk in the Southern US. The small glass barrel fuses used in the UHER products were prone to mechanical failure due to rough handling. Most court reporters used the leather case for transport, and the knobs and switches were protected by a heavy arch of thick leather. These cases were always black rather than the brown shown in the video, but that may be the only color my employer stocked. There was a foot pedal available to start & stop the tape during the transcription process. If I remember correctly, the 4000 series used a solenoid to pause the tape by pulling the pitch roller away from the capstan. The 5000 Series was preferred for the transcription process since it had a two button foot pedal that provided an additional rewind function. The 5000 series was quite a different machine with a fully solenoid controlled tape transport, and required AC mains power. While many court reporters purchased the 5000 as their first recorder, and would lug it around for a few years, they would usually purchase a 4000 series as soon as they could afford it. While I was never involved with the sales process for UHER products, I thought these units were far more expensive than the prices quoted in this video. But alas, I was a poor university student, and I had just bought my first car with a bad transmission for about $500 US. (I still buy & fix to this day!)
... Now that you mention it. That's why this looks vaguely familiar. Had to be at family court as a kid and they let me play with something just about like this as I was waiting. Considering I thought my Talkboy was hot stuff at the time...
Those small fuses were standard in Europe (and are still available but are not part of many electronics today, they are more common in DIY devices these days) in the time, were they any different from those used in USA? Those fuses as well exist in form of porcelain one or sand filled (slow) one.
yeah, these 3 head reels with multiple speeds make amazing tape delays ! whack a synth through it on slow speeds and listen to the monitor output and its so gooooooood.
One important detail about this machine is that the speed selector should always be left in the OFF position when the machine is not in use. Otherwise the drive wheel that drives the capstan is left pressed against the flywheel which over time will leve a dent in it making it noisy and give a lot of flutter. The OFF position will lift the drive wheel from the flywheel. The power supply is designed so that it fits into the battery compartment as it has the same size as the rechargeable battery. So if the machine is to be used as a stationary unit for a while the power supply can be neatly out of the way. (I have the late 1970's version of the UHER 4000)
@@kaitlyn__L Quite a few devices had that facility. You could also buy Japanese cassette recorders which allowed for that. I had a radio receiver recently which could be supplied with a power supply that could replace the battery, connecting directly to the battery terminals. It was less than 10 years old.
I'm 17 and I've been watching your videos since I was 13. I really enjoy them. I started watching when I started vinyl collecting. Now I collect all sorts of old formats. I am thinking about making some videos myself. Thanks Techmoan for all the years of great videos.
Yeah my first set up was in the living room. If you really like analog sound a good way to do it with limited space is cassettes. I use to a have a record player in the living room and a cassette deck with built in speakers in my room. The battery life can be really good on those decks too. Mine was small enough I could take it with me when traveling. You can move it around as needed all that bit. It wasn't the truest form of music but it really got me addicted to analog.
Just as an info: the power supply can be installed inside the device instead of the lead battery. The power cable has an way out, so you can use it stationary without having the power supply separately. The power supply has some "rivets" on one side, exactly where the lead battery has the connectors. Of course the power supply has exactly the same dimensions as the lead battery.
also the 3 pin din plug would plug in either end but the 6 pin din plug will only go into the tape deck as the power supply doesnt have a hole for the other pin
Dang I just commented the same thing, you beat me to it.. It really is an ingenious solution. Took me some thinking to figure it out when I got my first Uher as a kid. The monitor series still are quite expensive devices but, at least ten years ago, you could get a working 4000 Report for less than shipping on ebay. I got the "4000 L" variant, featuring slightly better overall quality and metal transport switches. Amazing little machines these and fortunately they were constructed simply enough for the user to do most of the usual maintenance jobs. Contrary to many other examples of german audio tech which is often very convoluted inside. I own a "Royal de luxe" tape machine from Uher that, while it was a top model in its class, relied on one single big motor and flywheel to perform all of its functions. In its contemporaries from Revox, they went the more expensive but simpler and arguably better route of using two outrunner motors to directly drive the reels. This makes them more accurate, way faster to rewind and most importantly today, they still run just fine even after 50 years because there are no Belts, gears or friction wheels that have a reputation for disintegrating or seizing up with time
Not exactly. Buying a classic car means you want more of a connection to the car, undisturbued from computers. It could mean you want to do burnouts whenever you want, or you just love how it looks and the sound of the engine. There are also lots of restomods out there as well. Also, almost all classic cars are not rare, and it’s very easy to find a beautiful fully restored, say 1967 Ford Mustang, for 25-30k US Dollors. So it’s not exactly rare to find something preserved in time, and you’re not really paying for just that. Just thought I should point that out. Have a nice day.
@@NewYorker613 you are going to pay for a classic car that was driven off the yard and out in storage tho. Every now and then a still boxed motorcycle or ww2 jeep shows up and they go for big money
tortron that’s diffrent. Those are EXTREMELY rare. Like, you almost never see something like that. And when you do, They go for BIG BIG money. That’s when you are paying for rarity of something that, in a way is preserved in time. What I’m trying to say is that there are so many classic cars that are fully restored, that are just the way they were from factory, that you aren’t just paying for rarity of that alone. What I’m trying to say is it’s not very rare to find something “preserved in time” unless you’re talking about a ww2 jeep boxed up or something like that.
tortron those cars are very special and desirable among collectors. Like jay leno for example, says that his favorite cars are original and unrestored. There I have to agree with you. But what I’m trying to say is that if you’re talking about restored cars, it’s very easy to find them in beautiful like factory condition.
A great video of a piece of classic gear. Back in the early 70s, as a junior engineer at the BBC, I worked in the TV studio that did the early evening chat show called Nationwide. Their reporters used the earlier version of this recorder, and although we didn't normally have anything to do with them the were regularly brought to use to untangle tapes and clean the heads. The were very robust, and had nice black leather cases with shoulder straps. I remember that when you took the top cover off to get at the heads, the were mounted on a machined block that could be removed to aid in maintenance. The block fitted onto machined posts so that unless you were very careless it went back exactly and the head alignment would stay the same. I only had to do that once went a tape got tangled and some of it got stuck under one of the heads! It did indeed go back exactly. I don't remember seeing one of these until the early 90s when I was working on a film project where the location sound recordist had one as a spare to back up his Nagra. I tried to find out what they cost new. the nearest I got was a price for the late 60s version which was about £100 which would be about £2K now according to the Bank of England inflation calculator. In 1994 that would have been £940. I also found a price list for Martel who imported them to the US and they had $310 in 1968. They also made a big thing about the Stereo 4400 model only costing $450. So it looks like you got a real bargain! BTW Nice beard!
Sadiq Mohamed Did you exchange the rubber belt during your BBC career? I have two Uher mono recorders. This one and one generation older. The’re both working ok, but I fear that it moght be an enormous undertaking, because the belt is so long.
@@deBiezel I never opened one up. Just battery changes and head cleaning. Occasional removal of bits of tape from the tape path after one broke. Usually had to untangle it as well! I have a friend who worked at Broadcasting House in the Uher workshop, where they did do major refurbs, so I'll ask him.
@@sadiqmohamed681 I got a set of new belts for a Report Monitor on eBay for about 4£. As far as I can remember, they were quite easy to replace, except the belt for the tape counter.
Just what I needed to cheer me up after falling and cracking 2 ribs this morning. Feeling pretty miserable, I fired-up the ipad. Saw a new video from Techmoan, now feeling a lot better.
Hey Mat, just wanted to say thank you for your work. In my opinion you’re one of UA-cam’s greatest. Congratulations to one million subscribers. I just enjoy your unagitated and calm delivery, I hope this is the right term, in German this is a compliment. Please keep up. That’s about it for the moment, just wanted to thank, again. It somehow is really confusing, polite as you are you thank in every video for watching, but for me it’s just enjoyment.
Re: dates - we were still recording onto and editing on 1/4" tape at the BBC into the early 2000s. These reporter units were certainly still in use until the late 90s, until minidisc and DAT portable recorders started taking over.
At Broadcasting House the Sony Pro Walkman also started being issued to radio reporters in the late 1980s. Many reporters preferred the Sony because of it's much smaller size compared to the Uher. Both machines were in use at the same time for quite a few years.
When I first left school in 76 I worked for a company called W J & M Baylis in Reddish. They were the main stockiest and repair agents for Uher in the North West and did a lot of repairs on the Uher Report range for the BBC & ITV. I spent weeks learning to service these. Generally they were indestructible, the main issue was news reporters not turning the speed selector to off and leaving the drive engaged causing a flat spot on the drive wheel. I think I still have a couple of spare drive wheels somewhere! As an aside, Uher also made language Lab machines. WJ & M Bayliss was also involved in building and installing language labs for schools... where each student would have a tape recorder built into the desk and an Amplivox headset with boom mic so they could play the tape and listen to themselves repeating the phrase. The teacher had a master desk so they could select any student and listen to them.
Yep , I was a school AV tech in my younger days and looked after two language labs - the old reel to reel one was made by Avely electronics and the newer one was by a company called Sign - that was in the late seventies/early 80s .I also had a pair of Ferrograph Series Sevens for off air recording of school broadcasts .
I used to sell a lot of these when I ran a company called Teletape that specialised in tape recording systems. We mainly sold them to broadcasters, film makers and market research companies. They always bought them with leather cases. The market moved on and quickly adopted Japanese makers like Sony who made a compact reel to reel recorder and later cassette based systems. A great review Mat, I never thought I would see one again.
@@scotshabalam2432 The Japanese did take a lot of care with visual design and often produced unique engineering to solve tape handeling problems. Just take a look at the tape path on a Technics reel to reel, or Sonys Dual Capstan designs and direct drive machine. Nagra probably made the best portable and reel to reel recorders. Much better than the Japanese models.
@@jeremytravis360 indeed, the Sony models are always a feast for the eyes, for every button! I thought this unit was beautiful but the tiny plastic momentary switches for the battery etc were a bit of a let down. ”Let's cheap out on this lesser used function and make it tiny", and stuff.
@@jeremytravis360 Agree on the Nagra. I used them to sync sound to 16mm film. Excellent machines. I thought I'd see far more mentions of them in the comment section...but perhaps the use cases were different and they really fall into different categories.
These recorders are amazing. I own 2 uher reporters 4000 IC myself ( including carrying case, battery pack, charger), bought them for 20 euro's from my work, which was a formal radio studio. They have been used from the 70's until the 90's, and even today they sound amazing, they are such a reliable pieces of equipment. Love the video, and the microphone sounds great ( still need to find one for mine ).
Ah memories... these were used in radio production for years up until quite recently when digital devices and mics caught up with the quality. We pronounced them 'you-er'. I once did a really nice interview on one and got it back to discover a hum all the way through it... the stress using these was enormous as you never quite knew what you'd get but there's a warmth to the sound that you don't get with digital (I know what I sound like there...) But I wouldn't go back.
Good morning Techmoan! Very good, in Brazil it's 7:30 am, I'm drinking my coffee and watching this video, what a pleasure! Thank you! Greetings from Brazil!
Beautiful. We had a big Revox in my childhood. At some point my parents got rid of it. We just aquired a used one to listen to the old tapes. Old tech requires you to pay more attention (compared to the endless streams of music on Spotify) and it's quite warming.
What a fantastic documentary video!!! Despite the fact I don't need this type of recorder, TechMoan makes this a fascinating subject. His tone of voice (full of energy and enthusiasm) is enough to motivate the viewer! Brilliant! Keep up the impecable work TechMoan!
"Never got around to changing it" is definitely a thing - I've ordered back-catalogue CDs from the ECM label in the last few years that were sealed, brand new pressings, and still had W. Ger printed on the disc.
I have a rather technical machine at my disposal whose build plate states 1992, but is marked "Made in Western Germany". Presumably it took them a while to come to terms with it all.
Old enough to remember before and after the wall, had some friends in Berlin, Nurnberg, Freiburg, and down in the Ruhr area, and hanged there in Berlin and Nurnberg in the years after they reunited, most people from the west had a lot of jokes about those from the east, and many those from old Westgermany didn't miss a chance to point out they were from the western parts, so I can see that they didn't want to hurry away the West Germany branding on the stuff they made.
That was truly fascinating. I think they were still in production until 1999 because they could do something the cassette-based pro machines could not - record in ultra-high definition. For field recording music or anything that needed the highest resolution possible it was still the best solution. Amazing stuff.
I was interviewed by a Swedish radio reporter here in Paris for a program that went out in Norway and Finland ... he had one of these in a well battered leather case!
Swedish National Radio did not typically use Uher Report 4000. Instead the used Nagra III and Nagra E for reporters, and later Nagra IV for stereo production. But by the 90's Sony's portable DAT recorders (and compact cassettes) had taken over. And later also Solid State recorders. So my guess was that the reporter was a freelancer. Also Finland, being a bilingual country do speak Swedish, but not Norway. But I guess the intervue was made in English or French?
Even at the 15/16 speed, it's bearable. The 7.5 sounds fantastic. It's amazing to see something like this fresh out of the box with no dents, scratches, faded or fogged plastic, etc.
I have two of these including the ones my day used when he was covering Vietnam, which also has the syncbox for a 16mm camera. They would run at 7.5ips because one told of 16mm film would have the same running time 15 minutes before the tape and a new film had to be loaded into the camera. I also used is a number of time when shooting on 16mm.
i'm more familiar with the nagra but i believe you recorded a crystal sync tone from the camera on the second track which insured frame accuracy when played back in post. you people who grew up in the digital world have no idea what a pita analog sync was back in the day!
@@aworminmybook8234 A Nagra with crystal sync would have been used in very different circumstances. When you have to run and you only have cameraman and assistant camerman, with the assistants job to load the magazines and no soundman. The cameras we use to use and did so well into the late 80s were the Elcair NPR 16. They were a bit easier to load when you hd your hands in the black bag to make sure the film didn't get exposed to light. A Uher was a lot lighter. And when I say lighter, a hell of a lot lighter. I still the power supply belt you wore, its been dead for 30 years. My dad whois still alive now was in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. The weight you had to carry sometimes for days on end. Beside the camera and Uher. A dozen or more roles of AFGA 16mm and AGFA tape. 3 camera and 3 tape recorder power belts, and 3 magazines. He use to say the one drawback of using the Uher, unlike the Nagra. Was if you were doing a piece to camera having to keep it no longer than 30 to 40 seconds. Because as you pointed out the Nagra had better sync, The Uher could if you were not careful get out of sync starting around 30 seconds. When the film and tape was sent back to the Netherlands it was the editors job to make sure that didn't happen.
This is an awesome recorder! I just got one from 1967 and they sound great. A great testament of how good analog audio tape can sound.. and German craftsmanship.. the folks that invented it. 😉
Hi, I had the monitor version of this when I worked for the BBC as an intern in 1990/91. I had the monitor version as I’m totally blind and couldn’t see the V you meter,for the monitor allowed me to set my levels well enough. I ended up buying one of these from the BBC secondhand when they stopped using them probably in around 93. Excellent piece of kit, I used it for years until it finally died about 10 years later. it was wonderful to hear it again, and I’d forgotten how good those wonderful microphones were. It’s a lovely natural sound, without the need for harshness you get from some digital recordings. If you ever decide to get rid of it…cheers and it was nice hearing from them again after so long.
This was absolutely interesting to me. Been wondering about buying a Reel to Reel and how specific tape speeds behave and now i have a first hand experience. Thank you Matt.
In the OLD days, a professional recorder would use 15ips or even 30ips for mastering music. For home use HiFi 7.5ips would used for music with almost no reduction of quality. Most domestic tape recorders would use 3.75ips. A good compromise between tape economy and sound. Lacking a little in high frequency but well up to FM radio sound plus a little bit if hiss. 1.75ips was really just for speech, sounded abit like AM radio, big loss of high frequency's, often with audible flutter on the sound, mostly due to the slow speed of the capstan. Very few recorders used 15/16ips. Just sounds like crap, even on voice!
I purchased a Uher 4000 Report L in 1965 when I was living in France with my parents on a NATO/USAF base. I used it for several years and really liked the features and quality.
I came across a pile of these uhers in a charity shop 2 years ago. I didnt really know what i was looking at specifically but i knew that they were something unique and interesting. Apparently a bloke from the BBC had just dumped them off as they had been sitting in the local radio station since whenever they were in service for..well..reporting i suppose. Looking back, i shouldve bought more than one..they were 40 quid each, they all came with the lovely leather sidebags and a couple had mics..
The names Techmoan - 007 Techmoan Collins. British Secret Service Audio Expert. He has a Golden eye for the wacky, weird audio hardware that has, No Time To Die. 😂👍
It makes sense though. The bits of tape are much closer together and not moving much so the information is physically "compressed" into the tape at those speeds with neighboring bits of tape overwriting or interfering with neighboring bits. At high speeds the sound can "spread out" and bits being recorded are less likely to interfere with the bits next to it. In the digital world this is directly equivalent to "sampling rate." During ADC the process is a bit different but by taking samples (or more specifically voltage levels) at higher speeds you get better frequency response. I forget the exact term but it has to do in part with harmonics. You get high notes at a frequency of HALF the sampling rate (hence why 44kHz is desirable over 22kHz, you can only sample up to 11kHz audio at 22kHz sampling rate, and why 16kHz sampling rate starts to sound like old phones, minus the carbon microphone crackling).
@@FesixGermany since 7.5ips is listed as having 25kHz freq response, it's equivalent to sampling digitally at 50kHz! (Or maybe more like 55 or 60 depending on how brick wally your low pass filter is). That's pretty impressive. And still slightly better than DVD, BD etc using 48kHz sampling.
I had an older version of the Uher Report 4200, and used it for mixing soundtracks for my 16mm films in the 1990s. The quality was outstanding. For me the best feature was being able to record the left & right stereo tracks separately, essentially making it a two track mono machine. I bought mine for about $20 at a thrift shop in San Francisco circa 1992. I remember becoming quite interested in getting a new model Uher at the time, and contacted the American distributor ATIS (their office was in Atlanta). The new prices were quite out of my range back then, I think over $1000 USD, so I never bought one. I would have never dreamed new ones would still be available today!
I remember how delighted I was back in the early '80s, finding an early '60s Uher Report at a flea-market for $2. It was a bit battle-scarred, the transport was a bit noisy, and the fast-wind was a bit sluggish. But everything worked, and it came with the AC adapter fitted in the battery compartment. I had a lot of fun doing 'sound-effects', like dropping coins on a table at 7.1/2 ips, then playing it back at 15/16 to make sounds like iron manhole covers hitting pavement! Today, I have several Uhers, including a 4400 stereo, along with a matching parts machine, and a 5000 - the model Rosemary Woods allegedly erased that 18 minutes from the Nixon tapes. By the way, the machine Nixon installed in the Oval Office to make those tapes was a 5" reel, four-speed, Sony 800B. I had heard that these Uhers were still in production into the '90s, but that the retail price had climbed to something around $1400!
Unfortunately I sold my Monitor 4200 last year... It wasn´t unused, it had run for about 20 min. since it came from the factory. A colleague won it in a lottery back then and he never used it for more than a test. So it was practically new, and with an also unused leather bag.
Good old Germans and their DIN plugs. Sharp used to use them a lot too. I always thought it was a much better way of connecting a tape deck than the four unwieldy RCA jacks, not to mention all the other uses like RGB outs in old Micros. Great vid as always and nice recording quality demonstration :).
I have serviced a few of these original puppies over the last years. Very original motorcontrol and some ways of adjusting mechanical parts that are also found in accordeons (bending metal until it meets specs). Great machines that were built for rugged use.
It shows the quality of 7.5" ips recording with a decent microphone. Uher was a VERY decent make at the time. With crystal sync for film work, this was considered professional equipment. I had never seen a machisne with that slowest speed before, but even at 1 7/8" it probably still sounds OK, with low noise internal circuitry. A lot of broadcast radio was produced on a Uher. So, I'm very glad you decided to get this and share the results with us. It's a pleasure to see it. Thanks.
Wow, this takes me back! We used these when I was at university in the mid-nineties. Most of them were in poor condition, but a few new ones came in while I was there - so yes, I can confirm that you could buy these new in the UK in the nineties. BBC local radio also used them extensively. They sound fantastic. Your test recording at higher quality made me want one of these again! 👍
Used to record on a 2-track Otari machine on a mobile cart 5-7 times a week at school. All live symphonic and orchestral music. You pair a good quality reel to reel with a set of B and K mics in a stereo pair and you can make magic.
I was one of the last trainees at Atis Assmann. Together with R. Sprang I have repaired many answering machines. I learned a lot from him about finding the causes of faults and troubleshooting in electromechanical devices. I would have liked to continue working there but the production was moved to the Far East and the repair of the machines in Germany became too expensive. Thanks for this blast from the past. :-) Viele Grüße an R. Sprang und vielen Dank an Techmoan.
I worked at Rolec LTD London and Prepared and repaired these Uhers for BBC.in the early 90-s. Have one 4000 monitor still.. Good I can get spares. Thanks for the link.I still repair these for customers. Anders from Sweden.
I used on in 1994 when at PCL (University of Westminster) film school to record my gran. Still got the tape trying to digitise If I can find the right cable (adapter). A great quality machine - I have a sound devices digital and although Stella quality its not the same physical presence. Love the analog.
It's exactly THIS company I just bought numerous Uher Report (Monitor) parts from. In 2021! They even have new "Antriebsräder" which are the same for ALL Uher Reports, made in 2020, so NO old stock with just the same hard, stiff rubber I now have (that makes a lot of noise).
Another brilliant start to my weekend, cheers Mat. Wish I could have a new stereo one as well, the tactile nature of those buttons and the VU meters is like a connection to the content recorded. Love machines like this. Nice touch playing the outro through the machine, miss the long outros you used to do though. Oh, do keep the beard, it suits you :)
That took me back. I used to look after and repair these in a radio newsroom back in the 90's. We used to joke that they were made from old tiger tanks as they were practically indestructible and always repairable. Lovely machines.
I still have one of them I bought back at the end of the 80s, it was my daily reporter recorder before we moved to a Sony Walkman, that I bought from BFBS when they were 'upgrading'. I continued to use my Uher field reported up until we went digital, as you could edit directly and then just connect it to a telephone and upload directly, or even just hold the phone near the speaker and do it low tech. I picked up a second hand one that was broken for parts about 20 years ago. My original one had a leather case that would hold a mic, power supply and all the cables, plus two spare tapes, so at broadcast quality you could do about 45 minutes of field work. Once mounted into the leather reporters case they are fairly robust, and mine has been thrown around and still has all the buttons. I loved actually seeing the manual, as that I have never seen.
I used one of these in 1988 during my training course at Wood Norton for the BBC. We used them connected to a 16mm film camera. I also used it as a stand alone recorder for recording some sound effects and an atmos reel. Quite a nice little machine, but rather heavy especially with the lead acid battery installed.
Thanks to this video I bought mine with the matching microphone as shown, it’s brilliant! The dynamic range of two track reel to reel is better than four track, which is useful for making microphone recordings. Also I do not care so much about it being mono... makes twice the recording time and you don’t have to bother with a proper stereo setup of the mics. I’m really pleased about the communication with the seller and the way it was packaged. The new RTM tapes you can also order along do a great job with this machine. A month before I saw this video I just digitized and disposed my 13cm tapes which I had for more than 20 years. So now I whish I kept a few just for the reels... oh well.
I find it weird that I can viscerally "imagine" exactly what it smells like taking it out of the box despite logically having no way of being able to detect scent from a UA-cam video. I think I'm thinking of the scent of mid-1980s stereo components from Radio Shack/Tandy fresh from the box, a scent that might be specifically of the plastic or foam they were wrapped in.
Linus Sebastian ( Linus Tech Tips ) growed a beard as well. I guess quite a lot of UA-camrs I've subscribed have growed their beirds up thanks to the pandemic :-}
Hey Matt. I worked in BBC local radio briefly in the early nineties and these machines were the standard report monitors then. I think Uher did an adapted version for the BBC or they may have done it themselves. We used Shure microphones though, not the Uher one you feature. As far as I know they didn't move over to digital recording and editing until the late nineties or perhaps even later whic, fits with the end of production date you point out. It was editing blocks, chinagraph pencils and razor blades all the way, not to mention the cut fingers and blood on the tape. I have a mono 4000 machine with an earlier microphone that I'm looking to sell if anyone's interested. Thanks for your videos btw. I always enjoy them. 😀
Hi Iain. I bow to your greater micrphone knowledge and acknowledge my very ropey memory. Thanks for the tips re selling my Uher. Will take some pics and send you them later. Would really appreciate your thoughts....Johnnie😀
That's a incredible sound quality for a "compact" 1980's/1990's recording device (at 7 1/2 ips. of course). That's why I'm subscribed to Techmoan's channel. Great video! I presume this device would be compatible (and even the standard) with 16mm cameras back in the 80's/90's. If the footage itself could be edited with a Magnetic Track on Film (instead of a Optical Track) I imagine that it could sound fairly good (up to 15kHz of maximum frequency response at least). Actually, I think that Sound Picture Film (16mm especially) would be a great subject for Mat to review/demonstrate someday.
I used to sell these when I worked at aa hi-fi/recorder retailer at the top of London's Charing Cross Road. They were excellent, and I was thinking of getting a 4200 stereo model myself. Then at a pro-audio show in 1971 I was walking past a stand when one of their staff just hung something on my shoulder. It was a Stellavox SP-7; and I bought one the next year, once I could afford it. I have had at least one 'Stella' ever since, and currently have two including an SP-8, making more than 50 years(!) I even interviewed its creator on that first one I had, at another event.
A few years ago I repaired a UHER 4000 Report IC (It was a reel to reel machine) for a client. It was still in fairly good shape, just need a door hinge and some missing screws. Sound quality was still pretty good despite the heads showing obvious signs of wear. I couldn't find a date on any any of the service information I have for the machine.
I have to say I really love hearing your outro played back by the Uher 4000. The quality is really excellent, and I love the bass on it as well. I've been listening to digital sound through digital devices for so many years now that I've forgotten how much I miss the tape hiss. It's such a small thing, but I do sometimes think that perhaps mechanical playback is in some aspects superior to digital. There's just something satisfying about sliding a cassette in to your machine, pressing an actual play button (not just clicking with your mouse or tapping touch screen) and hearing the music emit from real speakers, or headphones connected directly to the machine. There's real joy in that for me, the actual tactile experience of enjoying music.
When i worked in the BBC in the seventies, all the reporters used the older UHER, then around 1975 the UHER 4000ic model came along which was something then. We used to service them, cleaning heads etc, and they were generally good little workhorses. 7.5 inches/second only we used. I did notice 25khz mentioned in the video. I do not believe that!. We were lucky to get 15khz out of them at that speed. 30 inches/second yes!
i think because these machines used DIN plugs not barrel plugs they had their own proprietary symbols. DIN was a standard invented in Germany (where this device is from obviously) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_connector
I went to school for audio recording in 99, and I had a class on recording audio for film and television. We were taught to use a Nagra reel to reel recorder, and not a digital recorder. The audio would then be digitized and we would sync it in ProTools to the video.
My all-time favourite Techmoan video! As a BBC local radio reporter from the mid-80s till the late 90s, these were the workhorse -- and yes, the BBC did use loads of these 4000 Report Monitors, always in mono (so you have the best version IMHO), always running at 7.5ips and always with manual level control.
And they were used well into the late '90s ... for the simple reason that there wasn't much alternative. Don't forget, you could whip the reel with your interview straight off the Uher (always pronounced You-her in the BBC) and onto a Revox PR99 or Studer B67 to edit and then play out - first generation recording straight to air, or second generation if you mixed a package.
Interestingly with BBC-spec tape, you only would get about 15 mins recording -- maybe the tape was thicker (you would get 30 mins on a 7" spool and an hour on a 10" spool). Very newsroom would have a rack of Uhers - usually personally issued - with a central charging system - each slot would have the DIN charger cable dangling down ready to plug back in when you returned from an interview. The BBC normally used these with an AKG D130 mic, and always with a locking metal DIN plug on the end.
The Sony WM6DC was never a mainstream machine due to its fragile 3.5mm mic input and the need to dub before you could edit - no good in news. Come the late 90s, the Uhers started to be replaced with MiniDiscs -- but the lifespan of a MiniDisc recorder could be measured in months compared with the indestructible Uher (I laughed when you got it out of the box and said "lets's be careful not to break it" -- it's impossible to break a Uher. I don't think you'll find an old-school radio reporter without a lot of love for their Uher. And I don't think you'll find an old-school radio reporter without a bad back.
Fantastic story! Thank you for sharing it with us.
Well said Robert, (O hope all’s well with you) yes we loved these recording beasts - and learning how to edit on them, mastering that gave me a real sense of achievement.
Cool, so that's why they sound so BBC-/BFBS-like!
Very interesting, Robert...thank you! Now I want one 😊...
Thanks Robert for letting us know your experience.
My Dad always stated that he fled east germany in the 60s because he wanted to get his hands on a Uher Tape Recorder. It might not have been the only reason, but he swears it was one of the bigger ones on his teenage mind at the time. He still owns a couple of those i'm going to inherit. So thanks to Uher i grew up in west germany :)
@@KairuHakubi 'Cromulent'? Why not use 'acceptable' instead? That I would not have had to resort to a dictionary for. :-)
@@KairuHakubi OK!
@@roboftherock There's nothing wrong with improving one's vocabulary. 😉 It adds variety to life. The word 'cromulent' also possesses pulchritude, and uses fewer syllables, so it's gratifying to see someone using it in their UA-cam Comments.
Incidentally, there is no need to resort to using a dictionary; simply highlight the word and choose 'Look up'. It takes no more than a couple of seconds. 👈 🙂 🖖
@@RWBHere I am of an older generation more aquainted with the use of hard copy (to be technical) instead!
@@KairuHakubi Using cromulent embiggens your vocabulary.
UHER 4000 & 5000 series machines were widely used in the US for recording and transcribing court proceedings. I suspect the long tail of the usage was due to the slow adoption of digital recording by the courts due to the concerns about the reliability of digital recording and the ability to authenticate such recordings. (I think the paper transcript became the official record once certified by a court reporter, and the tape record could then be destroyed or erased.)
I serviced, cleaned and repaired many of these machines in the first half of the 1980s, which I consider the golden age of reel to reel recorders.
The UHER recorders were typically reliable, but did require regular cleaning. The recorders could be easily damaged by exposure to high summer heat such as storage in a auto boot / trunk in the Southern US. The small glass barrel fuses used in the UHER products were prone to mechanical failure due to rough handling.
Most court reporters used the leather case for transport, and the knobs and switches were protected by a heavy arch of thick leather. These cases were always black rather than the brown shown in the video, but that may be the only color my employer stocked.
There was a foot pedal available to start & stop the tape during the transcription process. If I remember correctly, the 4000 series used a solenoid to pause the tape by pulling the pitch roller away from the capstan.
The 5000 Series was preferred for the transcription process since it had a two button foot pedal that provided an additional rewind function. The 5000 series was quite a different machine with a fully solenoid controlled tape transport, and required AC mains power. While many court reporters purchased the 5000 as their first recorder, and would lug it around for a few years, they would usually purchase a 4000 series as soon as they could afford it.
While I was never involved with the sales process for UHER products, I thought these units were far more expensive than the prices quoted in this video. But alas, I was a poor university student, and I had just bought my first car with a bad transmission for about $500 US. (I still buy & fix to this day!)
Terry Norton Thanks you for that really insightful and informative comments. Not many of them on UA-cam.
This also accounts for why the mono machines kept going. No reason to transcribe court proceedings from stereo.
... Now that you mention it. That's why this looks vaguely familiar. Had to be at family court as a kid and they let me play with something just about like this as I was waiting. Considering I thought my Talkboy was hot stuff at the time...
Good story Terry , thanks .
Those small fuses were standard in Europe (and are still available but are not part of many electronics today, they are more common in DIY devices these days) in the time, were they any different from those used in USA? Those fuses as well exist in form of porcelain one or sand filled (slow) one.
This was a really creative way of demonstrating the audio quality in real time. It's no surprise Techmoan has earned 1M subs.
yeah, these 3 head reels with multiple speeds make amazing tape delays ! whack a synth through it on slow speeds and listen to the monitor output and its so gooooooood.
And unlike many UA-camrs, Techmoan has really "earned" those subs. His videos are excellent!
@@girlienerd yep, hardwork and Passion pay off in the end.
Indeed!
techmoan is the best. I am so glad i found his channel
One important detail about this machine is that the speed selector should always be left in the OFF position when the machine is not in use. Otherwise the drive wheel that drives the capstan is left pressed against the flywheel which over time will leve a dent in it making it noisy and give a lot of flutter. The OFF position will lift the drive wheel from the flywheel.
The power supply is designed so that it fits into the battery compartment as it has the same size as the rechargeable battery. So if the machine is to be used as a stationary unit for a while the power supply can be neatly out of the way. (I have the late 1970's version of the UHER 4000)
That's a clever detail with the power supply :D
@@kaitlyn__L Quite a few devices had that facility. You could also buy Japanese cassette recorders which allowed for that. I had a radio receiver recently which could be supplied with a power supply that could replace the battery, connecting directly to the battery terminals. It was less than 10 years old.
Good information thanks!
I'm 17 and I've been watching your videos since I was 13.
I really enjoy them. I started watching when I started vinyl collecting.
Now I collect all sorts of old formats. I am thinking about making some videos myself.
Thanks Techmoan for all the years of great videos.
I know how that goes. I ha had to wait for my brothers to move out
Yeah my first set up was in the living room. If you really like analog sound a good way to do it with limited space is cassettes. I use to a have a record player in the living room and a cassette deck with built in speakers in my room. The battery life can be really good on those decks too. Mine was small enough I could take it with me when traveling. You can move it around as needed all that bit. It wasn't the truest form of music but it really got me addicted to analog.
I just subscribed to your channel. I expect to see some kind of music related video soon😉 I am working on one myself
@@justjustin6098 d3300
Same! He started me collecting old audio formats too, like 8-Track players, reel to reels etc.
Techmoan: spends loads of money and time making video about tape recorder
Internet: nice beard
The beard is priceless
internet's gonna internet
It really is a good beard though. Most people when they go beard it is a bit hard to get used to. This one like, immediately just works
Sort of like (this is gonna reveal big time what sport I chiefly follow) Valtteri Bottas.
At over 3200 Patreons, even at one dollar a month he can buy anything......
Just as an info: the power supply can be installed inside the device instead of the lead battery. The power cable has an way out, so you can use it stationary without having the power supply separately. The power supply has some "rivets" on one side, exactly where the lead battery has the connectors. Of course the power supply has exactly the same dimensions as the lead battery.
Wow, That would be very handy.
also the 3 pin din plug would plug in either end but the 6 pin din plug will only go into the tape deck as the power supply doesnt have a hole for the other pin
@@fumthings No, the 3 pin DIN connector isnt compatible with the 6 pin one since the pins are not in the same places.
Those Lead batteries would leak and they destroyed many machines over the years.
Dang I just commented the same thing, you beat me to it..
It really is an ingenious solution. Took me some thinking to figure it out when I got my first Uher as a kid. The monitor series still are quite expensive devices but, at least ten years ago, you could get a working 4000 Report for less than shipping on ebay.
I got the "4000 L" variant, featuring slightly better overall quality and metal transport switches. Amazing little machines these and fortunately they were constructed simply enough for the user to do most of the usual maintenance jobs. Contrary to many other examples of german audio tech which is often very convoluted inside. I own a "Royal de luxe" tape machine from Uher that, while it was a top model in its class, relied on one single big motor and flywheel to perform all of its functions. In its contemporaries from Revox, they went the more expensive but simpler and arguably better route of using two outrunner motors to directly drive the reels. This makes them more accurate, way faster to rewind and most importantly today, they still run just fine even after 50 years because there are no Belts, gears or friction wheels that have a reputation for disintegrating or seizing up with time
It's like buying a classic car. You're paying for the rarity of something preserved in time. I love that.
Not exactly. Buying a classic car means you want more of a connection to the car, undisturbued from computers. It could mean you want to do burnouts whenever you want, or you just love how it looks and the sound of the engine. There are also lots of restomods out there as well. Also, almost all classic cars are not rare, and it’s very easy to find a beautiful fully restored, say 1967 Ford Mustang, for 25-30k US Dollors. So it’s not exactly rare to find something preserved in time, and you’re not really paying for just that. Just thought I should point that out. Have a nice day.
@@NewYorker613 you are going to pay for a classic car that was driven off the yard and out in storage tho. Every now and then a still boxed motorcycle or ww2 jeep shows up and they go for big money
tortron that’s diffrent. Those are EXTREMELY rare. Like, you almost never see something like that. And when you do, They go for BIG BIG money. That’s when you are paying for rarity of something that, in a way is preserved in time. What I’m trying to say is that there are so many classic cars that are fully restored, that are just the way they were from factory, that you aren’t just paying for rarity of that alone. What I’m trying to say is it’s not very rare to find something “preserved in time” unless you’re talking about a ww2 jeep boxed up or something like that.
@@NewYorker613 A very clean original is more desirable than restored. its only original once. pretty rare to find
tortron those cars are very special and desirable among collectors. Like jay leno for example, says that his favorite cars are original and unrestored. There I have to agree with you. But what I’m trying to say is that if you’re talking about restored cars, it’s very easy to find them in beautiful like factory condition.
A great video of a piece of classic gear. Back in the early 70s, as a junior engineer at the BBC, I worked in the TV studio that did the early evening chat show called Nationwide. Their reporters used the earlier version of this recorder, and although we didn't normally have anything to do with them the were regularly brought to use to untangle tapes and clean the heads. The were very robust, and had nice black leather cases with shoulder straps. I remember that when you took the top cover off to get at the heads, the were mounted on a machined block that could be removed to aid in maintenance. The block fitted onto machined posts so that unless you were very careless it went back exactly and the head alignment would stay the same. I only had to do that once went a tape got tangled and some of it got stuck under one of the heads! It did indeed go back exactly. I don't remember seeing one of these until the early 90s when I was working on a film project where the location sound recordist had one as a spare to back up his Nagra.
I tried to find out what they cost new. the nearest I got was a price for the late 60s version which was about £100 which would be about £2K now according to the Bank of England inflation calculator. In 1994 that would have been £940. I also found a price list for Martel who imported them to the US and they had $310 in 1968. They also made a big thing about the Stereo 4400 model only costing $450. So it looks like you got a real bargain!
BTW Nice beard!
Sadiq Mohamed Did you exchange the rubber belt during your BBC career? I have two Uher mono recorders. This one and one generation older. The’re both working ok, but I fear that it moght be an enormous undertaking, because the belt is so long.
@@deBiezel I never opened one up. Just battery changes and head cleaning. Occasional removal of bits of tape from the tape path after one broke. Usually had to untangle it as well! I have a friend who worked at Broadcasting House in the Uher workshop, where they did do major refurbs, so I'll ask him.
@@sadiqmohamed681 I got a set of new belts for a Report Monitor on eBay for about 4£. As far as I can remember, they were quite easy to replace, except the belt for the tape counter.
That Uher microphone quality is quite a bit better than your lavaliere mic for sure, even coming across the internet over UA-cam compression.
Agreed @KakerMix! :-)
58€ for the mic sounds like a steal for that sound quality!
You should definitely use this mic for more of your videos. Quality is much fuller and crisper.
@@s980845 Lav mics are used because they're not intrusive.
@@aserta It's a MIC (microphone). I'm a Mike (Michael!!)
Just what I needed to cheer me up after falling and cracking 2 ribs this morning. Feeling pretty miserable, I fired-up the ipad. Saw a new video from Techmoan, now feeling a lot better.
Ouch
Hey Mat, just wanted to say thank you for your work. In my opinion you’re one of UA-cam’s greatest. Congratulations to one million subscribers. I just enjoy your unagitated and calm delivery, I hope this is the right term, in German this is a compliment. Please keep up. That’s about it for the moment, just wanted to thank, again. It somehow is really confusing, polite as you are you thank in every video for watching, but for me it’s just enjoyment.
Completely agree. Mat is a gem.
Re: dates - we were still recording onto and editing on 1/4" tape at the BBC into the early 2000s. These reporter units were certainly still in use until the late 90s, until minidisc and DAT portable recorders started taking over.
At Broadcasting House the Sony Pro Walkman also started being issued to radio reporters in the late 1980s. Many reporters preferred the Sony because of it's much smaller size compared to the Uher. Both machines were in use at the same time for quite a few years.
And I'll bet you were using EMI BTR2's! - the Big Mean Green Machine - but they were fantastic!
This must be Techmoan's evil twin, Mechtoan.
I think you mean Technoman!
Mechtone sounds like a 90s cartoon.
Tech-on man
Mecho-tan
Recmoan
When I first left school in 76 I worked for a company called W J & M Baylis in Reddish. They were the main stockiest and repair agents for Uher in the North West and did a lot of repairs on the Uher Report range for the BBC & ITV. I spent weeks learning to service these. Generally they were indestructible, the main issue was news reporters not turning the speed selector to off and leaving the drive engaged causing a flat spot on the drive wheel. I think I still have a couple of spare drive wheels somewhere! As an aside, Uher also made language Lab machines. WJ & M Bayliss was also involved in building and installing language labs for schools... where each student would have a tape recorder built into the desk and an Amplivox headset with boom mic so they could play the tape and listen to themselves repeating the phrase. The teacher had a master desk so they could select any student and listen to them.
Yep , I was a school AV tech in my younger days and looked after two language labs - the old reel to reel one was made by Avely electronics and the newer one was by a company called Sign - that was in the late seventies/early 80s .I also had a pair of Ferrograph Series Sevens for off air recording of school broadcasts .
I used to sell a lot of these when I ran a company called Teletape that specialised in tape recording systems.
We mainly sold them to broadcasters, film makers and market research companies.
They always bought them with leather cases.
The market moved on and quickly adopted Japanese makers like Sony who made a compact reel to reel recorder and later cassette based systems.
A great review Mat, I never thought I would see one again.
@@scotshabalam2432 The Japanese did take a lot of care with visual design and often produced unique engineering to solve tape handeling problems. Just take a look at the tape path on a Technics reel to reel, or Sonys Dual Capstan designs and direct drive machine. Nagra probably made the best portable and reel to reel recorders. Much better than the Japanese models.
@@jeremytravis360 indeed, the Sony models are always a feast for the eyes, for every button! I thought this unit was beautiful but the tiny plastic momentary switches for the battery etc were a bit of a let down. ”Let's cheap out on this lesser used function and make it tiny", and stuff.
@@jeremytravis360 Agree on the Nagra. I used them to sync sound to 16mm film. Excellent machines. I thought I'd see far more mentions of them in the comment section...but perhaps the use cases were different and they really fall into different categories.
These recorders are amazing. I own 2 uher reporters 4000 IC myself ( including carrying case, battery pack, charger), bought them for 20 euro's from my work, which was a formal radio studio. They have been used from the 70's until the 90's, and even today they sound amazing, they are such a reliable pieces of equipment. Love the video, and the microphone sounds great ( still need to find one for mine ).
Another absolutely fascinating video a "last of the line" as good as new! Terrific!
Ah memories... these were used in radio production for years up until quite recently when digital devices and mics caught up with the quality. We pronounced them 'you-er'. I once did a really nice interview on one and got it back to discover a hum all the way through it... the stress using these was enormous as you never quite knew what you'd get but there's a warmth to the sound that you don't get with digital (I know what I sound like there...) But I wouldn't go back.
Good morning Techmoan! Very good, in Brazil it's 7:30 am, I'm drinking my coffee and watching this video, what a pleasure!
Thank you!
Greetings from Brazil!
Made with Brazilian coffee beans I hope.
@@solidamber Good Morning Ian! Yes! Brazilian beans, but let me tell you, the Italian Coffee is delicious as wel!
@@alleallf Italians make ground coffee but don't grow any beans.
Beautiful. We had a big Revox in my childhood. At some point my parents got rid of it. We just aquired a used one to listen to the old tapes. Old tech requires you to pay more attention (compared to the endless streams of music on Spotify) and it's quite warming.
Can we all just take a minute to appreciate the techbeard...phwoar!!
Looks good 👍👍
I was like WOAH!
Tim Lee --- Better not pair that beard with his loud shirts or jackets, total magician look.
What a fantastic documentary video!!! Despite the fact I don't need this type of recorder, TechMoan makes this a fascinating subject. His tone of voice (full of energy and enthusiasm) is enough to motivate the viewer! Brilliant! Keep up the impecable work TechMoan!
Kind of interesting that for a "new" 90's model, the battery cover still says "Made in W. Germany".
Well....if the design was made before October '90 it does make sense. And maybe they simply never got around to changing a trivial thing (to them)
"Never got around to changing it" is definitely a thing - I've ordered back-catalogue CDs from the ECM label in the last few years that were sealed, brand new pressings, and still had W. Ger printed on the disc.
I have a rather technical machine at my disposal whose build plate states 1992, but is marked "Made in Western Germany". Presumably it took them a while to come to terms with it all.
Old enough to remember before and after the wall, had some friends in Berlin, Nurnberg, Freiburg, and down in the Ruhr area, and hanged there in Berlin and Nurnberg in the years after they reunited, most people from the west had a lot of jokes about those from the east, and many those from old Westgermany didn't miss a chance to point out they were from the western parts, so I can see that they didn't want to hurry away the West Germany branding on the stuff they made.
Western Germany still exists as a geographical region.
That was truly fascinating. I think they were still in production until 1999 because they could do something the cassette-based pro machines could not - record in ultra-high definition. For field recording music or anything that needed the highest resolution possible it was still the best solution. Amazing stuff.
I was interviewed by a Swedish radio reporter here in Paris for a program that went out in Norway and Finland ... he had one of these in a well battered leather case!
How long ago was that?
Swedish National Radio did not typically use Uher Report 4000. Instead the used Nagra III and Nagra E for reporters, and later Nagra IV for stereo production. But by the 90's Sony's portable DAT recorders (and compact cassettes) had taken over. And later also Solid State recorders.
So my guess was that the reporter was a freelancer. Also Finland, being a bilingual country do speak Swedish, but not Norway. But I guess the intervue was made in English or French?
@@jeanmikael_1265 As a Norwegian myself, I can verify that almost all Norwegians understand Swedish without problems. :-)
@@bgood2010 Ja, men det vet inte de andra. 😉
Well, OK. And we Swedes understand Norwegian (not Nynorsk though).
@@jeanmikael_1265 That goes for many Norwegians too. :-D
Even at the 15/16 speed, it's bearable. The 7.5 sounds fantastic. It's amazing to see something like this fresh out of the box with no dents, scratches, faded or fogged plastic, etc.
I have two of these including the ones my day used when he was covering Vietnam, which also has the syncbox for a 16mm camera. They would run at 7.5ips because one told of 16mm film would have the same running time 15 minutes before the tape and a new film had to be loaded into the camera. I also used is a number of time when shooting on 16mm.
i'm more familiar with the nagra but i believe you recorded a crystal sync tone from the camera on the second track which insured frame accuracy when played back in post. you people who grew up in the digital world have no idea what a pita analog sync was back in the day!
@@aworminmybook8234 A Nagra with crystal sync would have been used in very different circumstances. When you have to run and you only have cameraman and assistant camerman, with the assistants job to load the magazines and no soundman. The cameras we use to use and did so well into the late 80s were the Elcair NPR 16. They were a bit easier to load when you hd your hands in the black bag to make sure the film didn't get exposed to light. A Uher was a lot lighter. And when I say lighter, a hell of a lot lighter. I still the power supply belt you wore, its been dead for 30 years.
My dad whois still alive now was in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. The weight you had to carry sometimes for days on end. Beside the camera and Uher. A dozen or more roles of AFGA 16mm and AGFA tape. 3 camera and 3 tape recorder power belts, and 3 magazines.
He use to say the one drawback of using the Uher, unlike the Nagra. Was if you were doing a piece to camera having to keep it no longer than 30 to 40 seconds. Because as you pointed out the Nagra had better sync, The Uher could if you were not careful get out of sync starting around 30 seconds.
When the film and tape was sent back to the Netherlands it was the editors job to make sure that didn't happen.
This is an awesome recorder! I just got one from 1967 and they sound great. A great testament of how good analog audio tape can sound.. and German craftsmanship.. the folks that invented it. 😉
“Uher has these RTR recorders still in stock...” [TECHMOAN EPISODE RELEASED] “... and they’re gone.”
be on ebay tomorrow
Beyond Batcoif For 6x the original price.
Being a patron of @Techmoan, I saw this video a week ago and ordered the machine right away...
That kinda shit pisses me the fuck off too
Has the company sold them all? already?
Hi, I had the monitor version of this when I worked for the BBC as an intern in 1990/91. I had the monitor version as I’m totally blind and couldn’t see the V you meter,for the monitor allowed me to set my levels well enough. I ended up buying one of these from the BBC secondhand when they stopped using them probably in around 93. Excellent piece of kit, I used it for years until it finally died about 10 years later. it was wonderful to hear it again, and I’d forgotten how good those wonderful microphones were. It’s a lovely natural sound, without the need for harshness you get from some digital recordings. If you ever decide to get rid of it…cheers and it was nice hearing from them again after so long.
This was absolutely interesting to me. Been wondering about buying a Reel to Reel and how specific tape speeds behave and now i have a first hand experience.
Thank you Matt.
In the OLD days, a professional recorder would use 15ips or even 30ips for mastering music. For home use HiFi 7.5ips would used for music with almost no reduction of quality. Most domestic tape recorders would use 3.75ips. A good compromise between tape economy and sound. Lacking a little in high frequency but well up to FM radio sound plus a little bit if hiss. 1.75ips was really just for speech, sounded abit like AM radio, big loss of high frequency's, often with audible flutter on the sound, mostly due to the slow speed of the capstan. Very few recorders used 15/16ips. Just sounds like crap, even on voice!
I purchased a Uher 4000 Report L in 1965 when I was living in France with my parents on a NATO/USAF base. I used it for several years and really liked the features and quality.
1994 is still over 25 years ago so I think you've done well.
I came across a pile of these uhers in a charity shop 2 years ago. I didnt really know what i was looking at specifically but i knew that they were something unique and interesting. Apparently a bloke from the BBC had just dumped them off as they had been sitting in the local radio station since whenever they were in service for..well..reporting i suppose.
Looking back, i shouldve bought more than one..they were 40 quid each, they all came with the lovely leather sidebags and a couple had mics..
Sean Connery and Phil Collins mutated into a guy presenting old tape recorders. Weird....
Throw a little Clive Sinclair in there.
The names Techmoan - 007 Techmoan Collins.
British Secret Service Audio Expert. He has a Golden eye for the wacky, weird audio hardware that has, No Time To Die. 😂👍
don't forget the revered Hide the pain Harold!
...Sean Connery?
Really?
@@Ratchet_effect now thats a effort medal to you ehehe
I remember these as being second only to the Nagra for location recording back in the 70s.
Wow I did not expect that the quality would be so drastically reduced when recording at that slow speed. Nice to see this 'new' machine.
It makes sense though. The bits of tape are much closer together and not moving much so the information is physically "compressed" into the tape at those speeds with neighboring bits of tape overwriting or interfering with neighboring bits. At high speeds the sound can "spread out" and bits being recorded are less likely to interfere with the bits next to it. In the digital world this is directly equivalent to "sampling rate." During ADC the process is a bit different but by taking samples (or more specifically voltage levels) at higher speeds you get better frequency response. I forget the exact term but it has to do in part with harmonics. You get high notes at a frequency of HALF the sampling rate (hence why 44kHz is desirable over 22kHz, you can only sample up to 11kHz audio at 22kHz sampling rate, and why 16kHz sampling rate starts to sound like old phones, minus the carbon microphone crackling).
Sure I know that, I just didn't think it would be *so* bad (but thanks for the explanation though)
@@FesixGermany since 7.5ips is listed as having 25kHz freq response, it's equivalent to sampling digitally at 50kHz! (Or maybe more like 55 or 60 depending on how brick wally your low pass filter is). That's pretty impressive. And still slightly better than DVD, BD etc using 48kHz sampling.
@@dustysparks Nyquist-Shannon theorem?
I had an older version of the Uher Report 4200, and used it for mixing soundtracks for my 16mm films in the 1990s. The quality was outstanding. For me the best feature was being able to record the left & right stereo tracks separately, essentially making it a two track mono machine. I bought mine for about $20 at a thrift shop in San Francisco circa 1992. I remember becoming quite interested in getting a new model Uher at the time, and contacted the American distributor ATIS (their office was in Atlanta). The new prices were quite out of my range back then, I think over $1000 USD, so I never bought one. I would have never dreamed new ones would still be available today!
I remember the days when I was wondering why techmoan doesn't have a million subs. The time has come and I just figured it out. Congrats!!!
I remember how delighted I was back in the early '80s, finding an early '60s Uher Report at a flea-market for $2. It was a bit battle-scarred, the transport was a bit noisy, and the fast-wind was a bit sluggish. But everything worked, and it came with the AC adapter fitted in the battery compartment. I had a lot of fun doing 'sound-effects', like dropping coins on a table at 7.1/2 ips, then playing it back at 15/16 to make sounds like iron manhole covers hitting pavement!
Today, I have several Uhers, including a 4400 stereo, along with a matching parts machine, and a 5000 - the model Rosemary Woods allegedly erased that 18 minutes from the Nixon tapes. By the way, the machine Nixon installed in the Oval Office to make those tapes was a 5" reel, four-speed, Sony 800B.
I had heard that these Uhers were still in production into the '90s, but that the retail price had climbed to something around $1400!
Got a feeling Techmoan would've preferred to have the stereo version. Just a hunch. It's not like he mentioned it.
Unfortunately I sold my Monitor 4200 last year... It wasn´t unused, it had run for about 20 min. since it came from the factory. A colleague won it in a lottery back then and he never used it for more than a test. So it was practically new, and with an also unused leather bag.
Good old Germans and their DIN plugs. Sharp used to use them a lot too. I always thought it was a much better way of connecting a tape deck than the four unwieldy RCA jacks, not to mention all the other uses like RGB outs in old Micros. Great vid as always and nice recording quality demonstration :).
i love videos like this. it really shows just how good tapes can sound even in the digital age.
I have serviced a few of these original puppies over the last years. Very original motorcontrol and some ways of adjusting mechanical parts that are also found in accordeons (bending metal until it meets specs).
Great machines that were built for rugged use.
Nothing like a great little R2R video from Techmoan - many thanks Mat, looks and sounds fantastic!
Yes, that fine-looking beard did seem to have a smooth voice.
I was blown away by the sound of the recording through that mic, so clear.
Techmoan is a true Englishman: Passes 1 million subs and doesn't give a sh!t about it 😂
Kept looking at 1.1 million suscribers
That’s because he’s not an attention whore.
Well, his name is not Collin , so I guess you should not be surprised :)
It shows the quality of 7.5" ips recording with a decent microphone. Uher was a VERY decent make at the time.
With crystal sync for film work, this was considered professional equipment. I had never seen a machisne with that slowest speed before, but even at 1 7/8" it probably still sounds OK, with low noise internal circuitry. A lot of broadcast radio was produced on a Uher.
So, I'm very glad you decided to get this and share the results with us. It's a pleasure to see it. Thanks.
Wow, this takes me back! We used these when I was at university in the mid-nineties. Most of them were in poor condition, but a few new ones came in while I was there - so yes, I can confirm that you could buy these new in the UK in the nineties. BBC local radio also used them extensively. They sound fantastic. Your test recording at higher quality made me want one of these again! 👍
I didn't even know that Uher had its headquarters in Bad Homburg (my home town). Things you learn on UA-cam :-) Thanks for that!
Whoah, the rare bearded techmoan release! Never thought I’d actually ever see it, I thought it was discontinued!
What impressed me was what I saw when the box was opened, thick recyclable cardboard for packing, nice one.
The quality of that unit and microphone is outstanding :)
Used to record on a 2-track Otari machine on a mobile cart 5-7 times a week at school. All live symphonic and orchestral music. You pair a good quality reel to reel with a set of B and K mics in a stereo pair and you can make magic.
I’ve only just noticed: Congrats on one million subscribers!
Keep up the fantastic vids :)
A wonderful piece for the collection! STOP TIME for almost a quarter of a century, it's amazing!
That is truly a thing of beauty, thanks for sharing.
Oh, and the reel to reel is great too.
I was one of the last trainees at Atis Assmann. Together with R. Sprang I have repaired many answering machines. I learned a lot from him about finding the causes of faults and troubleshooting in electromechanical devices. I would have liked to continue working there but the production was moved to the Far East and the repair of the machines in Germany became too expensive. Thanks for this blast from the past. :-) Viele Grüße an R. Sprang und vielen Dank an Techmoan.
The live recording demo was awesome! Really interesting!
I worked at Rolec LTD London and Prepared and repaired these Uhers for BBC.in the early 90-s. Have one 4000 monitor still.. Good I can get spares. Thanks for the link.I still repair these for customers. Anders from Sweden.
You have a proper voice over man sound with the Uher mic. Maybe a second career doing audio books? 🙂
I used on in 1994 when at PCL (University of Westminster) film school to record my gran. Still got the tape trying to digitise If I can find the right cable (adapter). A great quality machine - I have a sound devices digital and although Stella quality its not the same physical presence. Love the analog.
You can see that he really wanted that stereo model, he mentioned it twice :D
Double the UV meters!
And wouldn't you? The sound quality from the mono was excellent, so the stereo would be...doubly excellent!! :-D
I love the sound of the built in speaker. Very nostalgic for me.
That beard on him makes him look like the dad to that one kid down the street from you when you were growing up.
It's exactly THIS company I just bought numerous Uher Report (Monitor) parts from. In 2021! They even have new "Antriebsräder" which are the same for ALL Uher Reports, made in 2020, so NO old stock with just the same hard, stiff rubber I now have (that makes a lot of noise).
Another brilliant start to my weekend, cheers Mat.
Wish I could have a new stereo one as well, the tactile nature of those buttons and the VU meters is like a connection to the content recorded. Love machines like this. Nice touch playing the outro through the machine, miss the long outros you used to do though.
Oh, do keep the beard, it suits you :)
That took me back. I used to look after and repair these in a radio newsroom back in the 90's. We used to joke that they were made from old tiger tanks as they were practically indestructible and always repairable.
Lovely machines.
Techmoan's next episode, Phillips Shavers.
I kid.
Interesting reel to reel this.
I still have one of them I bought back at the end of the 80s, it was my daily reporter recorder before we moved to a Sony Walkman, that I bought from BFBS when they were 'upgrading'. I continued to use my Uher field reported up until we went digital, as you could edit directly and then just connect it to a telephone and upload directly, or even just hold the phone near the speaker and do it low tech. I picked up a second hand one that was broken for parts about 20 years ago. My original one had a leather case that would hold a mic, power supply and all the cables, plus two spare tapes, so at broadcast quality you could do about 45 minutes of field work. Once mounted into the leather reporters case they are fairly robust, and mine has been thrown around and still has all the buttons. I loved actually seeing the manual, as that I have never seen.
I used one of these in 1988 during my training course at Wood Norton for the BBC. We used them connected to a 16mm film camera. I also used it as a stand alone recorder for recording some sound effects and an atmos reel. Quite a nice little machine, but rather heavy especially with the lead acid battery installed.
Thanks to this video I bought mine with the matching microphone as shown, it’s brilliant! The dynamic range of two track reel to reel is better than four track, which is useful for making microphone recordings. Also I do not care so much about it being mono... makes twice the recording time and you don’t have to bother with a proper stereo setup of the mics.
I’m really pleased about the communication with the seller and the way it was packaged.
The new RTM tapes you can also order along do a great job with this machine.
A month before I saw this video I just digitized and disposed my 13cm tapes which I had for more than 20 years. So now I whish I kept a few just for the reels... oh well.
I find it weird that I can viscerally "imagine" exactly what it smells like taking it out of the box despite logically having no way of being able to detect scent from a UA-cam video.
I think I'm thinking of the scent of mid-1980s stereo components from Radio Shack/Tandy fresh from the box, a scent that might be specifically of the plastic or foam they were wrapped in.
Like I unboxed a NOS 1991 Craig mega bass portable tape player still in the package and it smelled great
Thank God this is not an Uher made for music. I do not need an opportunity to spend my money on one of those. This is a real treat.
seeing him with a beard is so weird lol
That caught me off guard, had to do a double take
Makes him look older😳
It rhymes though...
Linus Sebastian ( Linus Tech Tips ) growed a beard as well. I guess quite a lot of UA-camrs I've subscribed have growed their beirds up thanks to the pandemic :-}
it's great! :-)
Hey Matt. I worked in BBC local radio briefly in the early nineties and these machines were the standard report monitors then. I think Uher did an adapted version for the BBC or they may have done it themselves. We used Shure microphones though, not the Uher one you feature. As far as I know they didn't move over to digital recording and editing until the late nineties or perhaps even later whic, fits with the end of production date you point out. It was editing blocks, chinagraph pencils and razor blades all the way, not to mention the cut fingers and blood on the tape. I have a mono 4000 machine with an earlier microphone that I'm looking to sell if anyone's interested. Thanks for your videos btw. I always enjoy them. 😀
Hi Iain. I bow to your greater micrphone knowledge and acknowledge my very ropey memory. Thanks for the tips re selling my Uher. Will take some pics and send you them later. Would really appreciate your thoughts....Johnnie😀
That's a incredible sound quality for a "compact" 1980's/1990's recording device (at 7 1/2 ips. of course). That's why I'm subscribed to Techmoan's channel. Great video!
I presume this device would be compatible (and even the standard) with 16mm cameras back in the 80's/90's. If the footage itself could be edited with a Magnetic Track on Film (instead of a Optical Track) I imagine that it could sound fairly good (up to 15kHz of maximum frequency response at least).
Actually, I think that Sound Picture Film (16mm especially) would be a great subject for Mat to review/demonstrate someday.
What a delight - wonderful to be able to behold the coupling between mechanical activation and sound... Thanks a lot for sharing. BR, Per
New techmoan video! The ultimate hangover cure 😂
I used to sell these when I worked at aa hi-fi/recorder retailer at the top of London's Charing Cross Road. They were excellent, and I was thinking of getting a 4200 stereo model myself. Then at a pro-audio show in 1971 I was walking past a stand when one of their staff just hung something on my shoulder. It was a Stellavox SP-7; and I bought one the next year, once I could afford it.
I have had at least one 'Stella' ever since, and currently have two including an SP-8, making more than 50 years(!) I even interviewed its creator on that first one I had, at another event.
Damn, that's a nifty thing, and it feels like radiating "quality".
yeha looks great, wish modern products were built with level of quality
A few years ago I repaired a UHER 4000 Report IC (It was a reel to reel machine) for a client. It was still in fairly good shape, just need a door hinge and some missing screws. Sound quality was still pretty good despite the heads showing obvious signs of wear. I couldn't find a date on any any of the service information I have for the machine.
The microphone is really good, it makes you sound like you're on Radio 4.
The audio quality is amazing on that microphone and tape machine. Thank you for showing this. What a nice machine almost brand new, years later.
That's quality gear, just somewhat limited for everyday use, being mono. I haven't seen that many different DIN sockets in a while :-)
I have to say I really love hearing your outro played back by the Uher 4000. The quality is really excellent, and I love the bass on it as well. I've been listening to digital sound through digital devices for so many years now that I've forgotten how much I miss the tape hiss. It's such a small thing, but I do sometimes think that perhaps mechanical playback is in some aspects superior to digital. There's just something satisfying about sliding a cassette in to your machine, pressing an actual play button (not just clicking with your mouse or tapping touch screen) and hearing the music emit from real speakers, or headphones connected directly to the machine. There's real joy in that for me, the actual tactile experience of enjoying music.
I noticed how nice it sounded, too. It reminds me of an old TV theme.
"Hide the pain techmoan"
When i worked in the BBC in the seventies, all the reporters used the older UHER, then around 1975 the UHER 4000ic model came along which was something then. We used to service them, cleaning heads etc, and they were generally good little workhorses. 7.5 inches/second only we used. I did notice 25khz mentioned in the video. I do not believe that!. We were lucky to get 15khz out of them at that speed. 30 inches/second yes!
That thing sounds gooood, turns out modern media is "only" more convenient but does "not" have better sound.
Very true, just look at the quality difference between film and digital when it comes to image quality overall.
Always fun to open new old stock vintage audio equipment, with CLEAN battery compartments too!
Ah, yes, triangle, the universal symbol for "power". Glad they used a symbol that everyone can recognize so nobody gets confused.
hahahaha that's what I thought
😅
i think because these machines used DIN plugs not barrel plugs they had their own proprietary symbols. DIN was a standard invented in Germany (where this device is from obviously) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_connector
@@Renegade666 Nice, yeah I figured there must have been a good reason for them to do that.
The best part of this video is just how genuinely giddy you are. 10/10 entertainment
A clip from this was used in "Botchamania 427" (at the end)
Gorgeous piece of kit - which will only appreciate in value over time. It's a Newer Uher! 👍😁
WOW! This is something I never expected to see.
I am talking about the beard of course :D
Is this the Technoman from the future?
Haha technoman that's cute
I went to school for audio recording in 99, and I had a class on recording audio for film and television. We were taught to use a Nagra reel to reel recorder, and not a digital recorder. The audio would then be digitized and we would sync it in ProTools to the video.
Techmoan: Activate beard mode.
Legit love your passion and simple straight forward explanations for old and forgotten tech. Cheers from Australia.