Eddie Kramer Master Tape Plug-In User Guide

colorations that give these rare machines their own unique sound. Special thanks go out
to Bob Olhsson (Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross) and especially John Haeny
(Bonnie Raitt, Weather Report, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Jim Morrison, Tom
Jones) who provided invaluable assistance in the development of the Kramer Master
Tape plugin. You can read in greater detail about the modeling process in the White
Paper which is included as an appendix to this manual.
1.3 Concepts and Terminology
The following are a few of the terms and concepts that you will encounter while using the
Kramer
Master Tape plu
gin. You can read more about them in the White Paper
at the
end of this manual.
Tape Speed
The Kramer Master Tape offers two tape speeds: Low (7.5 inches per second or “ips”)
and High (15 ips). Low speed offers better low frequency response with some high
frequency loss, while high speed offers a more full range signal with slightly less low
end.
Input and Reproduce
When recording to tape, two monitoring modes are available. Input monitoring lets you
hear the signal as it reaches the recording head, including tube and mic-pre saturation.
Repro monitoring lets you hear the output of the repro head just like normal tape
playback, meaning that tape speed, bias, flux, wow & flutter, and noise, in addition to
tube and mic-pre saturation, all affect the monitored output.
Bias
Bias is an ultrasonic signal which is added to the recording in order to reduce limitations
of the magnetic medium. Bias calibration was a regular part of the tape machine
calibration routine and, while the manufacturers had their declared recommendations for
specific machines, many engineers felt that adding more gain to the bias signal gave
them better sound. For this reason, the Kramer Master Tape plugin offers both nominal
bias as well as overbias, which represents 3dB over the recommendation, a setting
Waves Kramer Master Tape
User Guide
4