With Quantegy closing their doors on February 28, 2007,   the only current manufacturer of Audio tape is the RMGi group  - the old 'EMTEC' and Basf tape guys.   Others are in various stages of setting up new tape manufacturing facilites, so Audio Tape should be easily available well into the future.   And if you're doing professional recordings you should always use newly manufactured tape.   That means buying ONLY branded 'Quantegy' or 'RMG' audio tape.

I recommend you NOT buy any tape that has the name 'AMPEX' on the box.....  this tape is well over 10 years old and likely will NOT work well....  sticky tape syndrome,  oxide falling off the backing,  huge drop-outs and so on.    Even if the tape is "new" and unused,  it's still very old tape inside that box!   I was using Ampex audio tape in the 1970's when I started working at CBS Records....  so you could be buying a roll of 'new' unused 'Ampex 456' 2 inch audio tape made as far back as 1979...   damn! that would be 28 years old now!   (yes Quantegy did brand some of it's tape as "Ampex' tape for a couple years after they took over the Ampex tape manufacturing facility in '95, but even that's still tape made in 1995 to 1997 - 10 years old!)

I also recommend NOT buying any tape with the name 'Scotch' or '3M' on it - this is well over 10 years old, and can have all the same problems as the old Ampex tape. I also do not recommend buying "BASF" tape...  it's old as well, but often is still in fair useable condition.

Yes... Some old tape will play just fine and is a bargan.   But much of the old tape is crap and cannot or should not be used.

There are lots of 'once-used' audio tape that has been made within the past few years,  and this is generally fine to buy and use.   This is tape a facility used once or for a short while, bulk erased, then is offering it for sale at bargan prices.   Make sure that you can return any rolls of tape you do not find to your liking, and make sure to test ALL rolls of tape right away once you recieve them....  best way is to record 10khz onto every track and see that the tape records and plays this back well.

So generally:

Buy only the brand names  "Quantegy"  or  "RMG"  and tape that has been manufactured within the past 4-5 years to insure you are getting quality audio tape.

see my Guide to Test Tapes if your thinking about buying a used one!

best regards to all you Analog Recording folks! Goreski-Tech http://www.AnalogRules.com