Yes, you read that right. Revox have introduced a brand‑new B77 MkIII version of their classic B77 reel‑to‑reel recorder. For the trifling sum of €15,995, you, too, can learn to perform razorblade editing, azimuth adjustment and head demagnetisation, in pursuit of the glittering prize of over 20 minutes’ worth of two‑track recording per reel. Or you can simply relax and enjoy one of the small but growing number of album releases currently available on quarter‑inch tape, each of which will currently set you back several hundred pounds.
It’s pretty obvious that musicians and producers are not the main market here. Revox’s press shots display the B77 MkIII artfully placed in a minimalist Scandi‑style living room, conveniently omitting the cables, amp and loudspeakers you’d need to actually get any sound out of it. It would be easy to dismiss it as a lifestyle product for people with more money than sense, and the cynic might suggest Revox have missed a trick by not giving it a USB socket and a Bluetooth chip. But they haven’t, and whether or not working musicians have the money or the inclination to mix to tape, I think we should at least give Revox credit for trying to do things properly.
People who buy the B77 MkIII for domestic use might have obscene amounts of disposable income, but at least they’re serious about listening to music.
A few of these new MkIIIs will find their way into studios, where mastering engineers in particular will be glad of a brand‑new, high‑spec tape recorder that has no maintenance issues. But is it a problem if the other 95 percent end up in Brooklyn loft apartments or Mayfair townhouses, providing the soundtrack to financiers’ dinner parties? People who buy the B77 MkIII for domestic use might have obscene amounts of disposable income, but at least they’re serious about listening to music. They’re also helping to keep alive the whole ecosystem of skills that surrounds tape machine manufacture, which are at serious risk of extinction. And if they end up spending five‑figure sums in order to play back mixes that were probably done using Pro Tools and plug‑ins, well, whatever makes people happy can’t be all bad.
The resurrection of tape as a consumer format might be strange, but I’m sure Revox are happy to sell their product to anyone who values it, and I wonder if that’s an attitude that music‑makers could learn from? Although we’d all rather fill dance floors at underground clubs than end up on cringeworthy YouTube videos, we can’t police access to our musicial output. And, tape or no, we can’t control whether they hear it on high‑end hi‑fi or through their mobile phone speakers. But if there’s a worse outcome than the wrong people enjoying our music the wrong way, it’s for no‑one to hear it at all.
Sam Inglis Editor In Chief