The Trade

• I will not sell any of my shows.
• If you contact me, then you send first unless we have traded a few times before.
• Keep in contact throughout the trade and try to be prompt with replies. I know we all have a life outside of trading though, so I understand if there are delays, just let me know what's going on.
• Send in sufficiently padded boxes or envelopes.
• With international trades, I use air mail, please do the same.

All Formats

• Provide ALL available information for each recording, whether online or with the tapes/CDs.
• Be honest about the quality of your recordings and let me know if there's anything not obvious that I should know about them, like if they have any flaws, were mastered with analog inputs, remastered, or something similar.
• Don't write on or apply labels to DAT's, CD's, or video tapes. Instead, include the recording information on a separate piece of paper.
• I recently changed my media ratios to reflect the real cost of blanks, but I think they're still pretty generous, especially when it comes to CDs since they're so cheap.
  CD for DAT - 4:1
  CD for VHS - 3:1
  CD for DVD - 3:1
  DAT for DAT - 1:1 (length doesn't matter, but this doesn't mean I'll trade 2 shows on one 90 meter DAT for 1 on a 60 meter DAT)
  DAT for VHS - 1:1 (length doesn't matter)
  DAT for DVD - 1:2
  VHS for VHS - 1:1 (length doesn't matter)
  VHS for DVD - 1:1
  DVD for DVD - See DVD section below

MP3/Analog Tape/B&P/2 for 1

• I usually don't have time for a B&P or 2:1 deal, but will often do one if it's part of a normal trade.
• I DO NOT trade mp3s or for mp3 sourced shows. Unless you have something EXTREMELY rare, don't even waste my time.
• I'm generally not interested in trading for analog tapes, unless the show is rare or only available on tape.
• If I ever trade tapes, use high quality tapes and no dolby noise reduction, high speed dubbing, or cutting songs/crowd noise.
  

CD

• The CD-R brand isn't very important, as long as it isn't crappy.
• CD's must be digitally cloned with a computer or standalone CD-R drive.
• Use EAC for copying CDs if you have Windows, otherwise use error correction in iTunes or some other program
• Burn ONLY in Disc-At-Once mode with no gaps!
• When splitting an audio file into CD tracks, make sure to use a program that allows you to save files that end on CD sector boundaries. If this isn't done, bits of silence or noise will be added to track transitions. This is why so many discs have problems between tracks nowadays.
• If you know a CD has track transition noises, skips, or digi-noise, please tell me. I'm sure many of mine do, but I have so many that I can't fully review them, so I'd appreciate it if you could tell me about any flaws that aren't listed on my page. Also, I'm willing to remove them from a show when making a copy for you, just ask.
• Don't burn at extremely high speeds, preferably 16x at the most, especially if you don't have buffer underrun protection.

DAT

• I prefer not to receive over 90 meter DATs, unless a show is actually over 3 hours long
• I don't care if you use DDS or audio grade tapes.
• ALWAYS unpack tapes (fast forward to end and rewind).
• Leave 1-2 mins of recorded silence at the beginning of each tape.
• ALWAYS clone tapes digitally, I don't want analog copies.
• I do accept DAT's recorded from an analog master or low gen copy, just please be sure to let me know beforehand.
• Never record at a sampling rate lower than the master, i.e. no 32kHz clones of 48kHz tapes.
• Please let me know if you cannot record in SCMS 00, and if so, list the mode with the other recording information.
• It's not really important, but please lock the tapes after recording them, no one likes to accidentally record over a show.

DVD

• Let me know if you have to use standalone recorders to make copies, since that re-encodes the DVD.
• I prefer DVD-Rs, but will accept and burn DVD+Rs if needed
• If you are transferring a video to DVD in one hour mode, please include some overlap between the two discs if you have to split it.
• If you or I have a show that's on two DVDs, and it's around the same length as another on one DVD, then I consider that single disc plus a blank a fair trade for the two.
• I can record VHS copies of any of my DVDs, and from the original VHS copies of any that I transferred to DVD.
• If you have a 1st or maybe a 2nd generation VHS video that I want, I'm willing to transfer it to DVD for you plus include another show of your choice.

VHS

• Use brand new Maxell HGX-Gold 120 or equivalent quality video tapes, preferably Sony or TDK.
• ALWAYS record in SP mode, using two 4-head stereo Hi-Fi VCRs or a quality tape duplication device.
• If you have a SVHS VCR, I would much prefer to have a SVHS copy of a video, especially from a master.
• DO NOT cut shows off for any reason, either at the beginning or the end.
• Always put 5-10 seconds of blank space before each tape, and between each show if there are more than one on a video.
• DO NOT lie about video generations!
• I usually won't trade for a video over 2nd generation unless it's rare, and I now prefer to have it transferred to DVD, which I can do for you.
• I can transfer any VHS audio to CD or DAT.