NAGRA 75th Anniversary Collection Tape

NAGRA 75th Anniversary Collection — When Recording Heritage Meets the Reel

A reel of tape invites a particular kind of attention. Threading the machine, checking the playback settings and watching the reels turn become part of the listening experience. An anniversary collection gains lasting value when the performances make that ritual worth repeating.

For its 75th anniversary, Nagra has renewed its collaboration with 2xHD for a deluxe double-reel collection. The label confirms an edition numbered 1 to 100, presented on balanced, all-aluminium Nagra reels in red and silver. It lists the release as 2XHDFT-T1305 and describes the tapes as direct copies from the original analogue masters. 

The presentation gives collectors something distinctive, while the collaboration connects the release to a substantial recording history.

Nagra’s story began in 1951, when Stefan Kudelski developed the compact, self-contained Nagra I recorder. The machines that followed helped transform location recording for radio, cinema and music. Their significance rests on a practical achievement: allowing engineers to capture performances and events with equipment they could trust outside the conventional studio. 

That heritage makes tape an especially fitting medium for this celebration.

There is also an engineering story behind 2xHD’s approach. In its published description of its general tape-copying process, the label identifies a modified Nagra-T playback machine feeding a Nick Doshi valve head preamplifier, with copies recorded on a Nagra IV-S at 15 ips on quarter-inch tape. This explains the company’s broader production philosophy; the individual anniversary set’s supplied documentation remains the reference for its precise playback settings. 

For listeners, the interesting question is what this care allows us to hear and what keeps us listening.

A revealing recording encourages attention to the shape of a phrase, the interaction between musicians, the decay of an instrument and the acoustic space around it. These are useful things to listen for when assessing a tape edition, alongside tonal balance, dynamics and background noise.

The numbered reels add to the occasion. The music must provide the reason to return.

Building on the earlier 70th Anniversary collaboration, this edition offers an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between recording technology and musical memory: how a performance is captured, how its source is preserved and how thoughtfully it reaches the listener decades later.

For some enthusiasts, a varied collection is a doorway to unfamiliar artists and recordings. Others prefer complete albums, where the musicians’ ideas develop across an uninterrupted programme. Both approaches have a place in a tape library.

What would make an anniversary tape collection essential for you: the performances, documented master provenance, the quality of the transfer—or the experience of hearing it on your own machine?

And when you choose a tape to play again, do you reach for a reference compilation or a complete album by a favourite artist?

Available to order at The Sound of Tape 

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