reel-to-reel

American  

[reel-tuh-reel] / ˈril təˈril /

adjective

1. of or relating to an audio sound-equipment system or motion-picture camera or projector through which the tape or film must be threaded onto a take-up reel.

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reel-to-reel British  

adjective

1. (of magnetic tape) wound from one reel to another in use

2. (of a tape recorder) using magnetic tape wound from one reel to another, as opposed to cassettes

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Etymology

Origin of reel-to-reel

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

He said it was while Rea was working at his family's ice cream parlour and coffee bar opposite the studio in the early 1970s, and he walked across and said: "I've got this reel-to-reel tape - is there any chance you would play it?"

From BBC

Not long afterwards she was looking through an old briefcase when she came across an ageing, brown reel-to-reel tape-recording of her lullaby.

From BBC

The photographer returned to Chicago with a portable reel-to-reel recorder to capture the voices and stories behind the black-and-white images.

From Los Angeles Times

During a talk she gave in 2020, she said he introduced her to Lowry and a friendship grew between them, which led to her taking a borrowed reel-to-reel recorder to his home in the Tameside village of Mottram in Longdendale.

From BBC

For 45 years, Peter Gordon has held onto a reel-to-reel tape of a show he performed in 1979 at the Mudd Club in New York City with a trio called the Blue Horn File.

From New York Times