So, What's the story on GRT?

[Q-Eight]

I can find very little information out there about the mysterious blue tape corporation. All I've been able to find so far is that the full name was General Recorded Tape Inc. and that they at one time owned Chess, Cadet and a few other labels before slipping into total obscurity by the late 1970's.

Anybody else got any interesting info?

 

[QUADradial]

Other than perhaps the poorest sonic quality of any tapes I've done...and prone to channel mixups...dunno.

 

[daved64]

We talking about the Canadian record label?

 

[winopener]

Tab,
don't know if i'm had been extra lucky and you extra badlucked, but i've done many GRT tapes and always found their sound excellent.
What, IMHO, is THE hall of shame of quad carts are the ones duplicated by Liberty USA (labels: Liberty, UA, Stax, black and withe carts). They pushed the recording level up to distortion and compressed heavily. UA titles released in canada were duped by RCA and sounds A LOT better.

BTW, about channel mixup found out another one: Carole King Tapestry canadian edition swaps Front Right and Rear Left.

 

[QUADradial]

Weren't the Steely Dan carts GRT? Man...they were the pits. Of all the blue GRTs that I done, I would say 25% had channel mix-ups. They also had track bleed over and poor frequency response. I dreaded those tapes. RCAs always sounded best...but were a pain to open. Columbias were good, too.

 

[Q-Eight]

I'd just be curious to find ANY information on the company itself. So many odd tapes (not just Quad ones!) odd remixes, multiple mixes of the same album, etc etc. It just baffles me as to why they worked like this and I'd like to know why!

Silly things that keep me up at night, y'know?

 

[ClarkNovak]

GRT started out in the 60s; they were one of the original 4-track duplicators, along with Audiopak/Capitol and Warners. After 8-track exploded, the biz really took off; at one point they duped tapes for major labels like ABC/Dunhill and Bell/Arista, plus lots of indie labels like Passport and Sire that were distributed by the majors. They did so well they went on a buying spree and scooped up the Chess labels, Barnaby and Janus, Quality Records of Canada, and the Buddah back catalog. They even started a GRT Records label and their own distribution organization in a fit of hubris. Besides the Canadian arm, they had a Japanese operation for a while too.

Unfortunately, GRT was never committed to quality products; as far back as 1970 their acquisition of the Chess labels caused the Rolling Stones, who were in negotiations to sign with Chess upon their London contract's demise, to back out of the deal and go to Atlantic. Their on-the-cheap attitude eventually caused the whole operation to fold like a cheap suit, and they sold off the Chess labels to Sugarhill, and Janus plus the Buddah catalog to Arista in 1975. They kept duping 8-tracks and cassettes until about 1979, with ABC being their major source of revenue (right up to the end; I've still got "Aja" and "Legend" carts). When MCA bought ABC, they pulled the tape contract and that was that.

Hope that satisfied your curiosity

 

[Q-Eight]

Hope that satisfied your curiosity

It did, it did! Thank you! That was a brief but enlightening paragraph.
So, do you know if GRT did in-house mixing or were mixes prepared by their companies then sent to GRT for reproduction?