Editing in RDAT

RDAT is a high density digital audio recorder which uses a combination of high coercivity metal powder tape, azimuth recording and rotary heads to allow two channels of 16-bit digital audio to be recorded at a linear tape speed of only 8.15 mm/sec. The tape tracks produced by this helical scan format are only 13 micrometres wide, and an active track following system is necessary for replay. The details of the RDAT format have been documented elsewhere, and this paper confines itself to those aspects of RDAT which affect its use as an editing system for audio post production and Compact Disc mastering