An apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information on or from a tape includes a rotary drum unit having a rotary drum which has at least one head and a fixed drum which is arranged to rotatably support the rotary drum, and a loading member arranged to wrap the tape around the outer circumferential surfaces of the rotary drum and the fixed drum. The rotary drum unit is arranged such that, at a tape wrapping start point where the tape begins to be wrapped around the rotary drum, an upper end part of the rotary drum is located between an upper edge of the tape at the tape wrapping start point and an end part of a recording track formed as an effective signal recording area on the tape.