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Re: [ARSCLIST] TAPE resources online
Hi Joel/Dave:
I'm sure you guys are clear about this, but just in case any other people reading Dave's message
aren't -- you don't need to and indeed shouldn't bake most reel tapes. The tapes likely to be
effected by sticky-shed are Ampex brand from around mid-70's until mid-90's and Scotch 226/227/250
from the same period. If you've dealt with a sticky tape before, you quickly learn to recognize it
by a "greasy" surface texture and if you pinch the tape (presumably without signal on it so finger
grease doesn't matter) at the head or tail of the reel, it is sticky in your pinch, ie it doesn't
smoothly glide through your fingers like a non-sticky tape. Really bad cases ooze white-ish goo from
the edges of the tape pack. For a confirmed sticky tape, you should definitely bake it before trying
to wind it or play it. If it's badly stuck, the backing will stick to the adjoining layer of oxide
and peel it off.
One man's experience here, from baking dozens if not hundreds of tapes, almost all quarter-inch but
a couple half-inch. I use an American Harvest "blow-dryer" oven. Per former 3M tape scientist Bill
Lund's advice, I bake 12 hours and let cool 12 hours before removing from the oven. The tape is
usually then loosely packed due to the goo contracting under baking. So if you have a library-wind
machine, it's good to do that before playing -- also a good way to see if the tape is "cured" for
playing. I've had 1-mil 3600-foot reels, particularly Scotch 227, that required 2 baking cycles and
still were not completely stick-free but left little enough residue to play about 20 minutes at a
time. Someone like Steve Puntollilo might want to speak up about larger reels and what sort of
baking/cooling cycles are required.
Just to be clear here, for those new to handling old tapes, never bake old plastic or acetate-backed
brown-oxide tapes. First of all, they don't develope a sticky-shed thing that baking cures and
second of all you'll ruin the tapes. There seems to be a loss-of-lubricant problem that certain
non-back-coat tapes can develop, although it doesn't seem to be universal to any one brand or type.
Richard Hess has more details on this problem. Again one man's experience here with really old
tapes -- they're somewhat brittle so treat them very gently and make sure to play them on a machine
that's gentle in its tensions and guiding. That said, I'm often pleasantly surprised at how much
usable, good-sounding audio can live on a 40-50-year-old tape.
One more comment about baking. Older wisdom was that you could treat sticky tapes like vampires --
keep them in a cool dark place and bake them whenever you wanted to play them, over and over again.
I think the current wisdom, definitely backed up by my experience, is that they deteriorate each
time you bake them so you should not get into baking tapes until you have in place a really
high-grade transfer chain. Figure your first shot after the first baking is your best shot and be
prepared to take it. I've been kind of surprised, to be honest, by how many people pose a bunch of
questions to this and other lists about baking, then when you start asking about their transfer
chain, it's something very low-grade and/or not likely to yield good results -- stuff like worn
out/last-legs old tape machines or very primative digital setup. The easiest/cheapest thing you'll
be doing is baking the tapes -- so take the time and investment to get the most out of those
results. Many archives/institutions may find it's much more grant-effective to out-source all
transfer services unless they happen to employ an audio expert and very good technician.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Radlauer" <Dradjazz@xxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 9:01 PM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] TAPE resources online
Joel --
Perhaps these site will be of interest to your friend. Baiscally they need
to get the tape up to 120 - 130 degrees F for at least 6 hours, preferably not
in a conventional bake oven.
http://www.youramerica.net/tapebake.htm
http://masterdigital.com/
http://masterdigital.com/24bit/analogtape.htm
http://stuff.jkc-lab.com/sticky-shed/
http://www.airmedia.org/PageInfo.php?PageID=197
http://www.archivists.org/saagroups/performart/newsletter/PArtsNews2005spr.pdf
http://personal.stevens.edu/~vforrest/val/AudioArchiving/
http://www.vidipax.com/resourcelinks.php
http://www.digitalprosound.com/Htm/TechStuff/2000/Aug/AnalogTape.htm
http://www.wendycarlos.com/bake%20a%20tape/baketape.html
http://richardhess.com/notes/2007/03/21/soft-binder-syndrome-and-sticky-shed-s
yndrome/#more-99
http://www.soundsaver.com/default.htm
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6797072-description.html
http://specsbros.com/
Best wishes,
Dave Radlauer
www.JAZZHOT.Bigstep.com
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