Date:         Sat, 25 Oct 2003 00:44:18 +0200
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Goran Finnberg <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: The Mastering Room AB
Subject:      Re: environment controls
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Jerome Hartke wrote:

> Interlayer sticking is well documented, and can actually
> rip out pieces of the magnetic coating if tapes have been stored for a
> long time.¨

Interlayer sticking is quite common in older reels of magnetic tape
especially near the center hub where the forces are at its greatest in
any reel of tape.

It is exaggerated by the use of analogue tape machines using constant
torque instead of constant tension which unfortunately is what most tape
machines out there used.

The two latest tape based productions I did had this problem where the
oxide stuck to the leader making the last few seconds gone for ever.

I had to use old LPs to edit in the ending after suitably declick,
descratch those parts.

This problem almost always occurs in the first 30 % nearest to the hub
as played on constant torque machines and stored after the fact.

Tapes played with constant tension, Studer, Telefunken, Ampex ATR 102
etc does not normally have this problem or much less.

> In addition, any debris trapped between layers can become
> bonded over time.

Gives rise to nice drop outs that takes ages to fix if even possible.

Some nice advice indeed from Jerome Hartke.

BTW, FF and Rewinding will also lessen the ever present pre and post
echoes that magnetic tape is plagued with.


--
Best,

Goran Finnberg
The Mastering Room AB
Goteborg
Sweden

E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Learn from the mistakes of others, you can never live long enough to
make them all yourself.    -   John Luther