just for those intersted about analog tape

[Bill Vermillion]

On Thu, Jan 06 18:39 , John Esak, showing utter disregard for 
spell-checkers gave us this: 

> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: filepro-list-bounces at lists.celestial.com
> > [mailto:filepro-list-bounces at lists.celestial.com]On Behalf Of Bill
> > Campbell
> > Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 5:55 PM
> > To: Filepro-List
> > Subject: Re: just for those intersted about analog tape

> > On Thu, Jan 06, 2005, Henry Melancon wrote:

> > >I guess that will make my 30 year Akai a big door stop! I
> > >think I got to reels of Maxell tape never opened.......

> > I need to fix the 10.5in adapters for my Revox A77 so I can
> > try to rip some tapes to one of my Apples, or find a service
> > that will do that for me (very carefully as the tapes haven't
> > been used in years).

> You got that right. When I finally converted all my old tapes
> to files, I could literally hear/see the coating flaking off
> in big chunks. The table top was a mess. The screaching was
> horrible. EVERY single splice I had between songs broke! It was
> a horrendous month of getting it all done. I'm so glad it is
> over...

When the tape squeals going across the heads that means the
lubricant is dried out.  I used to carefully slowly wind tape ahead
while holding it between the folds of a silicone impregnated cloth
to get enough lubricant onto the tape to get at least a play, or in
worst cases, play pieces and then then splice them all together.

I did spend two full days on ONE 10.5" reel of tape that was 30
years old when I worked on it in the early 1980s.  I had the same
splice problem with some of the glue coming off on the tape.

I never had a mess like you did as I couldn't let it get that far
as this was the only copy extant - with the exception of one
reel of one song that was the original 30 IPS studio master.

Forensic recovery is a very slow job.

That meant that each place it was a very slow and carefull cleaning
with a cotton swab and alcohol - very gently - to make sure I
didn't lose any oxide.  Once I got it playable I made 30 IPS copies
to work with.   It's still availabe on Rhino CDs though the orignal
was made for an LP re-release.  It was "Spike Jones Plays Dinner
Music For People Who Aren't Very Hungry".    

If the person who had that wasn't a collector and had acquired that
this musical 'gem' would have been lost forever :-)  Later that
year we reovered his Christmas Music album, and it turns out it was
not the final master as one cut had a sound effect missing.  So the
guy I was working with duplicated that in the studio.  Only the
most avid and exacting collector would have ever noticed that, but
that was the only alternative we had.

Bill
-- 
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com