RE: arsclist dusty tapes

[Chris Lacinak <Chris.Lacinak@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael,

It is important that you clean the tapes for dirt, dust and any excessive
oxide shedding. If you do not it is likely that you may experience loss of
high frequency, clicks, pops, drop outs and other possible artifacts. 

Vacuuming will help with really excessive amounts of dirt and mold, but only
on the exterior of the reel. There is also dirt and mold that gathers in the
wind of the tape that needs to be dealt with separate from vacuuming if you
want to ensure safety and optimum playback. A couple of points about
vacuuming tape are that the vacuum should be a HEPA vacuum to ensure the
capture and holding of any potentially dangerous mold spores that may be
released into the air, and you should be very wary of causing edge damage
and other severe types of physical damage with a vaccum and open reel tape.
If you do have mold you should also run culture tests to test for species
and activity prior to handling the tapes so that you know what you are
dealing with.

Cleaning outside of vacuuming is also a somewhat complex matter. Depending
on tape type and condition there are many possible opportunities for issues
to crop up while cleaning. One should know how to look out and deal with all
these issues when dealing with the tapes. The method of cleaning and
materials used are also of the utmost importance to avoid any damage to the
original masters.

I would definitley suggest looking into contracting the work out to a
professional, or at very least hiring a consultant to determine the
condition of the reels and asses the need for professional assistance. Hope
it helps. Take care.

Chris Lacinak
Audio Production Manager
VidiPax, Inc.
450 West 31 St.
4th Floor
New York, New York
chris@xxxxxxxxxxx
212-563-1999 xt. 130


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Ridderbusch [mailto:mridder@xxxxxxx] 
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 11:24 AM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: arsclist dusty tapes


9/6/02

We have some dusty, you could even say somewhat dirty, reel-to-reel tape
oral history recordings and wish to copy them to a digital format.  We have
the appropriate equipment to do this with "clean" tapes, but we haven't
worked with "dirty" tapes yet.  Is a consultant / professional essential, or
are there practical, though less than ideal, measures that we can perform 
ourselves?



--------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael R. Ridderbusch
West Virginia and Regional History Collection
West Virginia University Libraries, Colson Hall
Morgantown, WV  26506-6464

mridder@xxxxxxx
phone  304-293-3536
fax  304-293-3981 http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/wvcollection/index.htm



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