Hello, Christie,
Securing the end of the reel keeps the outer wraps tight. In some
instances, the tape's outer wraps will become loose and that may
exacerbate physical degradation in these outer layers. It may also
increase the risk of edge damage.
On the other hand, if you're not going to move/ship the tapes, and
they're not in a room near a big piece of HVAC equipment that
vibrates the shelves, there probably isn't a compelling need to
tape the ends, though I still prefer it since unwound tape is often
damaged tape.
It is imperative that they be taped for shipping (which,
admittedly, is my business model, hence perhaps I am overly concerned).
The best tape is now discontinued, but was generally referred to as
"Zebra Tape".
I am using the horrid crepe tape which is the only thing still
available on a regular basis. It comes in red and blue, and that
has been traditionally used for blue for heads out and red for
tails out, but few people adhere to that standard. More
importantly, arrange your reproduction of the tapes so that they
are in a play wind when they are finished. Don't rewind them
(especially on a machine which doesn't have a slow "library wind" mode).
But, however horrid the tape is, I still think it's better to lose
an inch of tape than run the risk of damaging ten feet. Besides, in
some/many instances the tape that gets taped to the reel is new
leader that I've already added.
As you're aware, but for some archivists who may not be familiar
with tape production, splices in the middle of tapes were how
things were produced before digital audio editing. Tape was
physically cut -- sometimes on a note in a classical (or other)
musical production -- and different takes were thereby assembled. I
recall one organ record that I released that had a segment that
repeated and the artist only liked one version of that section, so
we copied the tape of the section she liked and used the same
version in both places where the section repeated. This was THE WAY
IT WAS DONE. There weren't other options. Copying the tape lost a
generation (which was not desired), and most of us used 3M white
splicing tape at the time as it was considered the best.
Here's what I'm using and where I got them from
http://www.usrecordingmedia.com/holddowntapes.html
Cheers,
Richard
At 09:05 AM 2007-01-23, Christie Peterson wrote:
Hello, ARSC-listers:
I'm looking into what kind of adhesive tape to use to affix the
end of 1/4" open-reel audio tape to the reel for long-term
storage. As an archivist, I am perhaps obsessively afraid of
adhesive tape (it still makes me cringe a little inside every time
I have to use splicing tape), since I have seen first-hand what it
does after 20, 40, 60, etc. years.
Still, I am at least equally afraid of damage to improperly stored
audio tapes, so I'm looking for advice.
From those of you who have been in the "business" for multiple
decades, and/or who have worked extensively with older tapes,
what type of adhesive tape do you advise (and not advise) using?
Is there anything out there that doesn't seep excessively, or do
other *terribly* ugly things as it ages? What do you use and why?
As a corollary, the original tapes I'm working with have been
stored with their ends un-secured for 30-40 years, and most don't
seem to have suffered any ill effects from this. Any
opinions/horror stories on the importance of taping the end down?
Thanks in advance,
Christie Peterson
Project Archivist, Muskie Archives & Special Collections
Bates College
70 Campus Avenue
Lewiston, ME 04240-6018
(t) 207-753-6918
(f) 207-755-5911
Richard L. Hess email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.