Re: [ARSCLIST] Leader tape

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Oh, one more leader tip. I was always taught, unless you're using leader for timing purposes (ie 
between tunes on an album-side master or as pause-timing in voice-over tracks), run a few seconds of 
blank tape after and/or before the leader, just in case. So it's never a good idea to go from leader 
to opening note of opening tune if the leader's job is to protect the outer layers of tape, and same 
with last note of last song at the center of the reel. Go from leader to maybe 10 seconds of 
silence, and have 10 seconds of silence at the end of the reel before the leader. That way, if the 
leader gums up or damages the first couple layers of oxide or backing, it won't effect any 
meaningful audio content. By the way also, if you put down tones at the head of the tape, good idea 
to allow for 10 seconds of disposable tones or blank tape and then put maybe 5 seconds of leader as 
a print-through preventer, then 10 seconds of blank, then your program content.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 6:19 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Leader tape


> Even the 3M stuff had bad batches. I remember one that completely gummed up a tape machine. Big 
> recall of a couple of batch numbers. This would have been summer 1982 because I was in charge of 
> gathering and returing every square inch of 3M leader tape in a working studio environment. This 
> was especially not good with the 2" 3M M79 machines. Those works are not the easiest to clean when 
> they gum up. As I recall, it was un-striped white Scotch/3M leader tape, definitely 2" and 
> possibly quarter-inch and half-inch. I know I gathered all of it up and returned it all to our 
> supplier. It was a  two-week period of leader tape problems and I remember 3M was scrambling.
>
> I've never had a problem with paper leader tape except for the age-old problem of some splices not 
> holding over time. I laid in a good supply of 3M paper leader and that's what I use. The worst 
> leader and timing I've ever used was generic clear-celefane (sp?) type and red, blue and green 
> varients. This stuff retains high doses of static electricity and in some cases goes gooey over 
> time.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 11:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Leader tape
>
>
> > At 10:52 PM 2007-11-20, Michael Biel m.biel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > > At 07:29 PM 2007-11-20, Eric Jacobs wrote:
> > > > FullCompass shipped me 10 reels of paper leader on October 5, 2007
> > >
> > > Although mastering studios required paper leader for tapes sent for
> > > disc mastering, if I remember correctly the ARSC AAA archival
> > > guidelines manual disapproves of paper leader for archival storage.
> > > Hydrolysis and expansion/contraction was the reason.  It especially
> > > shouldn't be used at the core.  Any AAA members here remember
> > > specifically?
> >
> > I certainly would not use plastic leader at the core...too many reels have had the oxide on the 
> > first turn get pulled off onto the plastic leader.
> >
> > It's a bit of being caught between a rock and a hard place. I have played a large quantity of 
> > tapes with paper leader and other than the splices failing after a baking on the paper leader, I 
> > can't recall any damage that I attributed to the paper, but I've seen 3M, Maxell, and Ampex all 
> > deposit oxide on the plastic leader. The Maxell were my masters which really ticked me off as it 
> > had otherwise been an almost perfect tape. Fortunately I had a safety and edited it together. I 
> > had to fix an Ampex reel with plastic leader, but I fortunately there was a repeat of the opening 
> > phrase a few measures in, so I copied it. The client was happy.
> >
> > Please don't use plastic leader -- at least not the 3M stuff.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Richard
> >
> >
> > 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.