[AV Media Matters] Leader tape problem surfaces

[lists.rlhess@mindspring.com]

Richard,

Thanks for the message. I don't know if this has been discussed before, but
I think we're touching on a problem that I haven't seen publicized before.

Of course, those of us who were doing stuff in that time frame always used
leader to separate cuts. There was always the argument of plastic over
paper, but for albums we needed the leader because the lathes were
triggered by optical sensors to do the banding based on the leader. What
this means is that the bulk of the best-quality masters are at risk from
this new issue.

It has not been pervasive in my relatively low volume experience (by the
way, I have a tape restoration page up at my Web site
http://www.richardhess.com/be/tape.htm listing the projects I've done) but
it has happened. I'm glad that we have the AES Technical Committee on
Archives, Restoration, and Digital Libraries started. Somewhere we need to
collect both anecdotal warnings and as much real science that actually
exists so that we don't all sit around wondering if we're the only one with
this or that problem and what to do about it.

I'm hoping that someone understands the chemistry/physics of this better
than I and can suggest a workaround.

I'm sorry you lost the material. Are there any other extant copies that you
can splice in from? When I do a tape restoration project, I ask the client
for the master, I also ask for two copies (preferably from different boxes)
of the original LP. In that way, I can pull in little fixes from the LP if
necessary and clean them up and splice them in. Haven't had to do that
much, but there is one ongoing project where I think we're missing three
songs or perhaps an entire side due to a fire at a studio, we suspect and I
don't know if the LP or the safety master will end up being the better
sound. The safety masters have problems.

I've left my original message at the bottom so if someone missed it they
don't have to go hunting.

Cheers,

Richard

At 09:05 AM 02/01/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi Richard,
>
>Although in the sound archives one avoids leader and splicing tape like the
>plague, some of these creatures do creep in. Last Summer I was copying an
>edited master tape from the early 80's made on "sticky" tape. All went well
>except for those sections of tape which had been adjacent to spliced bits of
>leader tape; all those adjacent strips of recorded tape lost either their
>black
>back-coating or their oxide, while the portions which hadn't been in contact
>with leader or splices were in "normal" condition for sticky tape (i.e.,
>sticky
>but recoverable). This problem was true for all of the reels of this group of
>master tapes, and nothing could be done to save the ruined areas.
>
>You're welcome to post this to the list if you feel it's worth posting. I
>didn't because there's a glitch which won't allow me to do so.
>
>Best, Richard
>
>
>>I wanted to add one more piece of anecdotal evidence.which could shed some
>>light on the leader tape issue.
>>
>>The bulk of my personal archives of church and classical music (six albums
>>and countless concerts and services recorded at St. Thomas Church in New
>>York City as well as several years of a community orchestra on Long Island
>>and its related groups) are on Maxell UD35 and UD50 tape (mostly the former
>>for the time). One of the albums (and so far only one) -- but it happened
>>on both reels -- lost the first wrap of oxide to the leader. It appeared
>>that the oxide had bonded to the leader tape during storage (tapes always
>>wound tail out, play speed). When I did a fast rewind (I've learned my
>>lesson, my Sony APR5003V has a 75ips spool mode) the leader yanked the
>>oxide off the first wrap of tape. Fortunately, I had a high-quality
>>protection master, and have been able to edit in those first few seconds
>>from the protection master.
>>
>>Since this is Maxell tape from the early-to-mid 70's I have not had any
>>need to bake these reels. There appears to be no sticky-shed in Maxell. In
>>fact, I switched to Maxell early on in my recording days from the early-mid
>>70's because of some damaged webs received from another manufacturer. It
>>was especially bad in one box, where the damage was the same place across
>>multiple reels. Fortunately, I had not precisely started my main and
>>protection tapes at exactly the right point and I was able to edit between
>>the two!
>>
>>Thoughts on this would be appreciated. I believe the leader was 3M timing
>>leader...I've also seen some evidence of the plaid timing marks (mostly the
>>black variety although I have a little of the colored varaiety) imprinting
>>onto other layers of the leader tape.
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>Richard