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Colour-coding leaders...

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heideana:
Is there an "industry-standard" leader colour-coding scheme for identifying the lead-in and tail-end sections of tapes?

Also, is there any difference in using blue, clear, or other colours of splicing tape when splicing tape?

I'm probably asking a really newbie question...thanks

ironbut:
i think the only difference in leader color is clear. Clear is for machines with optical sensors for end of tape. Oh yeah, the silver is reflective for auto reverse. As far as I know, the rest if personal taste.

High and Outside:
Yes, there is an industry standard for indicating head or tail of a reel...but it doesn't have to do with the leader itself. The indicator is the little piece of adhesive tape that is used to hold down the free end of the tape. If it's blue, the tape is tails out. If it's red, the tape is heads out. I have no idea where this originated, but it has been widely observed for a long time.

heideana:
Thanks!!!  That explains why the blue splicing tape I bought doesn't have very good adhesive properties!!!!!  Silly me....it looks like I'm going to have to go back and re-do some leader splicing....opps....

High and Outside:
I guess I didn't express myself well. My comment had nothing to do with either leader tape or splicing tape.

When putting a tape away for storage, it is customary to tape down the free end so it doesn't unravel in storage and create a big mess the next time you pull the tape out. It doesn't matter whether there is leader on the end, or it's just the end of the tape. It's just good practice to tape it down so it doesn't unravel. It can be taped down with just about anything: masking tape, scotch tape, gaffer's tape. But in every commercial studio I've ever been in, there has been a supply of tape, usually artist's paper tape, in a quarter inch width, just for this purpose. And generally in two colors: red and blue. As I said earlier, the blue is used to signify that the tape is tails out, and the red is used to signify that it's heads out.

One studio I worked at, The Automatt, even had short lengths of tape ready-made for this purpose, with their logo pre-printed on them. Since it was assumed that all the tapes would be stored tails-out, they only made these in blue.

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