Tape Project Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: ironbut on July 20, 2010, 01:01:08 PM
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Well, maybe not a walk but it is a good idea to "exercise" your Tape Project tapes by taking those releases that don't see a lot of play time out and playing them every once in a while.
One of the issues that old tapes have is print through. That's where the magnetic "image" on one layer can print a low level image of itself onto an adjacent layer while stored on the reel.
And while print through is primarily something that happens in the first few hours after a tape has been recorded on and tape type has a great deal to do with the mechanisms that result in this problem, proper long term storage practices are the best solution for end users.
Keeping your tapes in an environment that has normal room temp.s that are nice and even is very important (don't keep them in a place where heaters or air conditions can blow directly on them).
It's also important to play your tapes every once in a while. I have a couple of TP tapes that get the majority of the play time. On the other end of the spectrum, there are a couple that I just don't get around to listening to very often. For the latter, you should pull those out about once a year and play them.
The reason for doing this is to relieve the tension on the tape pack and redistribute the layers of tape. The longer the same layer of tape lays upon the same location of the adjacent layers, the more likely it is that print through might occur.
I seriously doubt that we need to play each tape quite as often as once a year but I think it would be easier to remember to do it this way.
Maybe subject your family to every TP release on Thanksgiving? Then you could hear the "why do you have to listen to music so damn loud?" and bask in the knowledge that this could help keep the in laws visits to a minimum.