Tape Project Forum
General Category => Prerecorded Tapes => Topic started by: Red Grant on September 18, 2011, 06:31:51 AM
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I didn't want to hijack the thread, so I'm starting a new one.
If you're collecting the 2 track versions of these releases, be sure and add plenty of leader at the beginning and end of each reel since they are acetate backed and will have become brittle with age.
Would the practice of adding leaders at the beginning and the end of non-acetate backed pre-recorded (or for that matter blank) would hurt, help, or not matter?
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Yes,..for a few reasons.
Anything that keeps the recorded portion of the tape from being "handled" while threading it onto the machine. Just like vinyl, dust is the enemy of tape (that's where many drop outs come from). The oils from your skin will "hold" dust particles to the tape surface not to mention any other contaminant that could be transfered to the tape by touching it (remember that fluids get on the tape back, they'll be transfered to the oxide side when the tape is wound).
Another reason is that if a tape machine is going to go whacky on you, it's most likely to do so when it first starts rolling the tape that's threaded on it.
Now there's usually some "dead air" before the music gets going on a commercially produced tape, but adding leader gives you a more reasonable safety margin.
Speaking of safety margins, another practical advantage to using leader on all recorded tape is if your hold down tape gets loose and the tape un-ravels, the first few winds become vulnerable to several problems (dust, cupping etc). Although, the tape will often keep un-raveling and just about no length of leader will insure that the recorded portions won't get damaged, it does help.
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Anything that keeps the recorded portion of the tape from being "handled" while threading it onto the machine. Just like vinyl, dust is the enemy of tape (that's where many drop outs come from). The oils from your skin will "hold" dust particles to the tape surface not to mention any other contaminant that could be transfered to the tape by touching it
That's one reason why I wear surgical gloves whenever I handle RTR tapes and LPs, or am I being paranoid?
Sometimes when I am not into 'serious' listening, and don't want to go through the 'ritual', I just pop in the cassette.