> I thought I was the only one on this list that was aware of
> that trick. ;-)
> I have a couple of 2" Scotch 24 track masters as well as quite
> a few 30ips
> 1/2 track 1/4" tape mixes. I have a feeling the audio on
> those tapes won't
> be moving any speaker cones in the remaining years of my life.
Unfortunately, the baking trick allows for ONE pass. Two max.
You can watch the oxide dust pile up. Transfer it straight to
multitrack digital. Survineer the tapes after that.
It was initially thought that it was a problem with the binder
used by Ampex for a few years. Well, that ended up being only
one of the problems. Turns out that the entire concept of
oxide/mylar was flawed. All media that uses this technology is
affected by the moisture absorption problem. Essentially the
oxide coating acts as a sponge. A very poor sponge. The Ampex
problem caused the oxide layer to literally peel off the
backing, whereas the moisture problem breaks down the ability to
keep the oxide together. It just turns to dust. Video cassettes
of your childs birthdays, christianing, etc., are all affected.
Baking the tapes dries and pulls any moisture out of the oxide
layer and tightens the individual particles up. However, it
doesn't do anything about the adhesive (binder). When the tape
is run past the head the abrasion will rub some of the oxide off
the tape. There is also possible evidence that the oxide is
allowed to reallign if the heads, guides and spindles are
magnetized.
You basically have one shot. Never, ever preview a tape to see
if it has a problem. The act of previewing it destroys it.
Assume it has the problem and process accordingly. Rule of
thumb? If it's more than five years old transfer it to new
media. I wouldn't trust ANY tape media older than five
years--no matter how it has been stored.
The nicest thing about standards is that there are so many of
them to choose from. --Ken Olsen (Founder of DEC)
AG
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