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[looper's] RE: tape/shelf life



Title: [looper's] RE: tape/shelf life

>>And the idea that analog reel-to-reel is a stable format isn't watertight
either.  If you store the reels vertically, tail out, in a
humidity/temperature controlled environment, with a minute of blank tape
between each take to avoid print-through and have the studio assistant rotate
the reels in their box a quarter turn each month to prevent the weight of the
tape from flattening under gravity's influence AND you're lucky enough to
avoid the periodic bad batches of tape that get produced, then you'll probably
be able to play the tape back in a few decades.<<

more apocrypha.... the reel-to-reel list has over 800 members with all manner of professional and amateur open-reel experience on board. there is a known bad-period of tape manufacture and the procedure for baking the tapes has recently been well-documented and explained, aswell as a description of the likely symptoms of the unfortunate phenomenon necessitating it.

we've got 1st generation betacam tapes in the library here that have been thrown across several transmission and edit suites, stored without cases in any number of physical locations and environmental conditions and played hundreds of times in dozens of indifferently maintained video decks aswell as our own top notch beta machines, and there's only the tiniest hint of degradation on tapes that are 12-15 years old. the digi betas are almost indestructible.

I've /never/ bothered about tail-out/print through either; it's only really an issue when you've recorded dialogue or individual instruments (i.e. on multitrack) really loud and the stock itself is weak. it's a precautionary measure, and one of the things that's contributed to the longevity of magnetic tape use for audio. the odd horror story is inevitable with any format- you pays y'r money and you takes y'r choices.....

duncan.



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