tape screech

[billfromnorthwales]

Actually Rob is right.

The screeching is not due to oxide shedding. 

Oxide shedding is when moisture weakens the glue that holds the magnetic oxide particles to the poly plastic backing tape.

Baking in the oven (4 hours at 60 deg C)cures the by making the glue robust once more allowing the tape to play without covering the heads in oxide and deadening the sound.


Tape screeching is a different problem. This is when the lubricant in the backing tape has dried out.

This can happen after 30 years on lower quality tapes.  Tape screech is physical noise that transfers itself through the head as audio noise and is bad bad bad.

I did as Rob when ripping the 400 box, ie spray a little lubricant.

WARNING this will cover your cassette player in oil too, so will be a bit messy.

I bought a Nakamichi BX-2 off ebay for £30 specially for this.

It actually cleaned up pretty well afterwards.

And the rips were OK too


If anyone has an unplayable tape I would be more than happy to have a go to recover it.

Bill

--- In peel@yahoogroups.com, RobF <robfleay@...> wrote:
>
> This will probably make the Azimuth-Evangelists cry but I got rid of some
> fairly heavy tape screech on some of the old 400 box tapes by spraying WD40
> into the case and then doing a couple of FFW and RWD's to work it through.
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure if this is too good for the tapes in the long run but I figured we
> were only interested in playing them the once in order to rip the content
> 
> 
> On 31 August 2011 08:57, Humphrey <thebarguest@...> wrote:
> 
> > I've got a commercial tape from 1981 (Kampuchea concerts) with some screech
> > that I haven't been able to get rid of. Same thing with an old commercial
> > tape of the Damned's Black album ; never had it on a DIY/blank cassette
> > though ! Tried everything - loosening the tape, re-housing, dif players.The
> > problem must be in the tape material itself. Aadam is right though,
> > sometimes noise is caused by restricted tape movement.
> > Thanks for the 80 show Stu !
> >
> >
> > --- In peel@yahoogroups.com, "Stuart" <stuartb@> wrote:
> > >
> > > I think most of us are adjusting azimuth these days (it makes a
> > difference even with AM recordings) though it is obvious from some of the
> > existing Peel Shows out there that the azimuth is way out.
> > >
> > > I will try your screw-loosening trick first, though if it is due to the
> > tape binder coming out of the tape then the screeching is actually caused by
> > the tape moving over the head and can only be cured by an untimately
> > destructive heat cycle. You have a day or two to get the sound off the tape
> > before it blows up! (well not quite, but the tape soon reverts to screeching
> > and will be in a worse condition...)
> > >
> > > --- In peel@yahoogroups.com, aadam jacobs <aadamjacobs@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I'm new here, so I don't know if this has been covered.
> > > > When I've dealt with old, cheap tapes screeching I've found the
> > following to work:
> > > > FF & REW a bunch of times before playing. If that doesn't loosen things
> > up enough, try loosening the screws on the tape shell just a very little
> > bit.
> > > > No screws? Transfer the tape to a new shell with screws. The old tape's
> > shell will need to be carefully broken to free it.
> > > > This is a delicate job, and it's better to have experience before
> > working with a valuable recording.
> > > >
> > > > I'm glad to see the transfers are being done on quality decks like
> > Naks, but are each of the tapes being played at optimum playback head
> > azymuth?
> > > > Azymuth is head alignment, and is done automatically on Nakmichi's
> > Dragon and manually on other models.
> > > > It can be done on any cassette deck with a jeweler's screwdriver.
> > > > Much of the loss of sound quality can be attributed to tapes being
> > played on decks without the azymuth optimized for that tape.
> > > > Symtoms are loss of high end, a muddyness to the sound. It can easily
> > be changed with excellent results by ear, no outboard equipment necessary.
> > > >
> > > > There are probably websites devoted to this....
> > > >
> > > > Happy listening.
> > > > Aadam
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
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> >
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>