A little audio windfall...

[Bob Womack]

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. I was recently in the engineering shop of a large media concern when a friend pulled me over into a conversation, saying, "Psssst. Listen in on this." Turning to the other person in the conversation he said, "I'm getting ready to deliver four professional reel-to-reel tape recorders to the crusher and need your help." My friend knew I wouldn't be able to pass up the opportunity to give one of them a new home, and I wasn't. Read about it HERE .



Bob

[Andyoz]

What a wonderful story.

I have posted a few threads here about older Westlake monitors from studios that they seem to have trouble selling on. They are not quite at the "gates of the crusher" as your decks were, but they are still hard to shift in an industry that seems to only want two-way Genelec 8030's

[Mr. Widget]

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

So very cool! Thanks for sharing.


Widget

[Bob Womack]

What a wonderful story.

I have posted a few threads here about older Westlake monitors from studios that they seem to have trouble selling on. They are not quite at the "gates of the crusher" as your decks were, but they are still hard to shift in an industry that seems to only want two-way Genelec 8030's

Interestingly, that's how I came by my pair of UREI 811Cs. A facility moved into Genlec 1032As and wanted badly to get shook of the UREIs. I got 'em at fire sale prices.

Bob

[JBLRaiser]

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. I was recently in the engineering shop of a large media concern when a friend pulled me over into a conversation, saying, "Psssst. Listen in on this." Turning to the other person in the conversation he said, "I'm getting ready to deliver four professional reel-to-reel tape recorders to the crusher and need your help." My friend knew I wouldn't be able to pass up the opportunity to give one of them a new home, and I wasn't. Read about it HERE .



Bob

Yes, lucky you are.

[Akira]

"While the recorder functioned wonderfully, the virgin tape had decayed to the point where it couldn't be played back for more than a few seconds without shedding gooey residue."

When playing back magnetic tape that has not been used for many years you must first preheat and bake the reel for approximately 1/2 hour, then rewind the entire reel before use. (tails out)

[Bob Womack]

"While the recorder functioned wonderfully, the virgin tape had decayed to the point where it couldn't be played back for more than a few seconds without shedding gooey residue."

When playing back magnetic tape that has not been used for many years you must first preheat and bake the reel for approximately 1/2 hour, then rewind the entire reel before use. (tails out)

Yup, that's true for tape that has been out of the wrapper and exposed to conditions that allow it to absorb humidity. It absorbs humidity that breaks down the adhesive and allows the oxide to separate from the substrate. Baking gives you about 30 days to get a copy made before the tape reverts. That's hardly a situation you want to start off with on a fresh tape. I routinely do that for masters that have to be retrieved from storage. Last year, for example, it was remixing a soundtrack for a movie from the original 24 track masters. I had the tapes baked and chemically treated at a lab in New Jersey and immediately transferred them to digital when they returned. If I remember right, the gang in New Jersey uses a process of 117' for four hours and then a chemical bath that further fixes the oxide and backcoating. They then hermetically seal the reels in bags and ship them back to you.

In the case of the tape I tried on the deck, our tape stock was purchased new, hermetically sealed, and stored in a humidity and temperature controlled environment. I was hoping it had survived the few years since we bought it but I discovered otherwise! It was Quantegy (Ampex) 456, which was considered the worst of the worst when it came to shedding.

Bob