http://richardhess.com/notes Working with audio media (mostly tape) restoration Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:24:39 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I received an urgent phone call yesterday from a man who had digitized several reels of 2" 24-track analog recordings that he wished to re-mix. The tapes were originally recorded in about 1978-1979 and he said that he needed them to have Dolby C noise-reduction processing applied to the files. I did ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2010/02/20/compander-type-noise-reduction-systems/ Here's some info that might be useful concerning which batches of Ampex 456 are good and which have sticky shed problems. I recently unearthed 26 brand new 10 1/2-inch reels of 456 from 8 different batches. I checked one reel from each batch by playing them back and ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/10/21/long-term-stability-of-different-batches-of-ampex-456-a-guest-article-by-gary-galo/ I wrote about rechargeable batteries back in April 2009 and while I have expanded the installation of the iPowerUS 9V batteries to three chargers and twelve batteries at the church and one charger and four batteries in my facility, I have adopted a different approach to AA and AAA cells ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/10/16/rechargeable-battery-solutions-aa-and-aaa/ We are currently working on some un-published tapes for a major Canadian folk artist. We have a 7.5 in/s 2-track stereo recording that was one of (if not the) first studio recording of this artist from circa 1972. At some point, this tape was played on a 1/4-track machine that injected ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/09/02/dangers-of-old-tape-recorders-for-playback-using-the-elevator-head/ There has been much discussion over the last few years about finding and saving original tapes of the Apollo 11 Moonwalk videos downlinked from the moon. There is also an exciting project going on to restore and digitize the Lunar Orbiter tapes from more than 40 years ago. The Lunar Orbiter ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/07/17/moonwalk-loss-of-data/ I was having slightly intermittent connections on one head assembly on a Sony APR-5000 and was concerned as to the cause because the 78-pin head connectors are essentially unobtanium and a headache to change. As I installed and de-installed the head, I got to thinking that the connector might not be ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/07/14/sony-apr-5000-head-assembly-problem/ Battery technology continues to improve. In 2007, I bought some Sony fast-charge nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) AA cells and charger. They have worked well for digital cameras, electronic flashes, and a portable audio recorder. NiMH cells are available in major stores and some offer long-shelf-life-per-charge and come pre-charged. Recently, I did a thorough ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/04/27/rechargeable-battery-solutions-9v-aa-aaa/ The Zoom H2 HandyCorder is perhaps the lowest-cost digital recorder on the market that provides reasonable and useful results. While I have a Sound Devices 722 for my more serious work, I bought the Zoom to test it out to see if it could be part of a simple tape ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/04/13/zoom-h-2-line-input/ I recently received two 7-inch reels of Kodak Type 31A Triacetate tape (1250 feet, Durol Base) that smelled of vinegar even before I got the envelope open. These tapes were badly warped due, most likely, to the vinegar-syndrome induced differential shrinkage. Other factors may have been poor winding during long-term storage ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/04/07/kodak-durol-triacetate-tape-with-bad-vinegar-syndrome/ Since moving to Aurora in the fall of 2004, and going into audio tape restoration full-time, I have struggled with the correct mix of connectivity. My rather unique needs require that I have upload speeds as fast as reasonably possible. Aurora Cable Internet (now part of Rogers) offers a 3 ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/03/12/an-unorthodox-dual-wan-approach/ I finally figured out how to power the Sennheiser MKH-104, 404, and 804 from 48 V phantom power. It works like a charm. Thanks to everyone for their input and assistance. The details are here. The link also includes my subtly different version of the T-Power adapter from the others ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/03/07/phantom-powering-of-early-sennheiser-mics/ In addition to my business of transferring tapes, I also record a few community groups for fun. Someone recently gave me an older Sennheiser MKH-804 interference tube ("shotgun") microphone. Finding information on how to connect it proved more difficult than expected. In the 1960s, transistorized microphones from AKG, Neumann, Schoeps, and ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/03/04/microphone-powering-schema/ I was interested in the progression of the Scotch/3M tape boxes over the years, especially after someone contacted me because his father was in the picture on some of the 1960s tape boxes. Use your browser back button to return to this page. Here are the ones with the picture of the ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/02/04/images-of-scotch-3m-tape-boxes-available/ I received an email from Andrew Pearson of the British Library providing some hints in reducing noise during playback on the Studer A807 tape machine. He would be interested in hearing from people who had other ideas and people who had either successes or failures attempting his techniques. Please remember ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/02/03/studer-a807-digital-noise-improvement/ We have pulled the list of degrading analog audio tapes out of the blog postings (which age) and put this information into the Formats hierarchy under Analog Audio Tapes, click here. Please note that we have fudged the hierarchy by starting the title with a hyphen, so it sorts to ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/01/30/new-degrading-tapes-page/ We have just seen a modification on the Sticky Shed Syndrome (SSS) failure mode. This is a case where the back-coat of the tape is turning to powder. The oxide was brown but yet it left a black, non-sticky accumulation of powder on the reproduce head. This accumulation would drastically ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/01/30/back-coat-turning-to-powder/ My paper on "Tape Degradation Factors and Challenges in Predicting Tape Life" that was published in the Fall 2008 issue of the ARSC Journal is now available online. Click here. http://richardhess.com/notes/2009/01/03/arsc-journal-tape-degradation-article-available-online/ Ray A. Rayburn has just updated his page on the XLR microphone connector and its antecedents. Very interesting. While not a major issue in tape recorders, it is in studio practice and for microphone collectors. http://richardhess.com/notes/2008/12/13/microphone-xlr-connector-history/ I consider myself fortunate to have been one of many recipients of Peter Copeland's generous assistance while working with some challenging tapes. I was saddened by his too-early passing in 2006. The British Libary has now published his Handbook (click here). http://richardhess.com/notes/2008/09/14/peter-copeland-audio-restoration-handbook-now-available/ For a current list of degrading analog tapes, click here. Teaching people how to identify tapes that are suffering from sticky shed syndrome is often difficult. I would like to propose that a careful inspection of how the tape comes off the pack may be a good way. Please provide comments as ... http://richardhess.com/notes/2008/08/22/another-way-to-identify-a-tape-with-sticky-shed-syndrome-sss/