This is a guest article from Andreas Weisser who runs Restaumedia in Germany. Neither Andreas nor Richard can take responsibility for the work that you do based on these instructions which are provided on an as-is basis. Any risk of using them is solely your own and not Andreas's, Richard's, or anyone else other than you, the person undertaking to use these instructions. If you have any questions, please contact Andreas. — Richard

This is a step-by-step guide for the removal of U-matic Cassette from a Sony VP 7040/9000 U-matic Player by hand.

1 —  Turn the power OFF.

2 — Remove the Upper-Case of the video player. Use a Phillips screwdriver to loosen the fixing screws. Then pull the Upper-Case in the direction marked by the red arrows shown here in picture 1.

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I got a call today from a friend who said the hum shields on a friend’s APR-5003 were not working.

I recalled this had happened to one of my machines in the past.

Removing the cover surrounding the heads will expose the mechanism—of course the heads and pinch roller need to come off first.

Cleaning and lubricating the rods and other parts of the linkage should make all well again.

I used Zoom Spout Turbine Oil.

This is the first of many guest articles here. Thanks to Marie for agreeing to share her wonderful work in playing tapes that did not respond to baking. SSS=Sticky Shed Syndrome, LoL = Loss of Lubricant –Richard

There has been a lot of interest in this issue recently and I’ve answered several people privately. Hopefully this location will make the work more accessible to all who are interested.

The general appearance of the Mark II. As you can see, I had the luxury of being surrounded by these great machines and so we sacrificed one with all the adaptations done by a great technician by the name of Noel McGinnity - we both agreed we still wanted it to look like an almost regular Studer! All the tubing has been adapted to withstand isopropyl alcohol and the IV drip bag does not leak.

I began working at Sound Archives/Nga Taonga Korero, which is a wholly owned subsidary of Radio New Zealand in 1994. My task was to preserve and digitize the entire NZ Composer’s collection to begin with. I was taught my skills “on the job” but was lucky enough to have the wisdom & know it all of several older broadcasting technicians at my fingertips.

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This is a general article to provide some information on the subject. More should follow.

There are multiple modes of degradation and it depends on the type of tape.

Acetate Tape

• Degrades through drying out (hydration has helped in some cases)
• Breakdown of the base through “vinegar syndrome” and possibly leading to total decompostion (although that has not been seen for tapes on any large scale)
• Damage from heat
• Damage from mold/fungus
• Loss of Lubricant is probably rare in acetate tapes. Few examples of it have been found.
• Freezing acetate tape (especially) is considered bad as many of the formulations included fatty-acid lubricants. Remember, this was from the 1940s and 1950s and one of the best lubricants of the era was sperm oil.

Polyester tape

• Binder hydrolysis (or sticky shed syndrome [SSS]) is the largest challenge faced with tapes from the 1970s-1990s. This can be partially reversed through incubation or heat treatment. While this link may not be complete, it is a great introduction.
• Loss of Lubricant (LoL) can be severe and can possibly be combined with binder hydroysis.
• Freezing is also not recommended for polyester tapes due to the potential of that tape also containing fatty-acid lubricants.

Obviously all tapes can suffer from mechanical damage and poor winds.

I expect to be discussing aspects of this in greater depth, but it is a complex subject and contradictory reports have been generated.

I made this chart to show how the different  standards and recommendations for media storage overlapped. Click [or save target as] for the full-size image.

The regulatory climate and economics will support a wide variety of “wall-wart” power supplies for the foreseeable future. These are, at best, a headache to deal with. Some of the ways I’ve dealt with them are: (more…)

This has been updated 2007-06. Please look here, but there is still good information, below.
Two ways of seeing tracks on a tape are listed here. We’re collecting more in the comments. (more…)

The 20 kHz bandwidth of CD audio media may cause truncation of some material. Here is an example of a small amount of energy above 20 kHz in a symphonic recording. It is interesting to note that this is a 7.5 in/s recording done on 1970s prosumer equipment. I’ve said in my presentations for some years, most 7.5 in/s tapes are well-suited to 44.1ks/s 16 bit transfers, but there are exceptions. This shows one. (more…)

Remember, this transfer that you (or I) are about to undertake may be the last time (and hopefully the best time) that the original is transferred. Here are some suggestions: (more…)

MINIMUM Tape Handling Requirements Checklist

This checklist is not a complete guideline. It contains only those items that experience and testing show will have an immediate or severe effect on magnetic tape. Failure to adhere to the items on this list may cause premature loss or deterioration of magnetic tapes and should be considered misuse of the medium. These are minimum handling requirements that summarize good practices. (more…)