I received an email asking me to discuss tape splicing. Most of my work is now repairing old splices so I try and butt them together as best I can in an Edi-Tall block and use the blue Quantegy splicing tape (which will become harder to find with Quantegy exiting the business). I will not be evaluating a replacement for several years as I bought a large supply a few years ago.
I use paper leader tape as I’ve seen too many tapes damaged by the oxide adhering/laminating to plastic leader. I also don’t know where to get any more of this as I’ve laid in a large supply of this as well. Sorry.
Edi-Tall blocks are also out of production, sadly. They show up on eBay from time to time.
The splicing angle for new cuts is not all that important, but the angles were used to minimize disturbance and to provide a short crossfade at the splice (I used to hand-draw dovetail splices that were about an inch long to make the crossfade work in stereo).
The “MTA” or minimum track angle blocks for multi-track tapes were based on the speed of the tape and how much of a scatter was acceptable between the tracks as the splice rolled through.
Perhaps one of the hardest Edi-Tall blocks to find is the 0.150-inch one for cassette splicing and its use is really important for that application. There are blocks that look like Edi-Talls, but are not. Edi-Tall became a part of the Xedit corporation which has morphed into making ServoReelers for hanging microphones.
These blocks aren’t EdiTalls, but they are worth the price and are way better than nothing:
http://www.tapecenter.com/tapecare.html
While on the subject of tape splicing, here are few good Web links:
http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/3mtape/soundtalk/soundtalkbull26.pdf
On January 16, 2008 Seb commented:
I use a ‘portable\’ Studer-Revox Editing Cutter for my 1/4″ tapes that works perfectly !
You can find some similar editing block on players like B67…I use an EMTEC 500 x 5,8 x 30 mm Splicing Tape Dispenser as tape splices. They are plastic-made, so the seem good for long-term resistance but, as I haven\’t had the the opportunity to test it on a very long period yet, I don\’t know how the glue which is used to manufacture them is evoluting.
I use mainly EMTEC, AGFA and BASF leader tape. They are matt and stretchable (not breakable) when strongly pulled, so I guess they should be Polyester or Mylar-made…
For the moment, I am completely satisfied by these products…
But any comments would be welcome !Cheers,
Sebastien Vanhove,
Memnon Archiving Services,
Brussels, Belgium