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Repairing/Remastering Old Tapes

W

WhoDoYouThink

I have six or seven :90 tapes worth of stuff I recorded of 93Q in Syracuse from
late July 1984. When I pop the tape into a deck, everything is fine. Then, after a few seconds the tape starts to sound muffled then gradually fades out. The audio on the tape does not become damaged when this happens (I've replayed the parts over and over and they are all still there), but it seems as if the tape is not connecting with my tape head properly.

I've tried the tape(s) on several machines and I have the same problem in all decks. At first, the quality (while poor) is quite audible and reasonable, then after a while...muffled muck to nothing. Although the tape(s) have suffered some oxidation, the audio is still intact. Is it just a matter of finding a tape deck that compensates for the shortcomings of the tapes?

Any ideas?
 
> I have six or seven :90 tapes worth of stuff I recorded of
> 93Q in Syracuse from
> late July 1984. When I pop the tape into a deck, everything
> is fine. Then, after a few seconds the tape starts to sound
> muffled then gradually fades out. The audio on the tape does
> not become damaged when this happens (I've replayed the
> parts over and over and they are all still there), but it
> seems as if the tape is not connecting with my tape head
> properly.
>
> I've tried the tape(s) on several machines and I have the
> same problem in all decks. At first, the quality (while
> poor) is quite audible and reasonable, then after a
> while...muffled muck to nothing. Although the tape(s) have
> suffered some oxidation, the audio is still intact. Is it
> just a matter of finding a tape deck that compensates for
> the shortcomings of the tapes?
>
> Any ideas?
>

Take 2 tapes. A new tape, and one of the tapes you are talking about. Look at the area where the tape meets the heads. In the middle, there should be a copper strip with a rectangular cushion situation in the middle of it under where the tape is. (Not sure what they are called) If that thing is missing or moved out of place, that could very well cause the problem. If its moved, try moving it back. If it doesn't work open the tape up and slide it back into the area where it belongs. Be careful when doing this because tape flys off the wheel. If its missing, you can do 2 things.

1. Put the tape into another shell. Again be VERY CAREFUL

2. Go to radio shack and buy another one of those cushon things. They come in a bag full I believe. Couldn't be that expensive.


Another problem could be the fact that the tape came under something magnetic. I don't think thats possible to fix.

Another note: some tapes from the 70s-80s have those cusion things glued to the bottom of that area instead of on that copper thing. I have noticed that newer tape players have trouble playing tapes with the cusion in that setup. Reccomendations for these:

1. New Shell
2. Try putting one of the copper strip cusions in
3. Get an older tape player and copy the tape onto another using it.

http://www.wisconsinbroadcasting.com/Sites/Jeremy/tape.jpg
is an example of what I am talking about. I have delt with this type of thing many times so I think this could be your problem.


<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
The cushion was out of place on one of the tapes. I unscrewed the tape and put the cushion back in place. No difference.

I notice when I lift UP on the actual tape head...the sound greatly improves.
Of course...I'm not going to manually lift up the tape head as I record all of these tapes to mp3. (I've got 5 hours worth!)

I've tried screwing and unscrewing the housing screws in the actual deck to attain maximum quality, but nothing comes close to actually lifting up on the head manually. The high end greatly improves when I do this.

Thanks for your help, Jeremy. It's high time I save these tapes from any more oxidation. They are def. on their last legs and I want to salvage them before it's too late!
 
You mentioned lifting up the head made it clearer?

I had the same situation a long time ago... it seems like the head was out of alignment. Opened the unit up and adjusted the head up some. But, then, I had the problem of what to do with all the tapes that I recorded with it misaligned.
 
> You mentioned lifting up the head made it clearer?
>
> I had the same situation a long time ago... it seems like
> the head was out of alignment. Opened the unit up and
> adjusted the head up some. But, then, I had the problem of
> what to do with all the tapes that I recorded with it
> misaligned.

I just pulled a MacGuvyer.

I just jammed a lil' eyeglasses screwdriver in the bottom of the tape deck in order to keep the tape head "up" against the tape, itself.

Amazingly...it's working! It's probably doing damage to the tape and tape deck, as well. But, I don't care. I'm transferring to CD, anyway.

I removed the cassette deck "door" and I noticed at the bottom of the tape head, there are two screws. When I screw or unscrew one of the screws, the quality improves GREATLY. Are these screws acting like the "Bias" knobs I've seen on the higher end tape deck models? Either way...the tapes sound considerably better.

Thanks for all your help! ;)
 
You are describing a pressure pad.
> >
>
> Take 2 tapes. A new tape, and one of the tapes you are
> talking about. Look at the area where the tape meets the
> heads. In the middle, there should be a copper strip with a
> rectangular cushion situation in the middle of it under
> where the tape is. (Not sure what they are called) If that
> thing is missing or <P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
> You are describing a pressure pad.
> > >
Thanks. I always wondered what those were called.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
You can get a good and free education about cassette tapes and CD's from Kingdom. Their catalog is free and full of information. Their tapes are also free. I have learned much about CD's from them.

http://www.kingdom.com/

> > You are describing a pressure pad.
> > > >
> Thanks. I always wondered what those were called.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
> Are these screws acting like the "Bias" knobs I've seen on
> the higher end tape deck models? Either way...the tapes
> sound considerably better.

It's actually moving the alignment of the head slightly up or down.

> Thanks for all your help! ;)

You're welcome, I'm glad it worked.
 
> It's actually moving the alignment of the head slightly up
> or down.

One more question...

Why don't tape deck manufacturers include knobs that actually control the alignment of the tape head? I had to dismantle the cassette door in order to gain access to these screws. I'm lucky this particular deck enable me to (a) dismantle the door and (b)have access to the screws!

Stuff like this they don't put in the manuals.
 
They do not expect it to break or ever need alignment.

> > It's actually moving the alignment of the head slightly up
>
> > or down.
>
> One more question...
>
> Why don't tape deck manufacturers include knobs that
> actually control the alignment of the tape head? I had to
> dismantle the cassette door in order to gain access to these
> screws. I'm lucky this particular deck enable me to (a)
> dismantle the door and (b)have access to the screws!
>
> Stuff like this they don't put in the manuals.
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
I think some of you have forgotten that the original post claimed this problem occurred on many different decks, with the same tape. This does NOT sound like a tape head alignment issue. It sounds to me more like an oxide shedding issue. This theory would be more logical.

Did you trey cleaning the tape deck heads whenever the audio got muffled? Depending on what brand of tapes they are and what their storage conditions were like all these years, it could be the infamous shedding oxide syndrome.

Screwing around with the alignment of your heads was, IMHO a very bad idea. It doesn’t mean your other tapes that you recorded on that deck were recorded out of alignment. But I bet now those tapes will sound bad, and you’ll have to have the deck aligned again. I would not dare dream of screwing around with any cassette deck head alignments. It’s not like this is quarter inch two track stereo reel to reel. This is 1/8” inch width tape meant to support a total of 4 tracks of audio.

R
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by RobertBass on 06/24/05 11:43 PM.</FONT></P>
 
I'm not an engineer(nor do I play one on TV...)but could it be the tapes have been recorded on different decks and they were all at their own unique allignment(s)?

Thus by playing back on deck "D" stuff recorded on decks "A", "B" and "C", there's a touch of mis-allignment causing the muffling?

Just thinking out loud here.


<P ID="signature">______________
"Be seeing you..."</P>
 
> I'm not an engineer(nor do I play one on TV...)but could it
> be the tapes have been recorded on different decks and they
> were all at their own unique allignment(s)?
>
> Thus by playing back on deck "D" stuff recorded on decks
> "A", "B" and "C", there's a touch of mis-allignment causing
> the muffling?
>
> Just thinking out loud here.

I think that's exactly the case. When I mess with the azimeth screws in the deck itself, the quality improves GREATLY. I originally recorded these tapes on a Magnavox boombox with a short in the left channel back in the summer of '84. It was high time I made the transfer to CD. They don't sound nearly as bad as I thought they were going to sound.

Thanks for all your help!
 
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