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Post by Bat Lanyard on Feb 10, 2024 23:50:21 GMT -6
I'm sure this has been covered but it would be great to have a concrete recommendation. I've got three rolls of 456 that I'd like to transfer so I can hear just how bad my songwriting in high school was. Is there a holy grail of transfer sources that you guys recommend? These will have to be baked.
Edit: clarity
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Post by christopher on Feb 11, 2024 9:26:53 GMT -6
Guys like Chris Mara, Steve Albini, probably good for typical formats?
Richardhess.com is one of the guys who seem to be able to handle anything and everything. He still posts on the tape email group.
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Post by notneeson on Feb 11, 2024 9:55:14 GMT -6
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Post by drumsound on Feb 11, 2024 10:31:28 GMT -6
Welcome to 1979 does it a lot with 1/4, 1/2, 1 and 2 inch tapes.
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Post by drbill on Feb 11, 2024 10:34:41 GMT -6
The baking is going to be the tricky bit. Even 20 years ago, I was having trouble with baked 456 tapes. Maybe get someone who is well versed in it to do it for you? Once baked, you need to get them transferred quickly.
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Post by srb on Feb 11, 2024 10:57:52 GMT -6
If I'd known you were coming, I'd have baked a tape!
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Post by chessparov on Feb 11, 2024 11:07:10 GMT -6
Personally, I wouldn't go 1/2 Baked.
Chris
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Post by ninworks on Feb 11, 2024 11:18:30 GMT -6
Welcome to 1979 does it a lot with 1/4, 1/2, 1 and 2 inch tapes. I sold Chris Mara my old 1980's Otari MX5050 8SD 1/2" 8 track machine about 3 years ago after I transferred all my old tapes to digital with it. It needed some maintenance but it still all worked other than one of the record enable lights didn't work. It had a brand new pinch roller and the heads had been re-lapped and only had about 30 hours on it before I sold it to him. I also gave him about 15 or 20 empty metal reels with it. After I transferred all of the tracks I spooled all the tapes into the trash so I wouldn't have to store them anymore. I had boxes and boxes of tapes. I also baked and transferred all of my old 4 track and stereo 1/4" tapes. I still have my old TEAC A3440 machine. It needs some work before I sell it and I haven't been inspired to do it. One of these days I'll get fed up with it being in the way in the closet and I'll deal with it. I baked all of the tapes in a food dehydrator before I played them. Most were playable. Some had some drop-outs, and a couple were trashed. I baked 3 1/2" tapes at a time. I did them at 120 degrees for 12 hours. I would turn the tapes over and change their locations in the dehydrator about halfway through. I don't know if that was good or bad but I had pretty good results. After I baked them I put them into a sealed Tupperware cake container, that had about 1/2" of sillica desiccant in the bottom, to cool. As long as I played them within a few days it was fine. I had to re-bake some that I had let sit longer than that, even in the desiccant container. |
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Post by stratboy on Feb 11, 2024 11:54:15 GMT -6
Following with interest.
Anyone have experience with cassettes? I have a few I’d like to save. And a Sony deck I can transfer from. Should I bake em?
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Post by drumsound on Feb 11, 2024 12:47:08 GMT -6
Following with interest. Anyone have experience with cassettes? I have a few I’d like to save. And a Sony deck I can transfer from. Should I bake em? Have you tried playing them first? I've not heard about cassettes having the same issues and open reel tapes. |
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,940 
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Post by ericn on Feb 11, 2024 13:27:20 GMT -6
Following with interest. Anyone have experience with cassettes? I have a few I’d like to save. And a Sony deck I can transfer from. Should I bake em? Have you tried playing them first? I've not heard about cassettes having the same issues and open reel tapes. They have the same issues and are considered trash by most because when you bake a cassette the shell melts. |
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Post by jeremygillespie on Feb 11, 2024 13:35:51 GMT -6
Welcome to 1979 does it a lot with 1/4, 1/2, 1 and 2 inch tapes. I sold Chris Mara my old 1980's Otari MX5050 8SD 1/2" 8 track machine about 3 years ago after I transferred all my old tapes to digital with it. It needed some maintenance but it still all worked other than one of the record enable lights didn't work. It had a brand new pinch roller and the heads had been re-lapped and only had about 30 hours on it before I sold it to him. I also gave him about 15 or 20 empty metal reels with it. After I transferred all of the tracks I spooled all the tapes into the trash so I wouldn't have to store them anymore. I had boxes and boxes of tapes. I also baked and transferred all of my old 4 track and stereo 1/4" tapes. I still have my old TEAC A3440 machine. It needs some work before I sell it and I haven't been inspired to do it. One of these days I'll get fed up with it being in the way in the closet and I'll deal with it. I baked all of the tapes in a food dehydrator before I played them. Most were playable. Some had some drop-outs, and a couple were trashed. I baked 3 1/2" tapes at a time. I did them at 120 degrees for 12 hours. I would turn the tapes over and change their locations in the dehydrator about halfway through. I don't know if that was good or bad but I had pretty good results. After I baked them I put them into a sealed Tupperware cake container, that had about 1/2" of sillica desiccant in the bottom, to cool. As long as I played them within a few days it was fine. I had to re-bake some that I had let sit longer than that, even in the desiccant container. I’ve had good luck baking 2” reels with the food dehydrator as well. The Ampex tape can be tricky. Scotch was never a problem. |
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Post by ninworks on Feb 11, 2024 13:43:42 GMT -6
I think all, or almost all, of the 1/2" tapes were 456. Some of the 1/4" were a mish-mash of different brands. I've never done 1" or 2" tapes so I don't know about those.
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Post by nnajar on Feb 11, 2024 14:08:33 GMT -6
I had some 25 year old 2” transferred to pro tools by Dan Z at sear sound a few years ago. It came out great.
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Post by jmoose on Feb 11, 2024 15:11:27 GMT -6
I've done this a few times... Quick hit - Yes old "Ampex" 456 is gonna have to be baked. And then transfer within 24-48 hours of baking... before it starts to revert to sludge. If you have a known "good" local studio with a functional tape machine? Try and support them if at all possible. Shipping the reels ? None better then Audio Archive in LA. Dan has all the formats that ever existed and can transfer anything. (different dan) www.audioarchivingservices.com/equipmentHe's got a super rad instagram too if anyone's into that kinda thing... |
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Post by jmoose on Feb 11, 2024 15:16:27 GMT -6
Have you tried playing them first? I've not heard about cassettes having the same issues and open reel tapes. They have the same issues and are considered trash by most because when you bake a cassette the shell melts. I've seen Dan at Audio Archive pull a cassette shell apart... bake it, reassemble the shell... transfer... Painstaking work. ADAT and DA88 tapes can have sticky shed syndrome as well. So much of it, baking or not... shedding or not... really comes down to storage. Just how and where did we keep those old tapes for the last 20-30 years? From an archive perspective its case by case. Some formulations are just known to shed but I've seen bad GP9 too. Store it in a damp basement for several years? Stuff is gonna come apart. Dealing with old splices in the tape can be all sorts of fun too..! Ugh. |
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Post by Bat Lanyard on Feb 11, 2024 15:35:03 GMT -6
Awesome info here, and some humor. Thanks for all the replies! Sucks that trip to 1979 got weathered out. I could have discussed it then.
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Post by svart on Feb 12, 2024 13:11:05 GMT -6
I'm sure this has been covered but it would be great to have a concrete recommendation. I've got three rolls of 456 that I'd like to transfer so I can hear just how bad my songwriting in high school was. Is there a holy grail of transfer sources that you guys recommend? These will have to be baked. Edit: clarity 24 track? I can do 24 track 2" 456 or 911. |
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Post by Bat Lanyard on Feb 12, 2024 20:39:42 GMT -6
I'm sure this has been covered but it would be great to have a concrete recommendation. I've got three rolls of 456 that I'd like to transfer so I can hear just how bad my songwriting in high school was. Is there a holy grail of transfer sources that you guys recommend? These will have to be baked. Edit: clarity 24 track? I can do 24 track 2" 456 or 911. They're all 1/2" GrandMaster 456 but thanks for letting me know. Mara seems like a highly comfortable option. |
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