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Vintage Tape (Audio), Cassette, Wire and Magnetic Disc Recorders and Players Open-reel tape recorders, cassette recorders, 8-track players etc. |
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14th Mar 2023, 2:21 am | #21 |
Octode
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 1,970
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Re: Tape Splicing Thoughts
Paul mentioned that even the best splicing tape eventually fails. Sometimes old splice adhesive simply dries out and the splice just falls apart cleanly.
Other times some of the adhesive (especially if ordinary sticky tape was used) migrates to adjacent tape winds, gluing the winds together. It's not even safe to play the tape for fear the oxide layer will be torn off the backing layer. I've had to resort to playing the tape at very slow speed, looking out for signs of a splice coming up so I can stop the tape before the adjacent winds unwind from it. Then I had to apply solvent to dissolve or at least soften the adhesive so the tape could be safely unwound to reveal the original splice. Reels with opaque flanges which obscure the tape pack edges are particularly difficult as you're working blind. Very slow, careful work needed if you want to preserve the original recorded audio around those areas. Sometimes the adhesive hasnt spread enough to cause this problem but still there's some adhesive now stuck to the recorded oxide so it has to be carefully cleaned off to avoid audio dropouts at those points. |
14th Mar 2023, 10:03 am | #22 |
Pentode
Join Date: Nov 2020
Location: Bristol, UK.
Posts: 152
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Re: Tape Splicing Thoughts
Anyone who worked in broadcast audio in the 1970s-1990s probably made many splices in the course of their career. I probably spent working years doing nothing but tape editing (for content), 8 hour days. Here's a few quick thoughts:
Tape gauge and speed: Cut-editing was universally done on 1/4" tape, not 1/8" (cassette) or larger, multitrack formats. Most speech editing was done at 7.5 IPS, and in my experience directly on location-recorded tapes, unless it was a studio recording at 15 IPS. It was considered wasteful to work on a copy, generally, although de rigur if working on something very precious (e.g. an interview with royalty). Anything recorded at slower speeds would be copied up to a higher speed for editing though, as it's too slow and fiddly to mark up edits at 3.75 IPS. Music editing was at 15IPS. Nagra SN tapes were transferred before editing. Splice angle: From the late 1970s onwards, as stereo became commonplace in radio, The blocks fitted to BBC machines had three angles: 90, 45 and 60 degrees. 90 was almost never used. 45 was OK for mono tapes, and 60 was the most used on stereo machines. Reasons for choosing specific angles:
Hope the above is of some interest... *"Sepmag" is the common term for "separate magnetic soundtrack" in old-style film. "Commag" is "combined magnetic" (film with mag stripes at its edges). and "com-opt" means "combined optical", as used in cinema distribution for decades. |
14th Mar 2023, 12:49 pm | #23 |
Octode
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ashby-de-la-Zouch (it's not by the sea)
Posts: 1,255
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Re: Tape Splicing Thoughts
Many thanks for everyone's thoughts - very interesting. Please keep them coming. In the meantine, I accidentally stumbled upon this:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZVaK2TKgFA Some of you may have seen it before, but you'd have to be a brave person to edit video tape (by cutting!) back then!
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14th Mar 2023, 1:37 pm | #24 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: East Sussex, UK.
Posts: 3,326
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Re: Tape Splicing Thoughts
In the modern world it’s not necessary to cut a tape to make an edit. Just copy the original onto a computer, edit as required, then copy the result to wherever you want it, back to tape, CD, or just leave it on your computer. If the tape is damaged then you’ll have to make a joint to cut out the bad part.
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14th Mar 2023, 2:04 pm | #25 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex.
Posts: 5,817
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Re: Tape Splicing Thoughts
A very interesting thread for anyone still using tape but "old splice" makes me think of aftershave! There used to be "Where do we get splicing tape?" threads at one time and it seemed to be quite costly. I've mentioned before that I use 1" micropore medical tape, strong but using a very low level adhesive, designed for sensitive skins and very secure in use on tape. Cheap at any Pharmacy! There were doubts expressed but I've never had any problems, although my splices are mainly repair jobs just so the tape can play. I don't think I've had a "medical" splice that failed.
I've never really made up program material by splicing sections together [as the professionals do/did]. Even as a teenager I was able to use a friends deck to 'dub' from the source so any splicing was re a break or adding leader tape. I seem to have got away without ever damaging VHS video heads Michael [p12] but I clean the heads/guides regularly and there's no shocking "sellotape" sticky deposit effect to ruin things. I've seen video tapes that have parcel packing tape or even elastoplast in place [just about] now that does dry up. In the early nineties I was thinking of doing a media studies degree and went on an introductory day out. They had us splicing with blocks and razors but I had to demonstrate that I could do it "freehand" with scissors [even cassette tape] when the [sceptical] Instructor didn't believe me! He asked why and I said "needs must". A block was quite expensive in the sixties but splicing tape wasn't. Dave W Last edited by dave walsh; 14th Mar 2023 at 2:18 pm. |
14th Mar 2023, 5:13 pm | #26 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Surbiton, SW London, UK.
Posts: 2,801
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Re: Tape Splicing Thoughts
As stated 45 and 60 are best when the tape is recorded. 90 is stronger and best for
leader and stop foils. I agree with #21, if the tape is stored tails out, rewind slowly to start bypassing the heads and guides - you may need to defeat an optical sensor. Examine any defective splices and repair. If possible use a deck without pressure pads. Ensure razor blades are demagnetised.
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14th Mar 2023, 6:16 pm | #27 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Winchester, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 639
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Re: Tape Splicing Thoughts
Quote:
http://www.vtoldboys.com/emt01.htm I rescued one of our splicer blocks just before it was to be skipped and donated it to BECG so hopefully it will eventually be put on permanent display at their new premises. Cut editing was on its way out when I worked in VT, at the start of my career we’re had moved on to ‘cue tone’ editing which is the technique shown from about 9.00 onwards. Very happy days. |
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14th Mar 2023, 7:22 pm | #28 |
Octode
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ashby-de-la-Zouch (it's not by the sea)
Posts: 1,255
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Re: Tape Splicing Thoughts
Wow! So pleased you rescued that. What a great thing.
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