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Tech Tip: Proper Care And
Storage Of Analog Tapes
"I have a question about storing analog tape. I remember reading
that the group Boston had major problems a few years ago with some tape
that had gone bad due to not being stored properly. I have some 2-inch
master tapes I'd like to take care of. What advice can you give me?"
The
best way to take care of those tapes is to keep them in a cool and dry
place. Moisture is the worst thing for tape. It can absorb it, which
further aggravates existing problems that cause the magnetic material
to come off of the backing.
When this happens you'll notice
an excessive amount of oxide shedding from the tape as you play it.
Quite often it will gum up the heads and rollers within minutes. This
is what happened to those infamous Boston tapes, and many others over
the years. There is a remedy that temporarily restores them to playability,
but it gets worse and more difficult as time goes on.
There
are places that, for a fee, will store tape in special atmospherically
controlled rooms. Assuming you don't want that expense, probably the
most practical advice we can give you is to keep them where you live
in an area where you are comfortable they will be reasonably well off
- no attics, basements, etc. They are still going to break down, but
it will take longer and the damage won't be as bad.
Store them
vertically. If you lay them down the edges can get bent and you'll compromise
the material on the outside tracks.
Also, store them "tails
out." That means the end of the tape is what's hanging off the
reel, not the beginning. Tape suffers from a phenomenon called "print
through." While it is wound up on a reel with itself, highly energized
(magnetized) parts will cause the less energized parts in close contact
with them to become somewhat magnetized, which results in audio occurring
in places on the tape where it shouldn't.
Have you ever listened
to a recording and been able to hear a very faint echo of the material
before it actually starts? That's from print through. Print through
is worse in the outward direction of a tape pack so if you store the
tape tails out the worst part of the print through happens after the
song (or section) starts, instead of before.
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