'Oven' / dehydrator / de-humidifier:

 

Old tapes, particularly those manufactured by Ampex and Scotch from the 1970s onwards, may suffer from 'Sticky Shed Syndrome'.  This is where the binder 'glue' which adheres the magnetic particles to the plastic tape stock can become 'gooey' as it absorbs moisture from the air over time. These tapes need to be carefully 'baked' - that is, dehydrated - in order to make them playable again.

 

We bake our tapes in a Super-Q dehydrator, which can hold up to six 1/4-inch tapes. This helps to bring costs down for larger batches. The machine has an accurate temperature setting and a digital timer which allows us to bake tapes for precise durations, with no risk of over-baking.

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The settings we've used (100% successfully) are as follows:

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• 5 to 7-inch diameter 1/4-inch tapes: 4-6 hours at 55°C

• 10.5-inch diameter 1/4-inch tapes: 10-12 hours at 55°C

• 2-inch multi-tracks: 12 hours at 55°C 

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Tape machine:

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Our customised Revox PR99 tape machine is a beauty.  It was originally used at BBC Scotland in the early 1980s, and has been kept in safe storage since the mid-1990s.  It was serviced, refurbished, cleaned and de-magnetised in February 2021 by Panda Sound in Lichfield and runs like a dream. We can accommodate any size tape up to 10.5-inch diameter, and while the machine has two speed settings (7.5 and 15ips), we can play faster or slower tapes and digitally slow down/speed up the audio. In this way, 30ips tapes can be rendered digitally in perfect quality.

 

We also have a lovely refurbished, stereo Sony TC366 machine with speeds from 1 7/8 to 7.5ips. This produces beautiful results, especially with 'double-sided' mono tapes, such as you might have recorded on a domestic machine. 

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Specifications for this classic professional tape recorder can be found here:

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Revox PR99 specs

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Sony TC366 specs

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