Erasing Tapes - how sweet the sound?

In this video I explain why buying quality used tapes full of someone else’s recordings might be your last best option if you still want to make the best cassette recordings at sensible prices nowadays. I then go on to try a variety of bulk erasing methods on used tapes to test their effectiveness.
Here’s a link to a review of the new ‘type 2’ cassettes by ANA[DIA]LOG • Tascam, ATR & NAC bran...
AFFILIATED LINK to SONY CASSETTE ERASERS on ebay
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00:00 NOS Cassette prices
05:35 What about the new cassettes?
06:26 The alternative
08:49 My old tapes
10:37 Why erase?
12:15 Sony BE-9H eraser
20:20 Radio Shack Bulk Eraser
25:22 Sony BE-A200
28:37 Permanent magnet erase
30:47 Recording on old tapes
32:25 Summary
35:17 Inside the bulk tape eraser
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[@tvfromvcr8331]

Worth saying also that if you buy someone's old cassette collection, it might be an idea to check for rare recordings that should be preserved before taping over them. Some of these old recordings are a window into the past and it'd be a shame to erase them from history.

[@killingtimeitself]

especially radio recordings, including all of the radio goodness. There's quite a significant archive of radio recordings purely for this reason.

[@bmmaaate]

Yes, I was given some Jazz tapes and they had rare recordings of BBC Jazz hour from 1972 on them. I contacted the Jazz archive of Britain and they were overjoyed to find I had sessions that were considered lost.

[@tvfromvcr8331]

@@bmmaaate Great story! 👍🏻

[@H-Man1]

This is one of my favorite reasons to buy old tapes. It's getting a glimpse of the past and sometimes even people's day to day lives.

[@2760ade]

@@bmmaaate Nice!

[@jollygreengiant]

I worked at a talking newspaper in the 90's and we processed 100's of tapes a week on an electromagnetic eraser. From memory it was enough to switch it on and slide the tape from one end of the bed to the other to erase the tape, then we'd pop it into the duplicator, ready for the next issue. Duplicator ran at about 10x normal speed and did both sides at the same time, so we'd do about 100 tapes an hour. They were posted out in vinyl pouches with a spring loaded mouth at one end, so you squeezed the sides and popped the new tape in. Postage was free, so every pouch had a clear pocket on the front containing a card with the subscribers address on one side, and the paper's address on the other, so you flipped the card and dropped the whole thing in the post bg for the next run. Subscibers then just flipped the address card and dropped the pouch in a postbox to return the tape once they'd listened to it.

[@matthewbutcher2931]

What was in the tapes?

[@vertskater101]

@@matthewbutcher2931 various screaming and moaning sounds.

[@jollygreengiant]

@@matthewbutcher2931 It's a talking newspaper for blind people. There were very few computers then and little internet access, so volunteers would read out selected regional and national articles from printed newspapers and these would be edited to fit a C90.

[@jessihawkins9116]

like Netflix 🤔

[@lkbergen]

This just an IRL podcast. 😂

[@senilyDeluxe]

When I was young, I never could have enough tapes so I kept recording over my older recordings, sometimes erasing history (plays I did as a child or goofing around with friends). Then people started to throw away their old cassettes as they went out of fashion and now I have over a thousand. And I enjoy finding tapes where the previous owner's taste in music matches mine, lots of gems and forgotten tracks on these.

[@greggv8]

I'd love to find a recording of "Your Morning Feature" by The Country Dodgers. That was a risque (for the time) record by Spike Jones and his City Slickers. It was a special promotional pressing by Standard Recording, which as part of the gag put their name on the label as "Standirt Recording". It was sent out to radio stations that bought from Standard but the FCC no way, no how would allow it to be broadcast. Then in 1992 Dr. Demento included it in his show one Sunday. That is the one and only time in history that "Your Morning Feature" has ever been broadcast! The same episode included four other songs which had their only airing by Dr. Demento. At the time was recording the show each Sunday evening then I'd dub off any new songs I liked to other tapes. The next week I went to record and *arrrrggghhhh!* I grabbed the previous week's tape and I hadn't got around to dubbing off the new stuff. I recorded over "Your Morning Feature"! The song was such a hilarious send-up of the old radio soap operas I figured the good Dr. would make it a regular in the rotation but nope, it has never been heard again. I remember one part of it... "I'm surgeon Thurgeon Sturgeon. I've got no time for wooing. I'm not so hot at... I'm a very busy man!" There's also a mention of his and his wife's son "...we got him from a test tube!" That was recorded 40 years before the first "test tube baby" in 1978.

[@highpath4776]

same here

[@nicolasmoore6220]

@@greggv8 is it fully lost?

[@TRIX-vg1ym]

@@greggv8 If you look it up on KZbin there is a few on there

[@greggv8]

@@nicolasmoore6220 the episode of Dr. Demento with it is available to stream. I'd want a way to save the stream before I pay for a subscription.

[@John_vDongen]

The noise you hear after the pass through eraser is called magnetic flux-field caused from the gauss strength of the magnets and has a normal affect, however, this diminishes when the tapes are recorded on, leaving the empty parts noiseless.

[@matambale]

If you 'pause' for any length of time using a strong permanent magnet style of bulk eraser, you can create a magnetized pattern on the tape that will sound thumpy on playback. The Fe atoms all end up aligned, and that N/S pattern repeats at each complete rotation of the feed reel - that's the thump you're hearing.

[@johngrant5749]

Yes, constant slow movement is the key and also pass through again a few times but in different orientations.

[@themeantuber]

You stole my comment, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who figured out what was happening. He should have tried dropping the cassettes downwards if possible to have it erased in one go. I'm surprised techmoan didn't figure it out.

[@dieseldragon6756]

Something like that came to my mind as Techmoan was demonstrating it. 📼 If I was using one today I'd be inclined to have the tape cued about half way along so each spool has the same radius, and then rotate the reels about 30-180 degrees between each pass, depending on how "clean" an erase you want. 😄 Does that sound reasonable? 😇

[@themeantuber]

@@dieseldragon6756 each time it slides through it erases the previous pattern and create a new one. The only possible way to avoid the "thumps" is to have the tape spooled on one reel so it would go through in one go without stopping.

[@matambale]

@@dieseldragon6756 It sounds like something to test

[@EzeeLinux]

The Rad Shack bulk eraser can be used for longer... Also, the procedure is: Hold tape in one hand put eraser on it, and turn it on. Move the tape around and then slowly pull away... Used properly you can get the tape back to virgin levels. No, it won't hurt you and the eraser will turn itself off if it gets too hot. I used these things in radio for years and years... :)

[@krzysztofczarnecki8238]

It basically is a big electromagnet powered from the mains.You can make one out of a mains transformer, but it should be a pretty chonky one, as it will get hot, and so you want it to be able to tank it for long enough to erase the tape. The demagnetizers for watches are also made in that way, but they are smaller. Just remove all the core plates, and put only the "E" shaped ones in, all facing in one direction. Equip primary with a momentary switch and that's it. And moving it around and away slowly is essential, as doing it quickly can result in audible artifacts (swooshing or audibly varying hiss levels) or leave the tape magnetized enough to make the recording bad and necessitate head demagnetization. I experimented on my tapes with several homemade demagnetizers and they all had that in common. And a wand-type head demagnetizer that I also tried won't erase tapes, it will just make them sound worse.

[@billr3053]

Yes, I agree. Pass centre portion of the bulk eraser over the reel that has the tape; circular motion, and backing away (upwards) increasing distance. Techmoan was sweeping over the whole cassette instead of concentrating on the spool where the tape is. I also used the Radio Shack one for erasing VHS tapes. This is a bit more tricky as that tape is 1/2" wide and the eraser is not designed to go that deep. You have to circularly sweep on the bottom of the cassette, again concentrating on the spool that has the tape. Then LIFT the tape spool with a finger (it's on a springy) and sweep the eraser over the top surface. The cassette comes out perfectly blank if done right. Takes a bit of practice but worth it. It's fast compared to recording nothing for 2 hours.

[@railgap]

↑ THIS ↑

[@RacerX-]

100% agree as I have used these too for tapes and Computer Diskettes. Radio shack also sold a "High Power" version which was better for some tape types, as far as I can tell. But yeah if you use them correctly these things return the tape to its original state. I used them also on Computer Floppy disks as it will return the disk to an unformatted, completely erased state. It also doesn't take 20 minutes to do 6 tapes, as stated in the video. It takes 10 - 20 seconds per tape. It's 1 minute on and 20 minute off duty cycle so I think he got it backwards. No ones perfect so understandable.

[@billr3053]

​@@RacerX- Maybe he included the 20 minutes cool-down time in the complete cycle. I've run it for likely longer than the recommended interval and it does get quite hot and smells funky. No damage though.

[@TheManPhil]

Around 1980 I worked at a studio/media production company. We had a very large bulk eraser and when I used it, I left my wallet, watch and anything else that could possibly be affected at least 10 feet away! The modest noise from your small powered bulk eraser had nothing on our large unit. We would erase large reels of tape and the vibration and noise was absolutely scary! This brought back some great memories. Thanks!

[@KevReillyUK]

Great video as always. A few observations: 1. No way could I have erased those tapes without first giving them a listen, or at least digitising their contents for a quick listen later. The combination of nostalgia and nosiness would have been too much. There might have been some OTA radio broadcast snippets that now have been lost for ever. 2. The last time I saw something with the same grip and switch arrangement as that bulk eraser, Martin Landau was using it to shoot at aliens. 3. Were you ever tempted to apply a subtle wobbly interference effect to the uploaded video at the points when you turned the bulk eraser on, just to troll the comments section?

[@hexagonproductions2019]

The waste of these random OTA radio broadcast snippets is a loss only rivaled by the burning of the library of Alexandria.

[@CharlesVanNoland]

"I was recording stuff off radio." This is what we all did, and the *DMCA* (edited because I said MPAA before, lol) didn't exist then because nobody cared and it was fine. Then suddenly instead of the radio - directly beaming it from a radio station in realtime to a recording - you're just transferring it as a few megabytes, slowly, over dialup internet in the late 90s using Napster and everyone throws a fit and decides to invent a bunch of new legislature about it. Now kids just listen to songs on KZbin with AdBlock. The future is amazing!

[@TheGreatAtario]

I really need to get a shirt with the old "HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSIC" logo

[@aritakalo8011]

Actually in most places it was just explicitly legal. Since not only was it allowed by laws, but one was paying for the right to do so. One just didn't notice it, since the paying happened by a tax on the recording media. So when one bought say new empty cassettes, there was extra tax on the cassette price to compensate for the assumed private copying of copyrighted music or other content. These were collected and then passed on to the copyright associations to divy up for the artists and so on.

[@thomasa.243]

@@aritakalo8011 We still pay for the music industry whenever buying a storage medium (and Smartphones, Tablets, Laptops, etc.) because you could copy music to it. Kind of interesting when you think about the fact that most people storing music on their Laptop have bought the CD before (at least the ones of us older than 25 or 30 😅).

[@compzac]

It wasnt that no governing body existed, they did they just dropped the ball on cassette because when it first came to market it was only a dictation format, not suitable for music, so the music body ignored it and then while they were asleep the system was improved stereo was added dolby came round with NR and next thing you know people are recording music... now the reason that napster and pirating music was immediately met with intense opposition was because by that point you werent recording, you were cloning, the file you could get off napster was a much higher quality (in context for the time and how good the quality of an mp3 was) most tapes recorded from the radio, well they sound like they came from the radio, dirty little static and bits of the top and bottom cut off by the radio itself and the tape, MP3 wouldnt have those issues.

[@NBSV1]

I think a lot of it was because before the number of people copying tapes and whatnot was just a vague guess so they didn’t want to commit a lot to stopping it. When the digital age came around it was easy to directly count how many times a song was downloaded or copied. Once it has a hard number it’s easy for companies to assume those are all lost profits.

[@tarnvedra9952]

I have sudden urge to sell resealed cassetes filled with Rick Astley.

[@bland9876]

Lol

[@qqxxxq4]

About a week ago I recorded Rick Astley's 1987 album (I really think it's a good music except m-m-maximum stupid verses) on TDK AD cassette from a big package of used cassettes from Japan. Such a fun process in comparison to just listening to any digital sources.

[@skylined5534]

If you sell them as blank tapes then someone checks them and hears Rick Astley that'd be the first analogue Rick-roll.

[@soberlife]

Hahaha 😆

[@mhoppy6639]

Whereas I immediately thought of doing the same but with something a little more subversive. “Erase and rewind” by the Cardigans springs to mind…

[@TheLoxxxton]

Wow! New to the channel and as a 50 year old UK man this was a real trip down memory lane. I talked with my kids about it and was amazed that they could not believe the antiquity and ancient'ness of them. My youngest jokingly asked if we used to record dinosaur noises on them!!

[@spacegrass6632]

It makes me giggle as a 17 year old with an interest in old audio tech when I hear about stuff like this, my mindset towards this kind of thing is clearly very different to others my age. I get funny reactions when people find out I have a tape collection (especially since it's almost exclusively new music)

[@angelicalminx]

@@spacegrass6632 i'm 17 and i don't own anything myself but i am so interested in everything like this and i strive to inform myself seen as i wasn't around, it's super cool!

[@rockettaco]

@@spacegrass6632 Even as somebody in his early 20's people find it weird when I talk about tapes. Had a really interesting conversation about 8-track the other day.

[@billy_on_2_wheels]

@@rockettaco people find it weird that I'm early 20s to and im obsessed with good sound i got a 80s kenwood stack and old pioneer whith automatic vinyl head and boxes of tapes and a goof 6 8000 converted songs 😅🤣

[@HanShotFirst100]

Yet another fascinating video, and this one reminded me of my days as a radio DJ back in the mid-80s. When I wasn't spinning records, I spent a lot of time producing commercials and public service announcements on carts. The carts were reused countless times, and the "Flash Gordon spaceship" racket of the bulk eraser was a common sound in the production studio. Ours was a hefty steel-cased unit that measured about 6 x 10 inches (50 x 60cm) and was fixed to a bench. To erase a cart, you held down a momentary switch and rubbed the cart over its top for about 30 seconds, flipping the cart halfway through. It was painted on all sides when manufactured in the early 70s, but the top was bare metal and well polished by a decade-plus of use by the time I encountered it 👍

[@camperxlz]

Techmoan is to me as an adult what Saturday morning cartoons were to my childhood. Every Saturday morning I come first thing to the computer to see what new story he'll tell. Thank you Techmoan!

[@JZikovsky]

Same here!

[@darinb.3273]

I always enjoy his weekend Saturday morning viewing uploads. Like a box of chocolates, never know what goody goody he'll post for the viewing audience.

[@RonaldoSantos-pw6yh]

Here in Brazil his new video get out around 7:00am, so a really nice early morning saturday program. Cheers!

[@darinb.3273]

@@RonaldoSantos-pw6yh indeed I'm in the USA and if he's posted one I can see it before I even get out of bed LOL.

[@darinb.3273]

@@RonaldoSantos-pw6yh I don't typically sleep in either LOL.

[@AndyMitchellUK26]

That Sony tape eraser blew my mind. I've never seen any bulk tape erasers until now and I am astonished that it erases an entire tape that quickly. How have I lived to 41 and only just heard about these things?!

[@me-EnesYilmazer]

✉️⚡.....

[@skywind007]

I'm 42 and I am just as impressed as you.

[@ernestoditerribile]

43 here didn’t knew about those erasers too. The RadioShack EMP Device really has a strong electromagnet.

[@MomMom4Cubs]

I'm your age, however I took radio/television broadcasting in vocational school. I've never seen an eraser this small. The ones I'm familiar with are similar to the one briefly shown in Fight Club.

[@cd7071]

If you swipe a cassette across a Walmart self checkout it will do the same thing. They put demagnetizers in them to deactivate security tags. It will erase the tape instantly

[@jmalmsten]

That slight wobble in the noise floor reminds me of a story I read from someone on the sound department for Carpenter's The Thing. In it the technician says that they wanted initially to avoid cliché sounds like increasing rate of heartbeats and such. At some point, however, a metal reel of magnetic tape was improperly handled so the reel got slightly magnetized. The effect was on the bits of tape that touched the metal spokes. And it created a very subtle heart beat effect when played back. And what was worse was that as the tape unspooled, the distance between the spokes decreased, and therefore the rate of the "beats" increased. And apparently when Carpenter heard it... He loved it. So in the end that heartbeat sound ended up in the final optical masters... I have however not heard anyone else mention this outside that one book, and try as I might, I haven't heard it on the home video releases or a recent DCP release either. Sure, there's the famous base heart beat on the main music track. But as I understand it, it should be a more subtle thing outside the music. So... It's a neat story, I cannot vouch for how true it is, and I was reminded of it when hearing the uneven tape hiss on here. It really sounds like tgey should have put the magnets diagonally or something to remove the unevenness. But... As is mentioned, the erase head on the recording tape deck had no problem nullifying that last unevenness.

[@CraigTube]

The concern I always had with erasing tapes with a permanent magnet is that it magnetizes the tape particles all in one direction, where as an AC erase head randomizes them. My concern was that tapes with all the particles magnetized on one direction would magnetize the tape path as the tape passed through.

[@skywind007]

Makes sense. An AC erase head would be better for final results but you got to admit it, that Sony bulk eraser with the permanent magnet was almost like magic. I really wasn't expecting it to work that well, that fast.

[@hugh007]

I definitely remember that tapes erased on cheap recorders that used a permanent magnet had a higher noise level than tapes erased with a proper erase head using the high frequency bias voltage.

[@TheMentalblockrock]

Tapes magnetise tape paths anyway over time, thats why we de-magnetize the tape path from time to time.

[@stickyfox]

I tried to do it as a kid by holding a magnet adjacent to the tape. It ruined the sound quality, but it left a significant amount of signal behind. I think another problem with using a static field is that you'd leave the tape saturated in one direction, and the subsequent recording would be distorted.

[@tonywalman]

The permanent magnet erasing head are of multipoles alternate phase magnets, when tape running across, the effect similar to AC demagnetizing, so the tape will not be magnetized in one direction.

[@ForDemoPurposesOnly]

My dad had one of those Radio Shack bulk erasers and you were still using it incorrectly. 1) Hold the eraser still in one hand. 2) Hold the switch in the "on" position when you're ready to bulk erase the cassette. 3) Hold the cassette with the other hand and move it towards the eraser while moving it in a circular motion for about 10 seconds 4) Pull the cassette away from the eraser while still moving it in a circular motion, turning off the unit once you have it away from it.

[@tableseven8133]

The electromagnet will not hurt you unless you have a pacemaker in your heart, then you should not use it. It is a simple open field transformer.

[@URYADOF]

It still is a shit product compared to the Sony one which is simple, elegant and works as fast as a lightning.

[@chrisbonney7563]

@@URYADOF The Radio Shack Bulk eraser was not designed for just cassettes, it could erase a lot of magnetic media, 8-tracks, reel to reel, floppy discs, even magnetic sound tracks on film etc.

[@boneburg4781]

@Ari Vicentini you talking about yourself?

[@purplegill10]

At the end of the video he goes over that

[@SteveBrace]

Back in the late '80s the permanent magnet bulk eraser (it may have even been the Sony device) was used to erase tapes from the Neal police interview recorder if they were of no evidential value. It wasn't for re-use of the cassettes, but secure disposal or for re-use of marked training tapes only.

[@univon4892]

Oh that's very interesting.

[@andreasu.3546]

In case anyone's wondering what a "Neal police interview recorder" is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpvNdoCCnbWhb68

[@liftsoffrance4470]

And the erased tapes were put in the bin or given/sold to people who might be using them to record music ? (Maybe policemen themselves at home)

[@johngrant5749]

So they were old Police cassettes too 😂

[@SteveBrace]

@@johngrant5749 I hope you have a licence for that dad joke 😃

[@asdunne]

I wish that I could give you two thumbs-ups for this. I saw the title and thought it was going to be a bit of a dull video, but was wrong. Only you could make a 35 minute video about this and make it so entertaining. Your delivery and tone of voice are always engaging and you managed to turn what could have been such a potentially yawn-inducing topic into an interesting and nostalgic must-watch. Fabulous.

[@Brian-L]

Glad you added the addendum around the RS bulk eraser. Nothing to fear. I’ve use mine for decades on all types of magnetic media, particularly VHS tapes, and have never had an issue when used as you described. It works great for expired credit cards too for extra piece of mind.

[@medes5597]

Yeah I can understand that it was alarming to hear such a noise from a device if you weren't expecting it but I think everyone who worked with bulk erasers at any point in their lives was cringing a little when he refused to put his hand beneath it. Laughing as well I have to admit. And I don't blame him they sound awful. But no scarier than any other big magnet.

[@wonderfuljoey23]

I never thought I’d see the day when a blank cassette would cost more than a blank CD.

[@AxellTh]

I should have bought a pallet full of chrome or metal tapes 30 yers ago.

[@rakeau]

Maybe time to stock up on blank CD's...

[@gregdaweson4657]

@@haweater1555 dollar store country.

[@nemesis2264]

@@rakeau The trouble with cd-r disks is that they only have a shelf life of around 5 to 10 years. While having a clear out I found some old unused cd-r disks that I bought in the late 90's and most of them are unusable now.

[@SomePeopleCallMeWulfman]

Some of those cassettes cost more than a blank SDD...

[@sevcaczech5961]

Sealed cassettes have become a collector's item, bought by collectors with nostalgia. This phenomenon appeared around 2012, when a lot of people in their forties and fifties realized that they missed life with cassettes. And this collecting passion is still growing. Cassettes bought in this way are not unpacked, they are not recorded, but stored in display cases and boxes, and collectors try to get complete series of various manufacturers from each given year. Prices are therefore not only affected by inflation, but also by the value according to the unusualness of the model and popularity in the past, etc. For recording usually cheaper cassettes are used, nowadays a person uses a really expensive metal cassette for recording only if he has several such pieces and can afford it.

[@OscarInAsia]

Yeah, I mean I could see a few individual sealed tapes go for that reason. But those folks wouldn't get sealed 5 packs of these things just for display/nostalgia. I'm thinking the majority are planned to be used.

[@sevcaczech5961]

@@OscarInAsia Even a collector will buy a 5pack or more individual pieces of different cassettes of different brand in one purchase, because it is cheaper.. He saves something to his collection, and records something to some. He sells the pieces he doesn't need. By the way, not only packaged pieces are collected, but also used ones, such as Agfas that Techmoan bought. The high prices are dictated precisely by these collectors, because it can be seen from the prices that some models, which are not so high-end, have a higher price than some really high-quality cassettes. Because the price is affected by the year, unusualness and unavailability of the model on the market, design, brand, etc.

[@varsityathlete9927]

@@OscarInAsia its media collectors, who tend to buy this stuff, they won't use the tapes. they are brought as a dead format sealed in its original packaging. it exists for vhs too, although, that is much smaller than cassette. many of the collectors are in russia and eastern european countries. you can get good money for certain rare sealed ones, esp if no one else has it. I've been fairly lucky over the years with that, as I know certain things to look for. about 95% of the sealed tapes I see are one of say 8 types, brand/format. the metal ones, ie expensive at the time , are very rare now sealed.

[@timfischer]

Anybody who was 40-50's in 2012 and "missed life with cassettes" must have either been living under a rock, or possibly in a 3rd world country.

[@MrDuncl]

From experience I have noticed that the worst "investments" are anything sold as limited edition "collectibles" while the some of the best are items that were intended to be used like cassettes. Taking things to another level was the sealed copy of Mario 64 that sold for over $1 million. @timfisher by far the biggest collection of sealed cassettes I have seen photos of belongs to someone in China. I would imagine that back in the 1990s they probably only had access to locally made Type Zeros while being aware that much better ones were available in other countries. Now they can afford to buy sealed trade boxes of Metal Masters. It would be ironic if they made their money from selling rubbish boomboxes etc to the west. I have noticed that the biggest collectors of vintage audio seem to be in the BRIC counties presumably wanting to buy all the stuff they only ever saw in brochures in the 1980s.

[@tekvax01]

I've used those electric degaussing tape erasers many times. You must move the tape around and flip it over and do all six sides for it to erase correctly. Matt, those bulk erasers are perfectly harmless, I've been using them for many years. We have one at work, that erases one-inch, two-inch videotape, Umatic, Betacam, etc tape, and is the size of a table, with gigantic capacitors, transformers, Triacs, and weighs several hundred pounds! It also does a great job on your credit, bank, and RFID cards! Ask me how I know! :)

[@richardbonner5178]

In addition, do not turn off the Radio Shack eraser without separating it and the tape first, Otherwise the collapsing magnetic field will apply a "set" to the tape. This will result in the undulating playback sound you heard at the first after using the Sony unit, but it can be much louder. My technique is to place the tape onto a non-ferrous surface, hold the unit about half a metre away, turn the unit on, approach the tape to make contact with its shell, and then glide it over the tape using a circular motion. Stop, back off slowly, then turn the unit off. The vibrating sound you hear is the AC electric field collapsing and restoring in sync with the mains line. Happy erasing. (-:

[@johnrhodez6829]

When bulk erasing 1"C format tapes I had the Eraser fed via a Variac so when turning the reel I also gradually increased and then decreased the power. Got rid of the thump. I was setting up audio on Marconi MR2 VTRs. Bulk erasing did leave noise in the guard band between the four audio track, and tape heads at lower frequencies tend to read wider than they record, so for the 'noise test' Ialways ran a couple of hundred feet of the tape onto another reel which never went anywhere near the bilk eraser.

[@Paul_Wetor]

I've kept my old cassette tapes and LPs for nostalgic reasons. It never occurred to me that they'd become so valuable.

[@EsotericArctos]

I remember in my days in radio, we had a big "bulk erase" machine that was used to erase the open reel tape. She use to buzz and carry on when running, but boy it worked. Tapes would be silent after a few seconds in that machine. The powered devices use an electromagnet so they have to cover themselves and put that warning on as devices sensitive to magnetism would potentially be affected if close by the device when powered on. I don't think you did it for the full 10 seconds on each tape so likely if you went a little slower it would erase chrome too. The pulsing sound on the permanent magnet unit will happen if you do not move the tape through the eraser at an even speed. If you hesitate as you push it through, you will get a pulsing.

[@bland9876]

It kind of seems like unless you use like a pencil or something to try and push it all the way through that you wouldn't be able to push it through in one go. At least the one that he was using.

[@bloozee]

A good eraser will remove the hands off your wrist watch.

[@bloozee]

Permanent magnet erase is not at all good for reuse.

[@stevenemert837]

Yeah, we had the big bulk erasers too in the old mainframe computer days, for erasing the big 10" (??) reels of 1/2" tape. They were pretty powerful. I still have one and use it occasionally.

[@MrTaxiRob]

@@stevenemert837 it's funny you mention those, apparently Sony and IBM developed ultra dense coatings for tape a dozen years after they discontinued them. Something like 148 gigabytes per square inch, totally insane.

[@Syncopator]

I'd be concerned that that first "passive" eraser by Sony might need to be kept away from your good tapes as sitting too close could cause erasure. I would have tested for that by rubbing a cassette around the outside of it to see if it would be affected. If it's that strong a magnet, you wouldn't want to get it too close to your good tapes...

[@churblefurbles]

Its probably magnetically shielded like a speaker.

[@LenweSaralonde]

I think that's probably more like a set of smaller magnets that are arranged in a line and stand close to the tape (that's why the device is quite thick to avoid tapes from being erased from the outside). This would also explain the "pulse" sound, the smaller magnets being smaller than the tape reels, they don't set the exact same polarity among the real, which results in this strange signal on the erased tape.

[@Jeroensgambling]

Your not supposed to store that obviously with your set of vintage casette and VHS tapes. But it works very well. Slide in slide out and gone. Both sides.

[@Drmcclung]

Don't worry too much about that. 1, they're magnetically shielded pretty well and 2, the permanent mags themselves are arranged 90 degrees apart from their poles so the field is strengthened but shortened

[@OscarInAsia]

I'm still trying to figure out how sitting too close to the Sony device could cause the 80's synth-pop band Erasure to form. 🤔😏

[@jconradh]

Excellent video! I wrote a comment, but you then addressed all my concerns in your last chapter. I use a profession eraser meant for 2" pro audio tape and I've used it successfully on 2" inch tape, regular cassettes and even on the metal back bezels for technologists who accidentally wore their watches into our 3T MRI room. The gears in an analog watch won't spin after the back watch bezel gets magnetized.

[@rocdocs]

I'm here to commend you on the quality of the title. Love the channel!

[@startedtech]

I guess my body chose a convenient day to wake up at 4am.

[@Windo0ows]

as a fellow eastern time i agree with this statement

[@rubenmejia942]

As a kid, I had Saturday morning cartoons. As an adult, I have Techmoan videos.

[@jimellis5604]

Same

[@revivedfears]

@@rubenmejia942 it just wouldn't be Saturday morning without techmoan!!

[@ostsan8598]

I guess my body chose a convenient day to still be awake at 4AM.

[@CharlesHepburn2]

I remember going to a music store in the early 90’s and special ordering some very expensive professional blank audio compact cassettes. They were TDK metal type IV tapes but they weighed about 4 times as heavy as a regular cassette and felt super premium. I remember cherishing those tapes so much that I only recorded on 1 of them. Of course I recorded some crazy heavy death metal music on it, so ironically the “cleanliness” of the tape didn’t matter. LOL. I do miss those tapes, wherever they are today.

[@darinb.3273]

My hearing now I can only distinguish between normal and CR02 and that's not SUPER noticeable difference. Really only by A B comparison. I use an EQ with the classic "V" configuration anyway the most noticeable thing is less hiss with CR02, however even with type 1 it is noticeable with the music is playing or during really soft portions. I'm not a metal head so my music has softer portions of audio. Older soft rock like the Eagles that had excellent dynamic range (softer and louder) portions of music. Particularly Hotel California where there was a tiny spot of almost total silence you could actually hear the singer take a breath in that spot.

[@R-R-R]

TDK MA-R or MA-XG. Extremely expensive nowadays because of the looks.

[@nadirjofas3140]

@@BloopTube That's more of a black metal thing.

[@CharlesHepburn2]

@@R-R-R they were dark forest green in color… when I google the two you recommended, I don’t recognize either because both are clear.

[@R-R-R]

@@CharlesHepburn2 The original MA-XG from the 80s were clear. They had a revision in the 90s. Those were black/dark grey with a green stripe and some golden lettering.

[@Dzeroed]

You blew my mind there mate! I've been watching for ages and wondered what kinds of music you were into but I must say, Hip-Hop? Nope, that just didn't enter my brain. Awesome 😎🤘

[@ggrahame09]

That video title is just perfection, bravo!

[@michaelschafferAT]

As a child (born in 1987) I never understood that it was so complicated. It's always interesting to see in your videos how it was and could have been. we just went there, bought a 5 or 10 pack of the second cheapest. At home we then recorded from the radio or copied individual songs from a CD. I also only had a Coca Cola Walkman. because it was probably synonymous no matter what kind of cassette it is. Greetings from Vienna

[@Jeroensgambling]

The music is stored in a magnetic way just as VHS tapes or floppy drives, hard drives with a platter for that matter. With strong enough magnets, you can "vibrate" the stored information off if it. Thats basicly what it does. Magnetic recording had it's best age by now. It's all digital with no loss of "quality" over time really.

[@jessihawkins9116]

1987 millennial 😆

[@MattBooth]

Another one from 1987 here.

[@vfletes1]

Younger ppl think that downloading from Napster was a thing 😂 we started the download Sean straight from the radio.. when the DJ wouldn't shut up and always ended up with an intro to every song 😂...

[@jessihawkins9116]

@@vfletes1 most younger people think radio is internet streaming 😆

[@astrotrance]

I had the Radio Shack bulk eraser in the 90s and used it often. It always seemed like three passes were necessary to completely clean a cassette. I appreciate the exploded view!

[@capnzilog]

I recall the original beige version and a later "high power" black version. Plugged into the wall and made a nice buzzing sound.

[@wrockage]

that was way more entertaining than i expected, and i do love your videos, sir. nice job. gotta say there was some horror there with the bulk tape eraser - i wanted you to move your sony player far away from it and after the first pass i was like TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF!!! lots of fun in this one. thanks for sharing!

[@randyschulze8690]

I worked in broadcasting back during the late 70s. We used variations of the first two models you demonstrated. We often used ones similar to the Radio Shack model you had with the handle, which could be used for just about any type of tape media, be it cassette, real to real, 8 track, cart, various size real to real video tape, and VHS Tape. You just had to remember to thoroughly move it over the who surface or the media. We were also trained to move the magnetic surface away from the media before turning it off, to avoid a pop sound being recorded on the tape, We also had a flat bed type, which you rubbed the cassette, real of tape, or whatever over the table. Working in IT we had a large, powerful flatbed type which we used to erase hard drives.

[@daviddavidson2357]

What you are hearing as a "pulsing noise" after running the tape through the BE-9H eraser isn't a pulsing noise. I worked on making these back in the day and what you are hearing is the sound of brushing. This brushing is created using minaturized spirits of recently deceased Mexican maids as they sweep the sound off the tape. We would set up a spirit trap while making the BE-9H and every time we caught the ghost of a Mexican maid we would magnetize the end of her broom and then funnel one into a BE-9H for a total of 9 housekeeping ghosts per unit. You must have taken good care of that unit as the ghosts usually leave after a decade or so though we *were* serious about chromium tapes, they really don't like cleaning those. Also I would strongly recommend that you *do not* put cassettes through the unit after midnight, this has resulted in a few 'accidents'. Oh, if you're wondering BE-9H stands for "BuEnos dias, 9 (the number of ghosts per unit) Housekeeping (the previous job of the ghosts before being integrated into the unit) congrats on being the 100th owner of a BE-9H unit, we only made another 20 before the agency forced us to shut down.

[@mialemon6186]

I'm telling my grandchildren this is the real reason we stopped using cassette tapes. 😂😂😂😂

[@Zeem4]

Superb. It reminds me of some of Peter Serafinowicz and Robert Popper's work.

[@mandowarrior123]

@@Zeem4 Darth Maul himself.

[@russellhltn1396]

While the BE-9H may be effective, I'd expect it to work about as well as the permanent magnet erase head - because that's what it is. Instead of demagnetizing the tape, it will leave it in a "magnetized all one way" state. That's why bulk erasers like the Radio Shack unit are preferred. Operated properly, it will demagnetize the tape and leave it in a neutral state. It operates on the same principle as the degaussing coils for color CRTs. The key is the slow removal of the device before switching off.

[@Ricktpt1]

Yep!

[@MoritzvonSchweinitz]

@@Ricktpt1 But why would "magnetized all one way" result in noise? Shouldn't that also be silence?

[@Ricktpt1]

@@MoritzvonSchweinitz Nope. Noise can have different phase and level characteristics just like signal can! We usually don't care as much about how it manifests, just that we can hear it! Techmoan nails it when he says permanent magnets suck when used in lieu of active erase heads. They ALSO can degrade the newly printed signal from cheap combined R/P sandwich heads, like those found in BOTL blasters and cassette decks.

[@tw11tube]

@@MoritzvonSchweinitz All magnetic particles magnetized in one way will result in noise because the particle density is not completely uniform. If there are more particles at a certain spot, "all in one way" is stronger than if there are slightly less particles. On the other hand, "every particle in random state" averages out to zero in any case.

[@tubbiele2]

Read the instructions previously, man! 😆 Very informative video, thank you

[@thedarkknight1971]

When I was 6 or 7 (I'm 51 now) and started creating my own 'Mix tapes', I bought all sorts of tapes from various manufacturers, but soon settled on the TDK 'D' series, but a few years later, I started getting into the 'SA' series and my ears delighted at the transformation in quality of sound (it was then I had moved on from just either recording the charts on my little 'ghetto blaster' (or linking one G.B. to another another portable radio/cassette player to do tape to tape) to my Dad's excellent full Technics stacked system (turntable, twin tape deck, Tuner, 'New Class A' amp - then later a CD deck) - Oh them were the days... Then TDK came out with the 'CDing' series and I stuck with them too.... I have to say TDK made some excellent recording media (I even have one of their solid metal chassis tapes somewhere in my box of old tapes in the loft - bloody heavy haha), then I moved onto Minidisc (had a few Sharp recording MD 'Walkmans' and a MD head unit in my cars too) and still then mainly stuck with TDK minidiscs..... Again, them were the days! 🤔😏 😎🇬🇧

[@Ojisan642]

During summer camp one year, I got to “work” at a student radio station and we used one of those noisy bulk tape eraser to wipe the carts that were used to record promos and other stuff. I can’t say I remember them working all that well and it was a fair bit louder than the radio shack one you have.

[@stdorn]

My dad worked at a radio station, I remember the cart eraser well. They used carts for all commercials and station id's until the 2010's when they automated and everything was recorded to hard drive. The cart eraser top was worn down from rubbing 100's of thousands of tapes over it.

[@silmarian]

In the 90s, I somehow had access to a bulk eraser. It worked great at fixing floppies with bad sectors and making them formattable. It was for video tapes, so it was a big platform with an electromagnet that sounded like angry bees when it was turned on.

[@jochenstacker7448]

I often recorded over tapes in the 80's/90's, never saw the need to specially erase them. That's what the erase head is for. 😁 Back then I still had good ears and I was very fussy about recording quality. The fact that the best result in this video was from the Sony rewinder with erase head just proves that point. I haven't had the need to record onto tape since about 2000 though. Before that I would record onto reel to reel whenever possible and cassettes were just junk toys to be played in the car due to their cheapness and crappy quality. Then I discovered recording audio onto video tape, which is stonking good quality, but hard to find one with manual recording level adjustments. I never looked further into that, because anything I ever had to record after 2000 got recorded straight onto PC or laptop. Unless you have a studio quality reel to reel setup or DAT, there is no reasonably priced consumer-grade machine (i.e. tape, VHS, open reel) that can come close to even a cheap PC with a good soundcard and editing software. And the convenience of editing and turning it into CD, WAV, FLAC and mp3 and more just seals the deal.

[@NatureOkie]

The problem with your 'decent,' lay in reproducibility, of everyone in your Audio Umbrella [nieces/nephews, friends, Aunts,] all being tech savvy enough to participate. So the experience can be recreated.

[@craigavonvideo]

Yes, I started using Hi-Fi videotape for audio back in 1985 and used it to archive hundreds of radio recordings over the following 15 years. Went on to use miniDisc a lot (and still believe that it was the best ever home audio recoding format) before as you say using PC's for audio today.

[@davidryan6616]

Great Work 🙂🇮🇪☘️ Excellent sound of both tapes in the end even without any Dolby NR.

[@markmarkofkane8167]

Never had a bulk eraser. I saw 12voltvids use one on a open reel tape. Using a bulk eraser properly works better. 😏 Not only a circular motion, but 'slowly backing the eraser away from the tape.' Both sides if necessary. (I noticed you said that at the end) And yes, the Radio Shack unit probably wasn't as good as a quality eraser.

[@jackamelar1455]

I have the Radio Shack eraser for some decades. Rarely used today, but would erase reel to reel, cassettes, and videotapes before rerecording back in the day. Did a great job when used as just described. I would recommend the Radio Shack one over the others. These days I use it more for demagnetizing metal tools.

[@russellhltn1396]

The bulk eraser was the industry standard "back in the day". However the Radio Shack, well, it's Radio Shack - functional but not the best example.

[@darinb.3273]

@@jackamelar1455 They had two different models one was for audio only (of course computer disks too) but primarily for audio reel to reel and cassette. The other was stronger and specific for video tape. I tried mine (audio only) on a video tape and only mono audio and approximately half the video image was wiped the cue track and lower portion of the recording was still present. I don't remember if I tried both sides of the video tape to see if it completely wiped the recording. The one I did try was only on the top of the video cassette the mono audio is recorded on the top side of the video tape so it was indeed gone.

[@brianwilliams9408]

I have both of the Radio Shack bulk erasers. The standard one couldn't erase metal tapes, but the other one did. It was much stronger than the other unit. I still use it now, but not nearly as much as I did back in the day. I only used it for my open reel tapes. Every now and again for a cassette. The cheaper model didn't really erase open reels completely. I would play it and every few seconds, a brief audio clip could be heard for a split second. Nothing major, so I was fine with that.

[@mitchelwb]

I have one of the beige Radio Shack bulk tape erasers, but never used it to erase tapes... instead, I used it to degauss old arcade monitors to realign the color filters. Worked pretty well for that.

[@stevehunter5858]

18:34 "It’s really quite hissy" - you still had the tape over the chrome tab so your player thinks this is a normal feric tape, hence the bias wouldn't have been correct.

[@a531016]

I have an interesting request! Would it be possible to exammine a recorded tape using the magnetic field viewer you showed in a previous video, then show it using the erase methods, and then show the re recorded tape? I'm curios as to what a "hiss" looks like verses a quiet erased tape? In addition, just a thought experiment here, isn't a noisy erased tape more "secure" than a quiet tape? If a tape with a recording on it is an ordered magnetic field, a noisy hiss of white noise should be a forced jumbling of the field? A fixed magnet pulling all the field one way has the potential to leave it all behind?

[@kathyjuneart]

I love your videos, long-time fan in NC, USA. TDK SA90 and Maxell XLII were my go-to for recording.

[@mannys9130]

Have you ever had an MRI? If so, you have been inside a magnetic field WAYYYYYYY more powerful than the one made by that RadioShack eraser. If you've held a neodymium super magnet, same concept. No danger at all holding the tape when erasing it, though I understand that it sounds like a damn garbage disposal and pencil sharpener mixed together. 😸😸😸 It's critical to move that thing around the tape though, and follow the instructions exactly. That's because the magnetic field lines have to be swept across and through allllllllll of the tape.

[@comput3rman77]

Perfectly safe. I preferred the heavy duty model (more powerful). The reason why they say don’t use them around pacemakers is because they use magnets to control them such as turn them off or on.

[@darinb.3273]

Yeah likely the one designed to blank video tape (Radio Shack), those are the only bulk erasers I'm familiar with.

[@liftsoffrance4470]

Except perhaps the powerful field from a MRI magnet is static whereas the much weaker field from the Bulk Eraser (Or any other degaussing coil for that matter) is alternating 50 times per second (Or 60 in the US, you know, 60 Hz mains, whatever...) but maybe he was thinking about something strange and possibly hazardous that would be inside of this tape eraser whilst in reality it's probably just an electromagnet that is directly connected to the power cord through a momentary switch.

[@darinb.3273]

@@liftsoffrance4470 It is an electro magnet rather powerful one as per the instructions it should only be powered on for a minute other wise it WILL OVERHEAT. Think about a continuous duty electric motor that can run day and night, day in and day out. I have one and it does pull some current which is turned into heat, thus the run time of a minute and off for 20 minutes (at least). I imagine commercial units are more powerful however deal with the heat generated much better and it is dissipated much faster. Who knows the may use a much higher frequency rather than mains voltage frequency maybe even a higher voltage were the coil(s) don't use as much current therefore less heat is generated and perhaps higher frequencies can also be sent with even less current. For me all that is just theory at this point.

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

I have built my own cassette tape eraser from old HDD magnets, because they are quite strong

[@JUANKERR2000]

You should not simply switch the eraser off whilst still in contact with the tape but slowly move it away before releasing the button. The idea is to take the tape through diminishing hysteresis cycles to a zero level of magnetisation, suddenly switching the field off can leave a high level of remanent magnetisation just as a permanent magnet erase head does.

[@Techmoan]

Keep watching till the end and you’ll hear me say this.

[@doohuh]

Techmoan leaves no stones unturned. Check the end of the video haha

[@JUANKERR2000]

@@Techmoan I'm afraid that my impatience got the better of me; I got bored and jumped in too early, sorry.

[@piers2225]

This has gotta be one of the best video titles I've ever seen

[@EmeraldLavigne]

Well, makes sense. Not sure what else I expected from this. It all does exactly what it says on the tin. And yet it was a highly enjoyable watch, nonetheless. As per usual, honestly. Thanks as always, Matt!

[@mattrobinson973]

I wonder if we’ll see a “reverse techmoan effect” with everyone putting cassettes for sale on eBay and the price dropping

[@8bitwiz_]

I know I have half a dozen or so sealed tapes still, and a few VHS too... can't say I didn't think of that!

[@bluerizlagirl]

Erasing a tape always requires subjecting it to a changing magnetic field; either because the tape is moving through the field due to a fixed permanent magnet, or because the field is coming from an AC-energised electromagnet and the lines of flux are changing direction. (By the law of conservation of energy, you need to do some work to re-align an existing magnetic field. The resistance felt when pushing a cassette through the Sony device is actually coming from the individual molecules of ferric oxide having their magnetism re-aligned! Similarly, the real power consumption of an electromagnetic eraser increases a bit when erasing a tape ..... Good luck setting up an experiment to measure it, though .....) The Radio Shack AC-powered device is like a smaller version of the Weircliffe machines used by the BBC. You have to move the tape around in the magnetic field, because the tape will only be erased where it meets the lines of flux; which are concentrated near the pole pieces. For the best results, you need to withdraw the tape from the field before switching it off; otherwise you can get a sort of pulsing effect, which is caused by the tape taking an impression of the last state of the field. (Similar to what was heard with the Sony permanent magnet device device, and for much the same reason). Ideally, the last state should be *no* field! The sound it makes is just the steel laminations in the core rattling in time with the mains waveform. It's scary but not harmful.

[@edgarwalk5637]

I wonder if you could make your own eraser by arranging some 2cm flat disk neodynium magnets? Each row can switch poles.

[@stevenmacdonald9619]

Love how you kindly and respectfully endorsed the Radio Shack electromagnetic eraser at the end, even though you didn't like it, only to then bust it apart 🤣🤣🤣 You could make one hell of a scalextric car with the bits you had left. One where you place cassettes to be erased under the track whilst you race, and by the finish, they are all cleared.

[@Radiocruncher]

Another great video as always. I have a pass through magnet eraser and it just doesn’t work. I bought a box of used tapes and wanted to erase them so ended up buying a massive bulk eraser which takes 2 of us to lift. That works! Video to come soon. Cheers Graham

[@RyanAumiller]

FYI, this particular eraser (the radio shack one) also makes a GREAT supplementary degaussing coil on CRTs to fix color purity issues. and you can run it longer than a minute, just keep your eye on the bottom center, the plastic will start to deform once it's too warm. also, to effectively wipe a tape with it, you turn it on before the tape is touching the unit then pull it off and let go of the switch after you've pulled away. it's a 2 hand operation.

[@stevebennett9750]

indeed. Also do both sides of the tape with the RS bulk eraser. I use their stronger one that can do Metal tapes and SVHS tapes. Need to hold the tape in one hand, and slowly pass the eraser over it and in a circular motion, and do the front and back side to penetrance though the plastic housing better.

[@RyanAumiller]

​yessir! and rolling up all the tape onto one roller makes it much more effective. just because you can use it without a cassette being fully "rewound" doesn't mean you should. for optimal results treat every tape like a single reel, start from center, move outward in a circular fashion, flip, repeat and don't kill the power on the eraser until after the tape has been removed from its Gauss field. it would make a pretty cool short video to illustrate the size and strength of this bulk tape eraser's Gauss field with a CRT TV/monitor... (hint hint) for this particular experiment I always preferred how a shadow mask SVGA monitor with round dots instead of square pixels showed off the size/shape of the gauss field... but also get the biggest one you can find. you can also put it on a variac at half voltage for most audio tapes, it really only needs all the pixies for videotapes/multitrack reels 1" or thicker as that's more what it was designed for. This thing did a great job cleaning 2" 24track reels but you absolutely couldn't do more than one at a time without smelling it and makin the bottom soft & sticky. this thing really brings back memories for me. the box on the thumbnail for the video caught my eye immediately.

[@Jewellerybybarrie]

Great video, Ive been getting back into tape and Ive always had reel to reel. Here in Spain the easiest way to get cassettes is from the charity shops as most people then throw them out. Ive asked our local one to keep any they get and at first you get a real weird look and then they are happy to keep them for me. In the early 90's I worked in video duplication and we had a continuous machine built over a conveyor to erase video cassettes. This had massive capacitors and we painted a line around the machine as it would stop mechanical watches if you got too close..

[@rootbrian4815]

I usually use neodymium magnets from hard disks to erase tapes by placing the magnet on each side. It worked like a charm. As for the bulk electronic tape eraser, experimenting on CRT televisions would be quite intriguing (especially monochrome sets).

[@mochi_mochi_chann3932]

Very nice channel.... I watch it all the time..... you are like one of my coleague in field to say.

[@compu85]

I use one of the Radio Shack tape erasers on floppy disks - works well when moving disks between different types of machines. As you found, it's best to move the eraser around the tape to really wipe everything off. The metal shutter on a 3.5" disk makes quite the racket while it's being erased!

[@dieseldragon6756]

I must admit: When I saw that RadioShack eraser - And the 5,25" floppy on the box - I thought the *last* thing a computer disk would need is to get anywhere near something like that! I assume that after each erasure you have to fully/low-level format each disk (Which takes ages!) to reinstate the data tracks? 💾😇 That said, it's good to hear/be reminded that (some) floppies are soft-sectored so they can still be (re)used after a magnetic field erasure. I'd certainly not recommend using one of those on hard-sectored media though (I'm thinking Ultrium) not unless you *really* needed to render the media forever unusable and irrecoverable under that format! 😳☢

[@f3liscatus]

Back in the day I used an old magnet from a bass speaker, one of those things that weighs like a tonne or something, to fast erase my cassettes and floppy disks. It didn't always work perfectly, but good enough for me when I was a kid. ;-)

[@followthetrawler]

Been watching your channel for years - never had you down as a Hip Hop fan! This was an interesting watch. I remember similar devices to the Radio Shack from the 70's - I seem to remember you had to slowly remove the magnet with the power on - they never really worked. The best eraser was an old, huge permanent magnet - probably what is inside that Sony, which seems to be incredibly effective.

[@sonyericssoner]

One of the best videos you made.

[@dustinhipskind7665]

Thank you for the snippet at the end. Degaussers are not to be feared (unless you have a pacemaker). If wearing metal rings, they can get warm or hot from use.

[@YensR]

Also, regarding the sound: The laminated iron of the electromagnet starts vibrating due to the grid frequency running through it. I have to say I was surprised at how loud it is, but it's generally normal. I assume that maybe the press-fit between the magnet and the plastic wasn't perfect and it has a bit of slack, so the vibrating magnet is "banging" into the housing additionally.

[@dustinhipskind7665]

@@YensR there's a fair chance that the 50hz cycle rate matched the resonance frequency of some part of the device or cassette.

[@sivalley]

The buzzing and vibration is from the bulk eraser attracting the steel screws in the case, so no it's not going to hurt you. It's just a giant mains electromagnet similar to a degaussing coil. Likewise the drag feel on the Sony magnet eraser is trying to keep you from shoving the screws through.

[@Klau5]

The bulk tape eraser with the big electro magnet is very similar to the same thing used for watch repair if a mechanical watch has been magnetized. I instantly recognized that buzzing being similar to the same one I used for repairing some of my watches.

[@bossveendam]

Great review, as always. Love this slow-tv :) And it's incredible to hear how clear these tapes can sound! Too bad your used sony recorder isn't available anywhere anymore or you pay a fortune ;)

[@sird2333]

Oh, I’ve always reused tapes! Back in the 90s I jerry-rigged a timer record system to get the first hour of Rush. Would rewind, listen, and use the other side. Every day for years! Same tape, TDK 120 minute.

[@kins749]

The bulk tape eraser is similar to a degaussing wand used to remove magnetic distortion from a CRT. Or, you can use a soldering gun pointed at it which has similar results.

[@aaronbrandenburg2441]

Also a note with soldering gun this also works for demagnetizing tools in some scenarios as well. Have done this at least a few times over the years! As well as had a few parts that accidentally or just overtime became magnetized that shouldn't have and had caused problems with mechanisms sometimes even when the thing was in use and not normally exposed to magnetic fields except it was. One time it was something that was mounted on on the wall and I was scratch my head how it got magnetized! It was sort of control system but perhaps something with thermostat or otherwise it was something really odd that never seen before that I don't remember what it was but it was definitely old school but still rather interesting to say the least! At least I think it was old school I'm not even sure when it was installed and for what purpose it was something Precision they left for mechanical I can tell you that! That that slight magnetism was enough to upset the system that it malfunctioned! Because of literally stickiness from magnetism was enough. Also soon after that built a demagnetizer from a e and i core Transformer or was it either the coil from a air pump for a fish tank or a AC type clever type solenoid perhaps too long ago to remember but do remember building it it might have actually been three different times that built one for different reasons as well. Also I do remember building one using modified shaded pole motor since it happened around opening it worked perfectly for this! Actually use the original or at least part of the original housing from the device before the enclosure after modification for the housing for the demagnetizer. Also I have heard of using a cassette demagnetizer before doing recordings even for a cleaner recording but I'm not sure if this is just hearsay! I've been told this for a few audio texts in the past many many years ago! Also I have used the Boca Racers myself a few times I do believe it was the Radio Shack one if I'm not mistaken we had one at the church. I did one of those work experience things through school doing AV stuff at a place in town when I was in high school! And one of my things I did maybe not quite daily but was Boca racing various media types! Oh and believe me I've seen some strange media there that they didn't even know what it was that's why I asked if they could bulk erase. To this day I don't know what some of those media types were but yeah Oddball for sure even they didn't even know what it was no clue at all. Yeah I know there's some obscure media using magnetic tape out there but that takes the cake! Also I was running and tapes through and one time all the sudden I heard a clunk and realized one of the tapes didn't pass through on the conveyor belt on this commercial scale bulk racer I was running thare. And I called one of the guys over and they just chuckle a bit and said did you realize the bulk eraser was set on high when you turned it on me with the weirdest look on my face said no! They said last time we had to race a media that required that much of a magnetic field to a race properly and evidently we forgot to turn it back to the normal setting! They said every once while that's happened but not very common it sucks the tape into the machine! Had a good laugh for that one for sure not something you expect tells you about the level of magnetic field involved in a commercial ball tape eraser now doesn't it! I'm sure people have heard the phrase would suck the feelings right out of your mouth. Wonder if you could have a strong enough electromagnet even on DC if it would actually erase something completely I'm not talking MRI scale magnet but if you could even just have a very very strong permanent magnet perhaps rotating on a current balance arm if this would work effectively just out of curiosity I had that idea years ago back in the Magnetic Tape Hay Day. Also of note you can actually get new cassettes still every once while I'll see them in a store here in the United States I don't remember the price I think I was just so shocked to see them what's the main thing so obviously there's still being used here and there. No clue as to how much they are unfortunately I think last time I saw them may have been somewhere between 6 and 10 dollars possibly at least when I noticed the price! I'm quite sure these tapes are not very well made but I have no clue if this is a case but they are available vacation and a few places even retail seriously which I thought was so strange but I'm sure there's a few people out there that still use them otherwise probably would not be available if I'm not mistaken even would see them at Walmart and at least once at a grocery store somewhere or another type of retail outlet with groceries

[@MiklosKoncsek]

shucks you beat me to it :)

[@jorgepais2876]

I have one degaussing wand for CRTs and I was exactly right now wondering if I could bulk erase some tapes with it to have better recordings.

[@darinb.3273]

@@jorgepais2876 It really won't all bulk erasing really does is erase the entire tape, so cross talk is completely eliminated if the tape is used in different equipment heads machine to machine could be off enough that old recordings could still be heard. You machine won't record any better than it already does just recording directly over a previously recorded tape. And of course if the bulk eraser isn't used properly it could potentially cause a mildly magnetized playback head (three head decks specifically) two head machines technically get demagnatized every time it is put into record. The three head machines never have the recording BIAS on the playback head. In other words three head cassette decks have a dedicated recording head and a dedicated playback head therefore the playback head never has the recording BIAS on it, so it is subject to getting a residual magnetic field the would cause a loss of playback quality typically a loss of the higher frequencies in the music and partial tape erasure if the residual magnetism is really high. I remember reading on tapeheads or some other source that a user experienced a popping like sound, after lots of investigation he tracked it too a spot on the pinch roller that was strong enough to disrupt his recording on the tape he was playing (fine the 1st play but the next time he heard the tapping/ popping sound the next time he played it.

[@darinb.3273]

@@MiklosKoncsek Snooze you loose 🤭🤪😜. Just being silly LOL.

[@TheYear-dm9op]

If I just had all that erasing and recording knowledge you put out in your videos back in the day.

[@erebostd]

This video would have been very useful 40 years ago. Loved to watch it today 😁👍

[@andronian]

Hi Mat. Love your content. This is a great video and it reminds me of when I worked in a electronics workshop in Dumfries. We worked with old CRT monitors and we had to run a degaussing coil over the screens to centralise the magnetic field on the CRT. As it’s basically an electromagnet it could erase tapes much like your radio shack unit on this video. It was great as we had a lad in the workshop who had an awful taste of music and he would often bring in mix tapes which we all hated but would insist on playing them. The older technicians would often take the tape out and give it a blast with the degaussing coil to save on the earache his music would cause. As much as I love Spotify these days there is a wee bit of magic lost in not recording stuff from the radio.

[@me-EnesYilmazer]

✉️⚡.....

[@Is_this_4_reelOU812]

Yes, we had a TV tube (valve) degausser that we used for more than TV tubes. Besides cassettes, 8-track, and reel to reel, we would use it on VCR tapes. I wonder what a "modern" computer HDD permanent magnet passing it over a cassette would do.

[@jblyon2]

We had a bulk eraser in the AV dept I worked at in school. It was the size of a VHS cassette and could do several VHS cassettes stacked on top of each other at a time. I believe 3 was the limit, and it had the number of seconds needed depending on how many you were erasing at once. All were single digit times. There was also a time limit printed along with the needed cool down time. It made one hell of a racket and got hot quite quickly, but it worked very well, and you really only needed half the time stated to fully erase a tape. I don't remember the wattage, but it was north of 1000.

[@ocker2000]

Enjoyed this video. I have a lot of SA90's and a few MA-R 90's in my collection. After digitizing I could get one of those erasers and sell them now that cassettes are getting back in fashion with the younger generation... but nostalgia is slowing me down...

[@sejrec56]

Again quite knowledgeable info. Thanks

[@zarboaudioprojects1430]

I used that same Radio Shack bulk tape eraser 30 years ago to erase and reuse sermon tapes at church. You need to move the eraser in circles then move it away from it with larger circles... kind of like degaussing a CRT television back in the day. It works fine if you do it right. But they weren't kidding about the duty cycle, I ended up frying mine eventually. But that Sony non-electric one is pretty slick! Love your videos!

[@daw7563]

I preferred the Sony HF-ES tapes back in the day. They could take really pretty high record levels (for a standard tape) without distortion thus good signal to noise ratio when listening.

[@MrMoogle]

Agreed. I used to get in arguments with friends about this but, at least with my deck bias at the time and for the price, I absolutely got the best sounding results from Sony HF-ES. I would always worry I was pushing them too hard but nope, haha. You could really hide the hiss with how much input those things could handle. Such great tapes!

[@GothGfGG]

I’m glad your channel exists, it must be anxiety fuel as a content creator to worry about being content ID’d

[@fredyellowsnow7492]

Major thing to consider is how well the old tapes were stored and what the original quality was. I've come across several old tapes that were shedding coatings, which makes a right mess of your equipment.

[@bobriemersma]

Thanks for the laughs. I remember back in the day when we'd sometimes bulk-erase mainframe open-reel tapes. These were pretty good size and 1/2" wide tape on them so they weighed enough so inertia made the process feel less violent. Hilarious how you approached erasing cassettes like you were handling radioactive snakes though!

[@darinb.3273]

INDEED that was comical his reaction to the vibration of the tape inside the cassette shell that's what made the LOUD buzzing sound he reacted too.

[@micksam7]

The radio shack eraser works similar to a mains powered Demagnetizer - it swaps polarity with every cycle. The low duty cycle is weird but probably because it's made cheaply. Despite all that, it should work the best out of all of them with reducing noise if used properly.

[@davidmcinnes317]

I made one of these to demag screwdrivers and other tools.Plenty of how to videos on YT.Effective but scary.

[@compzac]

From what ive seen with the degaussing coils for CRT TVs, they basically looked like a ring with a switch on the side, they get hot when your using them, probably down to running 120 volts through the thing at a decent amount of power, more than likely more power than the electromagnet is meant to take for sustained use, there didnt appear to be any sort of thermal cut off inside the thing so if it gets too hot it just catches fire, thats likely the reason for the low use times.

[@davidmcinnes317]

@@compzac Where I live its 240v (UK)and I took the coil pack from an old microwave so it was capable of running for a while.As i say,I only used it as a demagnetiser as CD had already become the format of use but would do the same to a tape.Thanks for the reply.

[@RyanAumiller]

@@compzac the bottom of the housing becomes a semi-solid non Newtonian fluid like substance way before it'll catch fire. No worries there. I used to wipe 2" 24track with one of these. throw the reel on an old turntable, lowest speed, start in the middle, slowly work my way out, flip it and repeat. always pull the magnet away before switching on/off. worked like a charm, bottom got soft and sticky if I did the whole thing without havin a smoke between sides

[@TEDodd]

@@RyanAumiller heat softening the plastic. But if you go too long the windings in the magnet can melt, possibly even short and trip a breaker. Much like a transformer.

[@boowiebear]

Very interesting tech to address these issues. I don’t miss cassettes at all!

[@mrfoodarama]

This brings back such memories! I owned that exact radio shack bulk eraser, about 30 years ago. Where has the time gone!

[@Steve-GM0HUU]

It had been erased 😂.

[@christopherperry8693]

I remember buying wholesale with my Grandad (wholesale min 100 units) we were paying 22p each for chrome and 8p for basic "Low Noise". Those were the days LOL 🙂

[@vqey2]

Used to be able to by bulk nasty blank tapes in exchange and mart

[@kaitlyn__L]

Hell yeah!

[@egbront1506]

I remember the very cheap bulk tapes as well. Got a few from Tandy. Once. Everything about them was dreadful - cheap construction, hiss for days and even the cases were made from very thin brittle plastic which cracked if you so much as looked at them. Nothing was quite as bad as the ultra thin LN tapes used in "double album" tapes, such as the Beatles' Red and Blue albums to squeeze four sides of music onto one tape. There wasn't a cassette player around that didn't enjoy chewing those up.

[@vqey2]

@@egbront1506 very true. C120 had a bad rep.

[@DGH100]

Just a little feedback from someone who used tape erasers, or degaussers... The reason that you are having hiss is because the tape needs to leave the magnetic field slowly - in other words, keep the degausser switched on as you increase the distance between the device and the tape. I would generally move the degausser and tape until they were at arms length before powering down. This would ensure that the metal particles are not shocked into the random position that would contribute to this hiss. I found that this method would render used cassettes suitable for broadcast use. I hope that this helps!

[@McShave]

It even says that in the RS bulk eraser instructions he held up to the camera. Use for 10 seconds over the tape then (without turning off) slowly pull back untill 3 feet away. This was a very frustrating video to watch as he refused to read the instructions properly and used it all wrong.

[@Ncfc-ek8il]

That was a great video.Many thanks ! That Sony deck looks and sounds very good.I assume it wouldn't be available now but where did you get it,ebay etc,2nd hand or have you had it from new? I'll bet it's good for voice recordings.I'am stuck with my little Sony portable which is still available now and is excellent for what it costs.

[@Greg41982]

I know this is an old video, but the title is next level.

[@shanedigby]

Those TDK D series tapes are so classic. Went through a few of them back in the day. Good tapes! . I also remember those Teac black and gold cassettes. Can't remember the model number though.

[@lv_woodturner3899]

I have a Teac bulk tape eraser, the equivalent of the Tandy one in the video purchased in the mid 80's. It works well. As Techmoan said at the end, move around the tape and withdraw slowly to prevent artifacts from the switching electro-magnet. The buzz is normal, it is a strong magnet changing poles at 60 Hz in the US, 50 Hz in the UK and attracting or repelling the metal coating on the tape. Dave.

[@8bitwiz_]

It also attracts and repels the screws and other metal bits in the cassette itself, which is where all the buzzing comes from.

[@conceptcheck]

In the mid-90’s I worked at a small radio station in which we used a flat, stationary bulk eraser for our tape carts and reels. Ah, memories.

[@alanmusicman3385]

The tape eraser I used to have (made by "Philips" I think) said that you had to place the tape on the eraser and then slowly move the tape away from it in a circular motion. The idea was to introduce some kind of randomness into the erasing because any slightly larger particles on the recording surface would be more affected than smaller ones as the eraser started to get further away and be pulled in a different direction than before. We sometimes got a little of the regular pulsing you got - but not very often so maybe it worked!

[@CommodoreFan64]

I've had one of the Radio Shack bulk tape erasers for decades, except mine is in a black case with a bigger stronger magnet that lets you erase VHS tapes, and I even use it for old failing hard drives before throwing them in the e-waste bin at my local recycle just to be safe, and if you do it right, then it works just fine.

[@usvalve]

As always, both interesting and comprehensive! i would keep the big, powerful erasers - permanent magnet or electromagnetic - well away from any wanted recordings to avoid "fading" them. It would be interesting to know what their safe distance is.

[@dieseldragon6756]

I'm not an expert, but those passive/fixed magnet erasers were always damn bulky for the size you might ~think~ they'd need to be, so a bit of that bulk was probably safety space and/or shielding. 🧲 My parents church of the time used to record every service onto cassette and used a passive eraser to clear old tapes for reuse. It was stored in a drawer next to the previous months services, and I never heard anybody complain about damage to recordings. ⛪ As for the active (electromagnet) erasers: Provided they're AC driven it's unlikely a strong field would persist after current has been removed, but if one had been connected to a DC supply the iron core would be magnetised at about 1/3-1/2 the strength of a passive magnet of comparable size, voltage dependant. ⚡ The simple rule of thumb would be to store them at least 50cm (18") away from any magnetic media and *don't* do what my plonker of a mate once did: Leave a bass driver with a *huge* magnet sat right on the corner of his laptop where the hard disk was located! 🧲💾🤣

[@stickyfox]

Also a vital piece of equipment if you want to use HD floppies on a DD drive. During formatting the erase head in a DD floppy drive cannot be positioned over all of the previously-written HD tracks, so some tracks never fully erase and you get lots of errors. Degaussing the entire disc before formatting makes them much more reliable. I still have my RS tape eraser for all my vintage computer and synth gear.

[@oliverlison]

really nice fade-outs in the end. Very good recordings too.

[@olik136]

I probably went through the entire 90s and early 00s on 2 cassettes that I used to record stuff to over and over. And I really never noticed the quality getting worse or hearing bits from older recordings through.

[@MusicOnCassetteTape]

i remember trying to record in one area of tape over 10 times and then compared it to unused area, no difference at all. i am very sure you can do this for years and years without nocting anything and also it donst really matter unless you use high end headphones/speakers

[@norcal715]

Glad you added the addendum. That is exactly what I was going to say. Rotate the eraser over the tape and gradually remove it. It will be in "like new" condition.

[@rusack7174]

Worked for Radio Shack in the early 80's and this was a bit of a throwback for me. Ah the memories! Didn't sell a lot of the Bulk Tape Erasers as they were a rather low demand item. I'm sure most just recorded over their old material.

[@danielleohallisey4218]

You’ve given me an idea for that time machine I found in my garage!