Reel-To-Reel Bad Deal (80s "Pro" Tapes vs. 70s Home Tapes)

These tapes look good to the eye and seem like a good value, but unfortunately many of them are suffering from "sticky shed" syndrome. We'd never bought used open reel tapes until this collection of 16 reels from eBay. I assumed something newer than my existing stock of Scotch/Realistic tapes from the 1960s and 1970s would be more reliable. I was wrong. It's odd that my consumer-level tapes, some of which are 60 years old, seem to be longer lasting than this lot of 16 "professional" reel to reel tapes from the 1980s. Although most of the tapes were deteriorated and not usable, the clear plastic reels are in good shape (except for the one I baked too long in the oven!) and price per tape was under $3. What makes these tapes stand out from the usual offerings online?
(1) Writing indicates professional use ("Tails" "dbx" "Duplicating master").
(2) Dates were new- (1986 to 1990) - consumers would have converted to cassette by that time.
As it turns out, these were probably recorded by someone to make tapes for a company (Huthwaite) that appears to have been in the business of sales training classes. Some of the quotes on there are hilarious, like being unable to justify the HUGE expense of "installing an e-mail system" because the employees are used to voice mail. We have not listened to all of them yet, but I have included some samples throughout this video. You can tell many of them are severely degraded, but a few sound fine, especially the (maybe Maxell) tape that shows no signs of problems.
0:00 Intro
0:30 Audio Sample 1
0:46 My Tape Collection
2:12 Audio Sample 2
2:47 Decoding the labels
4:47 Problems with the tapes
5:50 Baking Tape in the Oven!
6:30 Conclusion
6:50 More Audio Samples
Thanks for watching this quick video about our experience buying reel to reel tapes! If you'd like to see more vintage technology videos, check out this playlist:
• Old Technology
#VintageTechnology
#ReelToReel

[@johnsampson1096]

I bought my first tape recorder in 1965! It was a Realistic tube, Mono only. The worst squealing tape syndrome experienced was on the Concert Radio Shack brand made from the mid seventies. It was to be expected, as it was labeled as low budget tape, around 2 bucks for 1800" The tapes from the 60s are still playable in 2024! I have a box of Shamrock tapes unopened, I'll give them a shot.........

[@jonesvox1]

I’m an independent voice-over talent and producer. Right up until 2000 or so, all of my contracted production was requested to be on 1/4” tape (half-track, Tails Out) I still own the Otari MX-50 machine I used back then. Most small radio stations continued to use tape into the early 2000’s

[@josemiranda1241]

The black ones shedding are mostly Ampex. Some of the problem is storage in an uncontrolled environment. I just burn to a short circuit my Akai R2R, fast forwarding a reel! Upon contacting the seller (I know what the problem was! Sound Engineer here with 51 years of experience), he accepted that the tapes were in his warehouse for years taking HEAT! New sealed!

[@andrewclack2720]

Late payment penalties are convenient, if you like getting payments late. Love the old audio. Another great video.

[@ACBMemphis]

Thank you! Good to hear from you and I appreciate the kind words!

[@jasonvene]

"Baking" tapes is a bad name for a valid process. Use a food dehydrator. The issue is water vapor in the air incorporating itself into the glue. Dry the tape for a few hours in a food dehydrator (2 hours typical, 6 to 8 hours for really bad tapes). This was typical of Ampex mastering tape. 3M (Scotch) had superior glue. I've had 3M tape over 50 years old that plays like it was new. Nearly all Ampex (and Agfa) would turn sticky after 5 to 10 years in storage, especially in more humid climates.

[@anno250]

I'm sitting here pondering sticky shed syndrome with some of my tapes while using a reel to reel identical to whats been used here.

[@IllyaLeonovMorganFreepony]

I unspool tape to discard every day. The best way to do it is to set up some sort of spindle next to a shop-vac. Turn on the vac and toss the end of the tape in. It will unreel a tape way faster than a tape machine can even rewind one. And the canister will hold about two 3600 foot tapes before you have to empty it

[@randytate]

As others have said, the faulty tapes were likely AMPEX 456. This is a very common problem. This issue can be temporarily corrected by baking the tapes in a cheap food dehydrator for 6-8 hours at 122°F/50°C to 133°F/54°C. The thermostat on the food dehydrator will be wrong, so use a thermometer. This would have made the tapes work well enough to digitize them. Eventually, binder hydrolysis will reclaim the tapes, so they should be baked, then transferred. I've done this myself several times using a dehydrator that was only $38.

[@ScottGrammer]

Any back-coated tape made before about 2010 is going to suffer from "sticky-shed" syndrome. The black back-coating is porous to air, and it allows humidity to get to the binder, causing binder hydrolysis. This results in the binder expanding and bursting through the oxide coating, which is what causes sticky-shed. Baking can temporarily treat this, but it's not a permanent cure. Some tapes suffer so much damage that they cannot be treated, and the audio is forever lost.

[@root.moscow]

Спасибо!

[@sonicboompole2774]

I love your unspooling technique!

[@ACBMemphis]

Thanks! It was inspired by a real life incident... Once while driving late at night, I noticed long streams of toilet paper floating in the air behind a car in front of me. I pulled up beside the car, and there was a toilet paper roll on his antenna unspooling in the wind as he drove along. Not sure why it was happening. When I looked over at the driver and made eye contact, he flipped the bird at me and then immediately sped off..???

[@Musicradio77Network]

There are ways to get reel tapes, get a refill of tape pancakes or a 10.5 in. reel tapes for refills as well as blank 8-track tapes that no one is using it anymore to refill your reel tapes and save the cartridge for pre-recorded tapes that had the rollers turned to goo and never pried out. Or get a new one by RTM, ATR and others. They still make new reel-to-reel tapes.

[@christopherjohn8521]

I never liked to record on used tapes my self. The main reason was that there was ghosting from the previous recording and there was a certain metal oxide one made in the 70's and 80's that wore out 2 sets of playback heads. Of course back then blank tapes were more affordable. I tried BASF tapes but they costed twice as much and were less abrasive. Those I believe held up the best for me. Can't imagine what they would sell for now a days.

[@georgeprice4212]

An arm, leg, first born child and a Lasagna dinner? 😂

[@wrenchposting9097]

I just got burned by Sony PR-150 from 1969, recorded once but in perfect condition, it screeches horribly and leaves iron oxide all over the heads and rollers.

[@ACBMemphis]

Apparently Maxell does pretty good... Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@billjohnson3858]

The tapes that snap are probably acetate, and the ones that don't are mylar (polyester).

[@bones007able]

I read a certain car wax wiped on the tape will prevent sticky shed ...

[@bobjerome5390]

hi if you have a oven that will not go low leave the door open a small bit so it's about 55c i use a gas oven and i fill it up with 2 inch master tapes tap do take in the heat 4 hours at a time after this i let them cool down for 8 hours put one on my soundcraft 760 find they are ok there's no need to over bake them i have baked 100's of tapes in the past

[@ACBMemphis]

Thanks for this info! Will definitely try a lower temp and longer process next time..

[@bobsbits5357]

hi just gpne over to 1/8 tape that is used in cassette tapes there is still alot about still tapeline would sell me the pancakes still i milled done some reels the were coming apart glue was going in them got to be the right kind of spools to pimp up i got some one to cut out the new 5mm new nubs and bolt them with M2 bolts bad heads on my M80 bad wear put on 1/8 heads and made some parts to take the tape on the deck

[@andrewclack2720]

Also, nothing, and I mean nothing justifies the enormous cost of email. It is a good thing that never caught on. Cost prohibitive frivolity!

[@andrewclack2720]

And finally, I should mention that this is my third comment in the history of KZbin comments made by me. A lot of adjectives to describe this third thing in history, but still significant. And the first and second are right below and/or above this one.

[@ACBMemphis]

I'm kind of glad it's so expensive, just imagine all the junk messages we'd receive otherwise!

[@jonasgustafsson9766]

Tails out prevents pre-echoes (Magnetic bleeding) on the tapes.

[@sidecarcn]

7.5 is not high speed. The bad tapes will be 3M and AMPEX. 3M and AMPEX tape from the late 70s, 80s and 90s was crap. I have lots of BASF, AGFA and ORWO (ORWO was made in the German Democratic Repuiblic). None of them have sticky shed syndrome. Also I never understood why the Americans use NAB hubs. With AEG reels you can get way more tape and because there is not metal or plastic reels. the tape boxes are lighter.