You may be experiencing head clogs with material from the tape embedded in a
head gap. When severe, there is no solution for this other than to replace
the head or the drive.
An experienced technician may be able to access the head and carefully swab
the gaps with a swab dipped in ethyl alcohol, but there is also a risk of
permanently damaging the head when this is done.
This is not a firm diagnosis - just a possibility, but such clogs are not
uncommon. They can occur during normal use or when a tape has been run back
and forth many times over the same area, causing debris to pile up at each
end, and then clogging the head when the usage area is extended.
Jerry
Media Sciences, Inc.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brian Carpenter
> Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 3:17 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] DAT glitches
>
> Recently I was reviewing some WAV files that I created from DAT and
> noticed
> a handful of glitches here and there that were clearly digital in origin,
> rather than from the original analog tapes that had been transferred to
> DAT.
> After doing a retake or two, I discovered that some glitches remained,
> occurring in the same places on both the old and new WAV file, while
> others
> were no longer there in the new one. So, since these errors didn't appear
> random, it seemed to me they must be caused by physical blemishes on
> particular spots on the tapes, rather than by a dirty head on the machine
> (a
> Tascam DA-20 MKII). But after having made a few hundred hours of WAVs from
> DATs, the glitch problem had only recently started showing up. The newer
> the
> files, the more common the glitches. Anyway, long story short, I purchased
> a
> DAT cleaning cassette just in case, ran it in the machine one time,
> following the instructions exactly, and then actually had more glitches
> showing up, even on tapes that had zero errors when I first did them. I
> did
> a second cleaning run, found fewer glitches afterwards, but still more
> than
> originally. Since running the cleaning cassette more than 2 or 3 times in
> a
> short period is a bad idea, I'm told, does anyone have any suggestons on
> how
> to address this kind of problem? Any input would be very helpful. Thanks
> very much.
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------
> Brian Carpenter
> Mellon Digital Audio Technician
>
> American Philosophical Society
> 105 South Fifth Street
> Philadelphia, PA 19106-3386
> (215) 440-3418
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