It was my understanding that, because print-through is caused by a far weaker "magnet" than a record head, it does not permeate the magnetic layer of neighbouring layers completely.  This results in "outward propagation" on A-wind tape because any print-through on the face of the magnetic surface plays at a higher level than any that would be underneath.

I believe the skimming technique Studer experimented with took advantage of this shallowness, and that winding and re-winding can achieve a similar effect due to the increased action of tiny residual magnetism at high wind speeds.  There's been comments on this list about simulating the skimming technique using a mildly magnetised strip of tape for winding the recorded tape over!

Many thanks for the stimulating discussion.

Nigel

-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ellis Burman
Sent: Friday, 13 March 2015 2:23 p.m.
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Tape tails out

That is the part I don't understand.  Why would it propagate outwards more easily than inwards?  It's the same distance either way.

We just restored "My Fair Lady" about a year ago from the original master 6-track mag.  It did have print through throughout, though I think we were able to fix a lot of it.  I'll have to check out the section Michael mentioned.

Ellis