Hi, Dan,
It is interesting that the squeal starts at the same place.
For some of these squealing cassette tapes, I've had success playing
them in the fridge a little bit above freezing.
The squeal is caused by stick-slip and is frequency modulation of the
signal and no filter can effectively remove it as the actual audio is
warbling.
One of the articles in my blog that I gave you a link to should have
been a source for D5. Are they no longer able to supply it? I didn't
think it was that expensive.
As Lou pointed out, over-wide tape can be the cause of the stick-slip as
the tape jams in the guides.
Another thing I've seen, but only with C120s was "coning" where the tape
no longer would wind flat, but built up into a shallow cone and would
then become too wide for the housing. I was able to get the tape to play
by loosening the housing screws. Be careful if the takeup side jams, you
could be in a real mess.
My now decade old ARSC Journal article introduced cold playback and
explained a bit about playing the tape below the current glass
transition temperature Tg of the coating. I had one tape confirmed to
have a Tg of about 8C. Normally it would be well above room temperature.
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/history/HESS_Tape_Degradation_ARSC_Journal_39-2.pdf
Richard
On 2018-06-07 12:26 PM, Dan Gediman wrote:
> Folks,
>
> Thanks so much for all the good suggestions. To answer Richard’s question, yes, the same squealing happens at the same point in the recording even if I take out the tape, clean the tape machine well, let it dry, put the cassette in, rewind slightly, and resume the dubbing. Following other suggestions, I have transferred the tape I had been dubbing into a new Maxell shell, put it back into the deck, rewound, and started again. The tape begins squealing at the same exact spot on the tape, which BTW, isn’t at the very end of the tape, as with the others, but rather at about the half-way point on a C-60. Can you folks think of a reason why the tape should begin squealing at precisely that point and is there anything else I could try. I tried using various noise-reduction and EQ plugins and nothing seems to help using that technique. And I don’t have access to Richard’s suggested D5 lubricant. Are there other less great but still useful lubrication options? I saw some reference to putting Teflon tape on the head of a cassette deck and running the tape through all the way, presumably picking up the Teflon coating along the way. Is that a reasonable option? If so, would this just be the kind of plumber’s tape sold at hardware stores (the only things I found when Googling “Teflon tape”) or is this some specialized tape and if so, where would I get it.
>
> And additional suggestions gratefully accepted.
>
> Thanks,
> Dan
>
> Dan Gediman
> 502 299-2565
> [log in to unmask]
> www.dangediman.com <http://www.dangediman.com/>
>
--
Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada 647 479 2800
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
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