Hand Tape Erasers advice?

Dr ZEE

Dr ZEE

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Hi all.
I would appreciate if anybody could give me advice on tape eraser(s). For studio use, I need to be able to 'perfectly' erase 1/4" reels (I mostly have/use GP-9, which ar 7" reels).
I've got on e-bay some hand small eraser ( Ronins Universal Magnetic Tape Eraser ..cat# 24-016 )...it's 'fist-size' thing with trigger under the handle, I hope somebody knows what this unit is like.
OK, so I did try to erase couple cassette tapes.... and it looks like it did the trick. But I am sort of not sure about starting messing with my reels. I guess my most important question: is it safe to use a thing like that on reel?... ? Is it possible that I can somehow 'damage' the tapes ... :confused: :eek:
sorry guys , if my question is too dumb :(
Now if it is 'safe' ...then is any specific 'instruction' on how to actually move the thing over the reel to do the work right. ...

I would really appreciate any tip. Thanks a bunch...

also, GREAT BOARD! thanks for keepping it going. all this info is a big help.
/massive respects
 
Just do nice even passes and make sure to do both sides. You should have no problem. I've tried both circular sweeps and back and forth, and it's worked each time. You can't really hurt the tape. Just make sure there's nothing on the tape you want to keep before you do it.
 
ahh, thanks a ton .., Mr. M.A.! That makes me feel better :)... less nervious. You see... these reels are like gold nowdays ...so are the HEADS, so I don't want to run the tape trough the deck 'needless' extra-time, while need to make sure there's no recorded 'leftovers' on the tape for next session. Cheap mentality ...heh heh :D ...

/respects,
 
hah, Derrick, thanX for advice :D ... I am actually am sooooo paranoid'bout this sort of 'devices' ..so not I only do it away from gear etc... but I actually take it out of studio room, go to my workshop room in the basement to erase tapes ..heh heh :p

while on this side of the conversation. Here's a sort of related question, but about head-demagnetetizers. I happend to have three reel-to-reel machines in the studio ... , the room is not so large and so everything is kind of close. I have teac a-3340s in the rack ...and then in the same rack (under the tape deck) I have 8-port midi-inteface, then one of my e-mu digital synthesizer next to it...then a foot down another digi-synth, sampler, dat machine, cd-recorder and gear like that etc...., then, about two feet to the right I have another teac deck (a-4300sx)...and next to it another two feet or so to the right - tascam-32 (both machines are standing on the desk-sheves, right above computer monitors - one of the monitors is older...and actually (almost never on), the other is flat-LCD monitor.
Now... so here's the Question. When ever I need to demagnetize heads of the decks - am I risking to somehow demage my other gear, ...most gear are digital, .... well, I do turn everything OFF, of course...but still...hmmmm, am I doing something stupid - swinging the demagnetizer around my gear ? Taking the reel-machines out of the room to demag heads is kinda' too much work :D
How do you guys deal with this?
Or am I worring too much again here? :confused:
I have some photo of my studio (not large but you can see where are my reel-machines are) : the picture is on the left side of the page here: http://www.mzentertainment.com/studio.htm
Maybe I need to re-arrange all my setup? the way it is now - is kind of the best I could think of. Maybe I'll build a special wheel-rack for reel-to-reels some day... good wish , hah ;)

thanks again for the advice,
/respects
 
Well Zee, if it makes you feel any better... I too would be on the cautious side. I erase my tapes away from EVERYTHING in a empty area of the house. Away from everything. Head demag is much less a problem as the field is much weaker. But still, I'd bring the deck to another room before doing it. A digital set up could be effected I think because the hard drive could be corrupted with a high enough mag field. I like to be safe, it's prob not a big deal for demags though... :o
 
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