Erase head? True or false?

[nialldoran]

hey, i dont really know alot about tape decks when it comes to recording, but ive got an old four track laying around, and i heard that if some masking tape is put over the erase head you can multitrack onto cassette.

Firstly is this true? and second could anyone possibly show me which part of the deck woulld be the erase head so i can cover it, wite a photo or something if possible, just looking for a little experimenting with tape at the moment.

thanks
niall

 

[nate_dennis]

I read that too, but it doesn't really work. The erase heads work by magetization. Tape wouldn't stop the magnetization from reaching the recording tape.

Though I may be wrong.

 

[nialldoran]

yeah i suppose i never thought of it that way, wud still like to give it a shot, all i need to know is which part of the deck is the erase head

 

[westgate]

yu mean yor gonna git that adhesive gloo from the tayp awl over the erase hed and maybe not b abul to git it off agin, thereby possiblee rendering sed hed yoosless.?

egads!

 

[Lt. Bob]

yu mean yor gonna git that adhesive gloo from the tayp awl over the erase hed and maybe not b abul to git it off agin, thereby possiblee rendering sed hed yoosless.?

egads!

yeah, that's a pretty bad idea although I suppose you could clean the head afterwards but, it's not gonna work because magnetism will pass right through that tape.

 

[Beck]

This is an old technique… a poor man’s sound-on-sound. The new recording is added to the existing one. Yes it works, but the quality is of course very poor. The more layers of tape on the erase head the better, since the farther the tape is lifted from the head the less flux it will receive. So while it’s true that the magnetism passes through the adhesive tape, the distance of the magnetic tape from the head will prevent the erase head from erasing the prerecorded material.

The better way would be to rig a switch and turn off the erase head for true sound-on-sound. But as cheaply as you can buy a multitrack cassette this is a waste of time, IMO.

Would I do it? No.

If you’re doing it for the sake of experimentation and to learn something about tape recording, sure why not.

The erase head is normally the farthest to the left… the first head the tape comes in contact with as it travels from left to right.