Adat!!! I need some one who knows a lot about adat alesis recorders please help me!

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Privacles

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To make a long story short my very first band back in the day in 2000 we made our very first album in a studio here in Michigan we never got a cd produced out of the whole deal the people in charge gave us 2 ADAT Tapes of all of our work , several years later a friend of mine gave me a ALESIS ADAT 8 track machine which was last week. I know nothing of the old recording methods only current with my pc and Cubase. Anyways I popped in one of the tapes it was all the drums all 8 tracks start playing but after a while all the toms drop out completely with no levels or indication of sound, which are tracks 4 5 6 7 8. Very disheartening I played the other tape and its all the vocals and those tracks play all the way through then the guitar but the guitars stop too and the bass tracks do the same. I am just wondering if there is actually a problem with the tapes??? or my machine???. Something I want to point out is the display screen says LOCKED does that mean maybe some of the tracks are Locked or not accessible?



Any help would be mighty appreciated thank you very much!!!

CHAD
 
Been a while and I had (Gads-still have.. :facepalm: Fostexs.
Locked' while in play(?) I would think would mean 'in sync, either within two machines, or maybe the tape running- and in either case that would be normal.
Play continues, no error messages or any other signs of changes etc, and the track's sounds and meters stop all of a sudden?
If this happens at the same place each time for a given track, and particularly the same place each time for all the tracks ?I'd say; recording(s) gone or erased.

If it's eratic, maybe funky tape condition- or heads need cleaning- and/or alignment and or 'ware..

..there was also a tab on the cas' that you can punch out (just like regular cassetts) to prevent more recording to the tape. Doubt that would be that 'locked thing though
 
Sounds like the classic sticky shed tape syndrome.

If it is, dont play the tapes. You may damage them. Have them properly baked by someone who knows how to do it and has the proper baking equipment.

Also the machine will need to be thoroughly cleaned of the muck from the tapes. Again, have it done properly. Dont just throw in a VHS head cleaning tape.

Anyone know someone in the Michigan area who has the skills and the gear? I'm in Australia, sorry!

These people appear to be expert in the area but I've had no dealings with them:

Flood Damaged Video Recovery - Fire Mold Sticky Repair

Tim
 
Based on Tim's response, it sounds like there may be some confusion as to what type of tape you are talking about. You called it an Alesis ADAT, but you mention tracks 4-8. Can I assume you're using one of the Tascam DA-XX machines (38/78/88/etc.)? Either way, the sticky shed might be the issue, but I don't know if the type of tape impacts how the tapes can be baked.
 
"You called it an Alesis ADAT, but you mention tracks 4-8. Can I assume you're using one of the Tascam DA-XX machines (38/78/88/etc.)? "
I don't follow- Why would that be? ('ADAT 8 tracks per..
 
Tim Gillett said:
Sounds like the classic sticky shed tape syndrome.

If it is, dont play the tapes. You may damage them. Have them properly baked by someone who knows how to do it and has the proper baking equipment.

Also the machine will need to be thoroughly cleaned of the muck from the tapes. Again, have it done properly. Dont just throw in a VHS head cleaning tape.

Anyone know someone in the Michigan area who has the skills and the gear? I'm in Australia, sorry!

These people appear to be expert in the area but I've had no dealings with them:

Flood Damaged Video Recovery - Fire Mold Sticky Repair

Tim
Click to expand...
The guy I knew ('Studio Maintenance Center?).. moved to Russia (or something ;)

..if the shed' is that bad, wouldn't there already be holes' (gaps) in the tracks?
 
mixsit said:
The guy I knew ('Studio Maintenance Center?).. moved to Russia (or something ;)

..if the shed' is that bad, wouldn't there already be holes' (gaps) in the tracks?
Click to expand...

No, not necessarily. You only need a tiny amount of material off the tape to lodge right on the read head gap, in between it and the tape. That tiny amount can have been "harvested" from a very broad area of tape so that effectively the tape may not have not lost any more material from one area than another. But I wouldnt bank on it either.

But still the tape has lost something. That's why the treatment is best done before playing the tape at all to avoid that loss. In severe cases of SSS, you can lose massive amounts of oxide just from one playing, which may make it impossible to recover the information, even if you subsequently bake the tape and try again.

Baking has to be done right with the proper gear. If you go above a certain temperature, you can erase the magnetic pattern altogether.
 
That makes sense.
It'll be interesting to see from the OP on if the drop outs are random or not.
 
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