Just a Reminder !

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statecap

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I know a guy who was recently about to send in his Tascam for service because of faded sound out of one channel.

I took some rubbing alcohol and cleaned the heads real well and saved him some cash.

I don't think you can over clean those babys.
CLEAN...CLEAN...CLEAN
 
Cleaning is good, but use 99% Isopropyl, not rubbing alcohol as it has more impurities (water for one) in it.
 
Don't forget to de-gauss as well!

A buildup of magnetic charge on the heads will erase the highs off your tapes! :eek:
 
And always brush your teeth after every meal. That's when tartar really builds up. I heard if you chew gum after eating it can really help clean your teeth until you can get to your toothbrush.
 
Thanks Emeric, M.Brane & Tex

Important Tips !


Tex--Read your mail !
 
TexRoadkill said:
And always brush your teeth after every meal. That's when tartar really builds up. I heard if you chew gum after eating it can really help clean your teeth until you can get to your toothbrush.
Click to expand...

Sign on my dentist's wall:

You don't have to floss all your teeth, only the ones you want to keep. ;)
 
Re: Don't forget to de-gauss as well!

M.Brane said:
A buildup of magnetic charge on the heads will erase the highs off your tapes! :eek:
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Every time you record you degauss. Use better tapes if your losing the highs or you could try that floss trick.
 
Re: Re: Don't forget to de-gauss as well!

NYMorningstar said:


Every time you record you degauss.


Forgive a naive Newbie but, is this true?
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Re: Re: Re: Don't forget to de-gauss as well!

Every time you record you degauss.


Forgive a naive Newbie but, is this true? [/B][/QUOTE]

The buildup of magnetism on a head is a non-problem. Remember what happens when you put juice to a coil? Here's a few important facts to know:
The most common cause for failure is wear. Using old tape wears faster, the epoxy binder breaks down releasing oxides which accelerate wear. Other factors are incorrect tape tension and alignment. As a head wears, its dynamic characteristics change. (You can recontour a head at 10% the cost of a new one)

The second most common cause of head failure is mishandling. Mishandling during installation or changeover is evidenced by broken connector, dinged or scratched tape contact, shifted gaps, or other damage which causes the head to fail at start-up or shortly thereafter. 'Tape contact must be intimate' in order to achieve proper saturation of the tape, and is even more critical during reproducing.(keep it clean)

To better understand the importance of tape to gap contact in the operation of any head it might help to understand how a head works. Very simply, a head records when an electrical current runs through the coil, creating a flow of magnetic flux which wants to go "round and round" inside the core, but due to the non-magnetic gap material in the face, the flux must "jump over" the gap to complete its path. The flux "jumping over" the gap magnetizes the ferric-oxide which is in contact with the gap area at that time. Reproducing takes place when the magnetized tape passes across the gap. This creates a flow of magnetism within the core which induces an electrical current in the coil.
 
With my 4-track,I would clean the heads before recording,when I took a break,and when I was done.
I'd deguass about once a month,unless their was a problem with the sound.

Just remember when you deguass,if you ever let the button go before your away from the heads,they can become permanently magnitized.


Best to you,
Pete
 
Tex said: And change your damn guitar strings (could someone please tell me how to do quotes properly, I don't get it!).

Anyway, I don't know if he was serious :-), but I don't like changing my strings often, it ruins the point of having accidental weird sounds coming out. In fact I don't even like tuning it that often. It's like the stupid old Britpop (tm) argument all over again: Blur vs Oasis. Noel Gallagher treats his guitar like a goddess, when in fact it's a piece of wood with a couple of metal wires stuck to it. I prefer the Graham Coxon (guitarist with Blur approach): apparently, he has to be tortured by producers to even think about retuning his guitars during the entire period of recording an album. And he's a god. Anyway, what a stupid post this was.
 
jimmychan said:
Tex said: And change your damn guitar strings (could someone please tell me how to do quotes properly, I don't get it!).
Click to expand...

To quote something you simply click that little quote icon in the lower righthand corner of the post you're quoting. That brings up a window with the post which you can edit and then comment below the quote. Just be careful you don't delete any of the HTML tags (QUOTE], [/QUOTE)like I did in my last post. doh!

You do need to change your guitar strings often to keep a quality sound. They rust, bend, accumulate dirt and get old. I agree with some artists playing an off tuned guitar, e.g. tuned a step below. However, I think anyone that plays an instrument out of tune is just plain dumb.
 
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