Leader tape is shedding?

[joe lp]

So I have been trying to do things the "proper" way and use leader tape on my tascam 22-2, but it seems that either the leader my my brand new rmg tape is shedding. Could this be or did i get some bad rmg? Here's my biggest clue that it's the leader: the residue on my q-tip is faintly blue as is the leader tape. Just haven't heard of this yet.

 

[jjones1700]

Is it leaving residue on the heads as well or just on part of the transport path? I'm under the impression that (more than likely) the leader tape is slightly wider than the transport path and might be shedding itself as it wears into the proper path width. Then again, I've been known to be wrong before.

 

[joe lp]

it is on the heads. after playing the tape through, rewinding and playing through the initial piece of tape the heads are really dirty and playback is horrible. not a big deal, it's totally manageable but i am a little worried that it indicates something is off with my tape path.

 

[Beck]

I've seen old color leader get flaky. I had to throw away some old unused plastic leader years ago because it was peeling. Is yours new leader?

Lately I use paper leader on 2-track masters between songs, but nothing on multitask reels. I may stop using leader altogether except for each end because of the price of tape. I hate cutting into it… feels wrong somehow.

I used to follow convention… red leader for the beginning of tape; blue leader for tails and while in between songs. But since I can finish a product in house I will only go to that trouble if I’m sending the master out for some reason.

 

[dodgeaspen]

I was wondering if the leader tape is RMG as well. It does sound like the leader is the problem if it's blue. I've had no luck with RMG and was wondering how you like it. I now use ATR. The price of the ATR is slightly more, but the quality is much better.