hilltop studios
New member
Recently there has been a lot of posts on various recording forums in regard to RMGI tape with shedding problems. I thought my recent experience would be good info to pass along so here goes.
Back in February I acquired a well used Tascam MS16 and after a lot of re-furb work (cleaning, replacing relays, calibration etc.) I started using the machine in some actual sessions a couple of weeks ago. An hour or so into the session I began noticing oxide building up on the tape path like I have never seen. Everything, guides, lifters, heads was coated with brown dust. Now back when I was doing calibration on the machine I had noticed a little oxide but at the time I didn't think it would be a problem. Also I could see my guides and lifters had some wear marks but that didn't seem abnormal considering my machines age and the fact it was used in a professional facility. Now however having to stop after every song or two and clean the tape path just wasn't going to work. Managed to get through those sessions and I was kinda baffled as to why I was having so much shed. I put a call into US Recording Media from whom I had purchased the one inch RMGI 911. The rep I spoke with wasn't aware of any problems with 911 but he put me in touch with a RMGI tech rep. I had a nice long conversation with him,(he actually walked me through the tape manufacture process Anyway basically here's what he told me.
If your machine has a lot of wear marks on guides, rollers, lifters etc or it has been fed Ampex/Quantegy 456 for most of it's life you will see more (possibly a lot) of shedding with RMGI. This is because of the slightly wider footprint of the tape. Ampex?Quantegy was purposely under-slit. Now if in the past you have used BASF/EMTEC 911 (on the same machine) with no shedding and now with RMGI you are seeing a lot of shedding then obviously something else is wrong because RMGI should be the same as the older BASF/Emtec. I have used Emtec 911 for years on my MSR-16 and I could run it all day and barely see any shed. However now with my MS16 and RMGI it was brown dust city. The rep asked me about my machine and I had to confess that yes I had wear marks on my guides and lifters (I could feel a slight edge in some places when running my fingernail across the surface) and yes the previous owners had always fed it Ampex. They had offered up a mountain of it to me when I bought the machine from them but that tape was all sticky shed. Also I should mention the machine had sat unused for years as well. OK I'm getting to the happy part are you still with me ??
The RMGI rep suggested I try rotating the guides and lifters if possible, running some more tape and seeing if the shed was still excessive. I completed that last night, ran the same reels for hours and not a speck was to be found I know it's easy to jump on a new company (hey I was ready to demand new tape) especially after springing for 400+ dollars on a case of one inch. You might want to be sure it's not a machine issue first. I'm a happy camper, my MS16 is much happier and my experience with RMGI tells me they are a class company. I should also mention the rep wanted me to get back to him one way or another with the results and if I wasn't satisfied he would happily replace my tape. He also told me they did have issues with some 900 formula early on but he wasn't aware of any issues with 911. Hopefully this will help someone out there and calm a lot of folks who were criticizing RMGI. Regards, Dave
Back in February I acquired a well used Tascam MS16 and after a lot of re-furb work (cleaning, replacing relays, calibration etc.) I started using the machine in some actual sessions a couple of weeks ago. An hour or so into the session I began noticing oxide building up on the tape path like I have never seen. Everything, guides, lifters, heads was coated with brown dust. Now back when I was doing calibration on the machine I had noticed a little oxide but at the time I didn't think it would be a problem. Also I could see my guides and lifters had some wear marks but that didn't seem abnormal considering my machines age and the fact it was used in a professional facility. Now however having to stop after every song or two and clean the tape path just wasn't going to work. Managed to get through those sessions and I was kinda baffled as to why I was having so much shed. I put a call into US Recording Media from whom I had purchased the one inch RMGI 911. The rep I spoke with wasn't aware of any problems with 911 but he put me in touch with a RMGI tech rep. I had a nice long conversation with him,(he actually walked me through the tape manufacture process Anyway basically here's what he told me.
If your machine has a lot of wear marks on guides, rollers, lifters etc or it has been fed Ampex/Quantegy 456 for most of it's life you will see more (possibly a lot) of shedding with RMGI. This is because of the slightly wider footprint of the tape. Ampex?Quantegy was purposely under-slit. Now if in the past you have used BASF/EMTEC 911 (on the same machine) with no shedding and now with RMGI you are seeing a lot of shedding then obviously something else is wrong because RMGI should be the same as the older BASF/Emtec. I have used Emtec 911 for years on my MSR-16 and I could run it all day and barely see any shed. However now with my MS16 and RMGI it was brown dust city. The rep asked me about my machine and I had to confess that yes I had wear marks on my guides and lifters (I could feel a slight edge in some places when running my fingernail across the surface) and yes the previous owners had always fed it Ampex. They had offered up a mountain of it to me when I bought the machine from them but that tape was all sticky shed. Also I should mention the machine had sat unused for years as well. OK I'm getting to the happy part are you still with me ??
The RMGI rep suggested I try rotating the guides and lifters if possible, running some more tape and seeing if the shed was still excessive. I completed that last night, ran the same reels for hours and not a speck was to be found I know it's easy to jump on a new company (hey I was ready to demand new tape) especially after springing for 400+ dollars on a case of one inch. You might want to be sure it's not a machine issue first. I'm a happy camper, my MS16 is much happier and my experience with RMGI tells me they are a class company. I should also mention the rep wanted me to get back to him one way or another with the results and if I wasn't satisfied he would happily replace my tape. He also told me they did have issues with some 900 formula early on but he wasn't aware of any issues with 911. Hopefully this will help someone out there and calm a lot of folks who were criticizing RMGI. Regards, Dave