tdrop wrote:
What are maintenance musts?
1. Alignment
2. Cleaning tape path
3. Lube
4. Calibrate the machine for the type of tape you are using
Is that it as far as routine maintenance goes?
1. When I was first starting out with tape machines, it was hugely helpful to hire a tech to do a housecall and to watch carefully/ask questions. It might be a bit tricky to learn things like adjusting azimuth just by reading manuals/Web sites.
Also, since you're dealing with multi-track machine and presumably not worried about exchanging tapes with other studios, one careful alignment by a pro should last you a long time (especially considering the deck is a part of the very reliable Otari MX5050 series).
2. This is really not a hassle at all. Just get some 99% alcohol and (wooden if possible) cotton swabs and wipe the heads and metal points of tape contact before recording and during breaks. This helps your machine last longer (accumulated oxide accelerates wear) and ensures better tape-to-head contact (better high frequency response). Avoid dripping alcohol down the capstan shaft (it could harm the lubricant). You can clean the pinch roller with windex (it doesn't need to be cleaned as often in my opinion.
3. This isn't something you need to do often in my experiences. If you hire a pro to do a housecall, he/she can help you determine if the machine needs any oil.
4. Since you want to concentrate on recording and not get bogged down in maintenance, I'd advise you to stick to one formulation of tape. It's true that there are differences between batches and aligning each tape individually can help you eke out the very best possible performance from your machine (I do this, but I take an interest in the tech side of things and I've learned how to do it quickly), but I'd say this is very minor thing and most people wouldn't notice the difference.
Two other things I'd advise:
1) get a dust cover or make one (goes a long away in helping avoid crackly controls and other problems related to dirt/dust accumulation).
2) record test tones at either the beginning or the end of your tape. 100hz 1khz and 10khz would probably do the trick. Playing back test tones can tell you if your machine has driften out of mechanical or electrical alignment.
