Kinda urgent: Wet Tape Salvaging

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vivalastblues
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Kinda urgent: Wet Tape Salvaging

Post by vivalastblues » Mon Jul 09, 2012 3:25 am

So this is kind of a freak story, but basically some 1/2" tapes got left outside for 2 days, and it may have rained a bit. The reels were in their RMG cardboard boxes, and inside a larger box which tightly housed the 4 individual boxes. I am going to pick them up in about an hour so I don't know the exact condition of them yet, but if they are wet, what should I do? Do I need to take them to a lab to be baked, just to be safe?

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Post by Gregg Juke » Mon Jul 09, 2012 4:33 am

I'd make sure that they were dry, and run them first to see what's up. I think you might do more damage with "premature baking," but that's just a guess.

GJ

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Post by vivalastblues » Mon Jul 09, 2012 4:40 am

The advice always says 'dont play back wet tapes', so I'm not sure whether to risk it?

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Post by vivalastblues » Mon Jul 09, 2012 4:45 am

Anyway I'll probably be able to tell by the sogginess of the cardboard boxes that they're sitting in. Going to pick them up now...

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Post by kslight » Mon Jul 09, 2012 5:03 am

I don't know whether or not this would be adequate as I've never experienced this...but I don't think it would be a bad idea to take the tapes out of their boxes and put them in a room with a dehumidifier for few days... Maybe put them in a food dehydrator?



You may get lucky and the tapes are still in their plastic wrapper inside the boxes.

Obviously if the tapes are remotely damp I don't think you should try to run them.

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Post by vivalastblues » Mon Jul 09, 2012 5:34 am

Well they look totally fine to me. I have no idea how I would go about knowing if they're damp or not?

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Post by vvv » Mon Jul 09, 2012 6:48 am

With amps and such, when they get wet, I've always heard (and have done) that placing it in the sun and open air is a good way to dry it.

Thing is, direct sunlight on metal is different than on plastics, so mebbe outside but in the shade ...

But the dehydrator idear sounds best; this one is under US$50.
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Post by joelpatterson » Mon Jul 09, 2012 7:01 am

doesn't pro tools have a dehydrator plug-in?
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Post by Nick Sevilla » Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:00 am

vivalastblues wrote:Well they look totally fine to me. I have no idea how I would go about knowing if they're damp or not?
You can't. A little moisture usually creeps into the tape, and it takes playing them back to see if the tape sheds at all, or is in any other way messed up.

All you can do is open the reels up, and let them be in a dry warm environment for at least 24 hours before playing them. DRY is they key, if you don't have a dry environment, then just don't do it.

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Post by Gregg Juke » Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:30 pm

Any chance that putting them in a bag of rice and/or some other artificial dessicant might help?

GJ

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Post by Nick Sevilla » Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:50 pm

Gregg Juke wrote:Any chance that putting them in a bag of rice and/or some other artificial dessicant might help?

GJ
I don't recommend the rice but maybe some dessicant bags...

And never heat the tapes in a home oven!
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Post by vvv » Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:32 pm

Nick Sevilla wrote:
And never heat the tapes in a home oven!
Unless you wanna put some tomato sauce, mebbe pepperoni, and cheese on top, eh? :twisted:
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Post by drumsound » Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:47 pm

Don't bake or use a dehydrator, you may do more damage to the binder. open the boxes and let them dry out for a few days then put one on the machine and see how it goes.

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Post by Waltz Mastering » Thu Jul 12, 2012 4:37 pm

Here's some info on baking, ...just in case:
http://www.tangible-technology.com/tape/baking1.html

These guys are pro's: http://www.sonicraft.com/

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Post by davidollard » Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:56 am

They are probably just fine. I agree with Tony.

Tape is more resilient than most people think, and a few drops of water over a couple of days is not likely to have harmed them.

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