The Tape Vacuum System is a proprietary Digital Atomics system. Ths system was used to recover the entire Roy Orbison collection. These tapes were transferred in 1992. The tapes still play back. The Vacuum system is not temporary as is baking.


Does the tape need to be baked before I play it back?

There are tapes recorded during certain years that cannot be played back because of tape damage. This usually shows up as a sticky tape that will not travel through the machine. Until recently, the only way to temporarily correct the problem was by placing the tape in a convection oven for a couple of hours at 125 degrees. This caused the absorbed moisture to leave the tape and the lubricants to migrate back toward the surface of the tape. The tape could then be played and would remain in this condition from several days to several months. If the tape wouldn't play the next time, just bake it again. This is the way everybody does it, except Digital Atomics.

Baking a tape places it in a hot environment. Haven't you noticed that all tape manufacturers state that you should keep your tapes in a cool, dry environment? This is not my definition of the inside of a convection oven. Most tapes from the problem period consist of a Mylar backing. Mylar shrinks when heated. At 125 degrees there is not enough shrinkage to notice with the naked eye. You don't put a 10 1/2 inch reel in the oven and get a 7 inch reel out when you are done, but there are dimensional changes that take place during the baking process. Using audio test gear you can measure the increase in harmonic distortion and the change in the playback frequency response of the tape. Every time you bake a tape, the harmonic distortion increases an average of 10%. The playback response change varies depending on the levels type of music recorded on the tape.

Digital Atomics has invented a new vacuum process that removes the moisture, makes the tape playable, and returns the frequency response of the tape to a state much closer to what was present when the tape was originally recorded. There is no degradation, only improvement in the condition of the tape.



Removing Moisture
Baking tapes is not the answer. Mylar that is used as a backing material for most modern recording tape is made by stretching the Mylar to obtain the correct thickness. Mylar has a memory. At temperatures above room temperature, Mylar starts to return to its original shape. This shrinkage distorts the physical properties of the tape and the audio information stored on it. If a tape is baked in a convection oven to remove the moisture, then the tape is being damaged and the elevated temperatures further degrade the magnetic signal recorded on the tape. A baked tape can only be played back a few times before it is totally useless and must be discarded.

There are chemicals that will reconstitute the binders in the tape, but they have an adverse effect on the mylar backing that supports the recording medium. After chemical treatment, the tape may or may not be succesfully played back once.

At Digital Atomics, we have constructed a vacuum desiccator to remove the moisture from the tape without damage to the tape or further loss of recorded material. Recovery using this method is virtually 100%. This method works with all sizes of analog tape, digital audio tape, and video tape.




Roger Nichols