Topic: Looking for help converting old reel-to-reel tapes

[ThePhog]

First...the hard stuff...my Mom passed away in March of this year from complications due to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease. While cleaning out my parents house we found several old reel-to-reel tapes she had recorded for my Dad while he was serving in the Army. My grandfather was big into audio and film recording in the 60s and 70s and he would record all kinds of things...I think he helped my Mom do this. The 2 tapes are dated 1969. They are Scotch Brand Magnetic Tape "Living Letters". They are 3" reels, 15 minutes total for each tape. Can anyone tell me more about these? I'm really hoping there is someone here who can help me convert these to WAV files. I'd be willing to buy concert tickets, pay cash(if that is cool around here), or send a gift card to your favorite store or restaurant if you can help me. We think this might be the only remaining "document" of my Mom's voice and I'd really like to have a copy of it. The tapes look like they are in great shape but 41 years a long time for something to sit virtually unplayed. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[sunjan]

Depending on where you live, try posting in the team boards for local assistance.

Of course folks in other parts of the country might also stand up to your call, but old tapes are fragile, you might want to avoid shipping these.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Is it a possibility your local library has the equipment to play these back? Might be worth checking into.

I would also suggest possible help from an expert since these are so old. It would be a shame to ruin them.

[Church-Audio]

First...the hard stuff...my Mom passed away in March of this year from complications due to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease. While cleaning out my parents house we found several old reel-to-reel tapes she had recorded for my Dad while h wie was serving in the Army. My grandfather was big into audio and film recording in the 60s and 70s and he would record all kinds of things...I think he helped my Mom do this. The 2 tapes are dated 1969. They are Scotch Brand Magnetic Tape "Living Letters". They are 3" reels, 15 minutes total for each tape. Can anyone tell me more about these? I'm really hoping there is someone here who can help me convert these to WAV files. I'd be willing to buy concert tickets, pay cash(if that is cool around here), or send a gift card to your favorite store or restaurant if you can help me. We think this might be the only remaining "document" of my Mom's voice and I'd really like to have a copy of it. The tapes look like they are in great shape but 41 years a long time for something to sit virtually unplayed. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Sorry to hear of your loss......I will do it for free. Just send me the tapes. It will take a while to get them back to you. These tapes are going to be mono 1/4 tape. Probably at 7.5 ips or there abouts.. The trick is to get a recorder to match the playback speed of the tapes you have it might be impossible. But I will give it a shot. The main issue is tape speed was not regulated and controlled on cheaper older machines. So 7 1/4 ips might be 6.9 ips. That changes pitch I can usually dump it to computer and change the pitch to were I think it should be. Also you have to realize that there is a possibility these are blank or damaged. 40 years is a long time for non commercial tape be functioning after all these years. I will give it a shot if you are interested. If not any recording studio with a 1/4 stereo 2 track should also be able to do this. Most real studios have a stereo 2 track sitting around collecting dust.. Also consider going to a "recording" school they might also do it for free as a lesson to the class. If you want to buy a deck this one was made in 1969 or so you should be able to get this for $50 you will have to mic it as there is no line out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/REN-Vintage-NIB-1-4-Reel-Reel-Tape-Recorder-/150509688261?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item230b1395c5#ht_1292wt_932

[deadahead93]

You're a good man, Chris. It is nice to see people willing to help out, especially when it comes to family matters! I wish I had the knowledge or resources to help too, Phog...

Good luck getting these converted. Keeping memories alive is all we have sometimes!

Sorry for the sappiness...

Cheers!

[Brian Skalinder]

So sorry your mom's gone.  But glad to hear you're interested in preserving these old reels.  I took on a similar project last fall.  My uncle had just died, and I digitized a bunch of old family interviews with great and grand-parents, old audio letters of aunts and uncles, a few tracks of my grandfather playing bass with Art Van Damme, and some local KY bluegrass sessions with my uncle on bass and backing vocals.  Some were on cassette, some were on reels (and a few were the same brand as yours, Scotch Magnetic Tape "Living Letters").  I used an old cassette deck of mine and my uncle's old reel-to-reel player.  Ages ranged from 20 - 40 years old and everything converted just fine.  Phew!  Well worth the effort.

I still have a stack of unlabeled reels to go through, though.  I suspect there's not much of interest on them, but one never knows.  Just not sure when I'll get to them.     I'd offer to convert yours, but I'm about to move and won't be able to take my uncle's reel-to-reel player with me (I'm leaving it with his family).

If Heath doesn't chime in, you might try sending him a PM as I have a vague recollection he's in the archiving business (or some such).  He may have some tips on treatment of the reels to decrease the likelihood of damage during playback and recording.

[aosone]

Depending on the type of tape, you may have severe oxide shedding. If this is true for your tapes, do a search on "baking tapes".

[Frequincy]

Depending on the type of tape, you may have severe oxide shedding. If this is true for your tapes, do a search on "baking tapes".

This was my first thought also. I don't know about that particular brand.

[heath]

You really shouldn't expect any shedding on Scotch tape, typically Scotch will show other problems, but Sticky Shed isn't the usual deterioration route for Scotch tape, especially from this era since it's going to be acetate and not polyester backed.  I'll gladly take a look at them (and x-fer for you) if you'd like.  It's what I do for a living, so I've got the right equipment to handle whatever track alignment you've got (1/4 track, 1/2 track, full track, etc at whatever speed).  Let me know...

[Shadow_7]

I have some old reel to reel tape players.  With a current project of dubbing my dads old navigator musak collection.  (busy work).  But those tapes are 1/4" wide and 1 hour 30 minutes per side.  Knowing more about the dimensions of your tapes might help.  BITD my parents used to correspond with the grandparent via tape because they couldn't read / see well and stuff like that.  I haven't seen that machine in 30+ years and it was on the duration of your tapes and with tapes about 1/2" wide.  Could have been 1/4", I was a lot smaller back then.  Some of my college sessions for jazz band were done to 2" tape.  Or at least what appeared like it, so there are some particulars anyone without all options might need to know before knowing if it can be done on their / our equipment.

You do want to take care in playing them, but 41 years is childs play for some of that older technology.  Then again tape machines do have their quirks.  The one that I'm using for my dub is very sensitive to cell phone handshakes so I have to be careful to avoid proximity and let them run during that 1am-3+am time so I don't have to re-listen to 3 hours of musak checking for cell phone blurps.

[chicofishhead]

I just spent my afternoon yesterday at a friend's house with a reel to reel digitizing some family tapes that ranged from the late 50s till the early 70s.  All played fine with no shedding and sounded like they could have been recorded last week.  Most were stereo on each side (like a cassette).  On one, though, one speaker played my parents wedding ceremony (from 1961) in one speaker and a live Bob Newhart recording backwards in the other speaker.  When I turned it over you could hear Bob forward and the wedding backwards.  My friend has a tape someone made off FM of a Santana new years eve show that sounded incredible.

I read awhile back that before the early 70s they used whale oil in the tape formulation, but then they had to switch to some chemical.  The whale oil tapes are fine but the later ones sometimes need to be baked before playing so they don't shed.

[heath]

You heard the 2 different programs on the tape due to a different format head that was used for the recording.  You were likely transferring quarter track (stereo in 2 directions) material earlier (the stuff you say is similar to cassette) and later you were playing back half track (mono in 2 directions) material.  A different machine, or a different headblock, would fix the problem easily. 

The whale oil story is  one that's often discussed.  Bottom line, there is a problem in the binding agent of certain brands of tape from about 1975 until about 1988.  Not all tape is affected, and other brands show signs of totally different forms of deterioration and need to be handled in a different manner.  For those playing back reels, do NOT assume that any old tape needs to be baked.  Certain types of tape will be severely damaged by the process.  If you have reels, and are in doubt, feel free to contact me either here or via my work www.themediapreserve.com

Thanks,

h

[chicofishhead]

I definitely don't want to encourage anybody to bake a tape unless it needs it and they know what they are doing.
For the wedding tape, which must have been recorded with just one mic, I can convert the pertinent channel to mono on my computer.

[heath]

For the wedding tape, which must have been recorded with just one mic, I can convert the pertinent channel to mono on my computer.

Perfectly fine for a lot of material to proceed this way, but with any critical program material, you would want to use the appropriate head for best signal to noise level.  Just a FYI for anyone out there playing with reels.

[dorrcoq]

Hey Heath - what kind of price range do you guys charge for something like this?