I never think about the head alignment until I get a recorder which is a tone higher than my master machine and then everything falls apart because I want to hear the piece of music in the same key on the second machine as on my master one. Quite a few times I have gotten rid of a tape player because it is faster than I'd like. Maybe having the heads realigned would help.
Mimi ----- Original Message ----- From: "mimi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "PC audio discussion list. " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 7:18 PM Subject: Re: question about recording books > How long have you been into tapes? I use denatured alcohol to clean the > heads; been doing that for years, way back when I used to have reel to reel > decks, too. Also good on cassette machines. > > I used to have an electric wand demagnitizer which I used to use on all > those machines I used to have. I think it did a better job than the > cassette one does, but that's my opinion, and everybody has one! Now, I > have a battery cassette-shaped demagnitizer since all my open reel decks > were stolen from me in Nevada as a result of a secret divorce and the person > trashed everything I worked hard on through the years. Many rare tapes were > willfully dumped in trash cans around Reno with braille and raised print > labels affixed to them, and nobody gave a damn about how I was feeling back > then. I could not get legal help and so on. Anyway, back to the present > topic, denatured alcohol, and be careful with the q tips--wipe the rubber > roller and all the metal parts you can squeeze in to reach, then when you > use the demagnitizer you can get at any RadioShack store, you turn down the > volume because the tone can be very piercing and I don't think you want to > listen to that. If you must monitor it, then set the volume to low enough > for you to hear without being freaked out. When the tone stops and the tape > automatically shuts off, you are demagnitized. It does not affect your > other tapes, although it would be a good idea to store that demagnitizer two > or three slots away in your case, if you have a big case that holds 40 or 50 > tapes. > > The battery in that thing lasts a long time. I've had mine for twelve > years. I'd rather have the wand, but don't know if the electric wand > demagnitizers are available anymore. It saddens me that so many good things > we used to use have passed on to the next format. Sometimes, I really do > miss the older formats, but the cost of maintaining it these days are > horrendous, I hear, especially for low income owners who do not have lots of > money to play with and spend. Phono cartridges are already expensive, I > hear. It's a shame! > > I'm sorry I launched into a full-blown lecture about that. I realize I come > a long way. I'm already facing complete digitiizing of my tapes, including > music on videotapes which I recorded two years ago. It's a massive project > which I am enjoying working on. The vast majority of my collection will now > be in mp3 on CD's. > > I know that the more you take care of your machines, the longer they will > last. I miss the neighborhood repair shop where they used to know you and > fixed your equipment and kept it going. What a sad thing this is a > throwaway world, and even people are throwaways now. Sorry. > > Take care and best of luck with your audio work. > > Mimi > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Mp3 is what I do best. Some may have better editing programs than me, but > I'm not jealous. I just cannot afford it. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Terri Stimmel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "PC audio discussion list. " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 6:43 PM > Subject: Re: question about recording books > > > > Hi, > > How do I demagnetize my tape heads? And what do I need in order to do > that? > > Also, what's good to use, when cleaning a tape deck? > > Thank you, > > Terri > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > > http://www.pc-audio.org > > > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > _______________________________________________ > PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
