8mm Forum: Soundproblem with my Elmo ST-1200

This is topic Soundproblem with my Elmo ST-1200 in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=005144

Posted by Michael Beyer (Member # 1143) on January 07, 2010, 02:40 AM:

Hi,

have little problem with my Elmo ST-1200 HD 2-Track.
Even if I re-recorded an soundtrack, there is a little bit from the old recording in the background. It's a little bit annoying if you hear in the front the german soundtrack and in the background the original one.
Leveling is correct, the heads were cleaned, the knob for "Normal-/DoubleRec" in on the position "Normal".

Any ideas ?

Regards,
Michael

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on January 07, 2010, 07:51 AM:

5 general causes for this symptom, not limited to any particular machine;
1. Dirty erase head
2. Worn erase head
3. Insufficient erase head pad pressure
4. Insufficient erase head current
5. Rare, but possible, erase head has residual magnetism (usually removed by the erase head current automatically.)
Martin

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on January 07, 2010, 09:04 AM:

What about with the possibility of misaligned of erase head, Martin?

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on January 07, 2010, 11:48 AM:

Only a problem if the head is completely separate and not part of a combined assembly; and it would have to be very badly misaligned to leave part of the stripe uncovered. On a combined assembly the loss of treble in the reproduction would point to any even slight misalignment.
Martin

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on January 07, 2010, 01:45 PM:

Michale, there is a gear that can totally erase the magnetic sound. It is kind of a box and we give magnetic wave (?). I have seen this during the old days when we were going to quickly erase the cassette tape and record a new sound into it. It just took a second to erase the sound from it.

Since it would not change the picture on the cells so it would not harm your film.

rgds,

Posted by Michael Beyer (Member # 1143) on January 08, 2010, 03:49 AM:

Thanks to you, folks.

Winbert,
if I use this, my balance-track would be deleted, too.

Martin,
perhaps it is the pressure on the head or the head is damaged.
I cleaned the heads before re-recording something to get the best possible sound.

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on January 11, 2010, 04:39 AM:

This is very often caused by the small black presser not pushing down the film onto the heads sufficiently to give good contact. I have seen many times Elmos where one of the small balck tips has a flat on the surface which gives rise to this problem. If the other track is erasing ok then I would suspect that electrically all is ok as the circuit is just switched between the heads. If both tracks have the same problem then it could be that the record frequency has drifted and the most likely cause will be the oscilator capacitor.

The whole black presser block can be replaced and Wittners in Germany can supply these. Yes head wear can be a problem but you really do have to put miles of film through these machine to get enough head wear to cause these sort of problems. If the heads are that worn then expect plenty of film scratching as well.

Kev.

Posted by Michael Beyer (Member # 1143) on January 11, 2010, 07:11 AM:

Hi Kev,
thanks for your information.
Good to see you back in the forum ! [Big Grin]

UBB.classic^TM 6.3.1.2