8mm Forum: Possible sound corruption advice?

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 27, 2011, 01:57 PM:

I recently sold a print of 1941 to a friend on our forum, and when he recieved it, he stated that the part 2 of the digest had a lot of drop off in the sound.

We (wife and I) had watched it the day before we shipped it off, and we didn't notice anything wrong with the sound. He sent it back to me, and I instantly put it on my Eumig 926 stereo, just to see if it might be one or both of the tracks that were messed up.

What I heard was a shock. It certainly wasn't the sudio that the digest had when we mailed it off. It had constant drop off on reel two ...

therefore, my question ...

I had heard of this happening before, but I need verification)

1. Could my friends recording heads have been slightly activated, do to a defect, been rubbing the film and therefore partially "rubbing out" the soundtrack?

2. This is longshot, but while in transit to my friend, could the post use some form of magnetic device to scan packages which, as we all know, a magnet, passed over a magnetic soundtrack, can erase the sound. I remember well those big magnet things that you would pass over a magnetic tape cassette which would entirely erase an audio recording.

I know that the second is certainly a longshot, but I am mystified as to why there would be this constant drop off in the recording. I should note that I bought a digest from this person who had stated that the digest, coming from him, had drop off as well. It did have a little, but nowhere near what 1941 part 2 has.

Also, if this is a problem (in question 1), is this a problem with certain makes of projector or magenetic projectors period?

I thank you for your time.

OSI

Posted by William Mouroukas (Member # 2764) on November 02, 2011, 08:24 PM:

In a past life I was an audio operator in broadcast TV. the way I see it it could be that:
1) Not such a long shot. At some point the reel passed a magnetic field erasing the audio, but you would have expected this to have had some impact on the second reel if they were packed together.
2) The magnetic stripe on the reel is shedding. This happens to all magnetic tape over time. For example I've spoken to old work mates of mine who are still in the game. They tell me the 3M Scotch reels we used in the late 1970's are still holding up but the Ampex tape we were also using is shedding badly. It depends on the longevity of the bonding agents the tape manufacturers used.
3) It could be faulty equipment but you or the buyer should notice it on other reels if this is the case.
Hope this is of assistance.

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