Quote:
Originally Posted by SpyNote
It's literally baking the tape in an oven... I wasn't aware that it's a one time deal. Here's more on the baking process:
http://www.terranovamastering.com/ma...ry.html#baking
BAKING TAPES:
Most analog tapes recorded prior to 1990, probably need to be "baked", before transfer. The fee to bake is charged PER TAPE. A diagnostic check of the materials by our engineers is required before we accept the project. The baking process is time consuming and precise, and the process is attended by the engineer. The client must be aware that this process is not guaranteed by our company. It is a last resort to salvaging a tape that has not been taken care of. Over a number of years, the iron oxide peels or flakes off of the tape itself, and baking the tape in a specifically designated oven, usually forces the iron oxide back onto the tape. After the baking is complete, there is a two week window for the tapes to be transferred to another format. After the tapes are baked once, and they have been transferred, they will start to flake again, and cannot be salvaged any further. One baking session, one transfer, and the life of the tape is over. |
I don't think that baking is always a one-shot deal. From the posts on a mastering forum that I sometimes read, there are masters that have been baked multiple times with no discernible sound quality degradation or damage. It may be a factor of the care that was put into tape storage...those that have been stored consistently in cool, dry conditions may be less prone to permanent damage (although if they were recorded on the unstable Ampex tape that was in use in the 70s and 80s they will still require baking to restore to temporary playability).
The BN master would certainly need to have been baked in 1998 for the mastering of "Long Distance Winner" for Stevie's box set, so this latest digital transfer would have been another round in the oven.
09-20-2013, 08:46 PM
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