Sorry for this dumb question, but, what exactly is "Baking Tapes" ?

What is the process and how does/would it accomlish the 'Preservation' of Prince's music?

I remember hearing on the 'Howard Stern Show' on SiriusXM a little while after he moved there. That he, 'Stern', hired "People" to "Bake" ALL his 'Old Taped Shows' going back like 20+ years!

I just dont understand how its done or how it accomplishes "preserving" what has been recorded.

Also, Do we know if this is being done with Prince's tapes?

I Thank You For Sharing Your Knowledge,

DC

http://www.wendycarlos.com/bake%20a%20tape/baketape.html

PANDURITO said:

http://www.wendycarlos.com/bake%20a%20tape/baketape.html

Got to love Wendy.

DirtyCache said:

Sorry for this dumb question, but, what exactly is "Baking Tapes" ?

.

What you mean to say is:

I cannot think of using a search machine, let alone actually use one so I will use the org as one.

DirtyCache said:

Also, Do we know if this is being done with Prince's tapes?

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Based on the tape technology we must assume that this already been done and will be done.

DirtyCache said:

how it accomplishes "preserving" what has been recorded.

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It makes tapes playable again or helps quite a bit in reaching that goal.

First of all, I Thank You PANDURITO, very interesting read. I didn't realize they were actually "baking" tapes.

Thats pretty cool, I wonder who thought of basically cooking them for preservation purposes. I wonder how many tapes were melted before they figured out the correct tempature.

I also would think that the tape would slowly have to be "unspooled" as this heating process is being done so it would "bake" evenly. Also so the outside of the tape would not get to hot and melt, as the innerside of the tape warms up to the matching tempature. (I hope that made sense)

Thank You Again,

DC

DirtyCache said:

I wonder who thought of basically cooking them for preservation purposes.

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Cooking is usually done with a liquid at cooking temperature. Perhaps water is used.

If you read the info more carefully you see that there is no cooking.

There is no liquid added. There is liquid removed using warm air.

I also would think that the tape would slowly have to be "unspooled" as this heating process is being done so it would "bake" evenly.

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Unspooling cannot be done due to the tape being sticky due to the moisture.

Did you read the info?

The process uses a lowish yet warmish temperature to remove tyhe mositure.

Didn't you think of reading about any material properties before adding the melting comment?

Sometimes they use a fruit dehydrator or dryer, some of those have exactly the right size for tapes.

As far as I know a baked tape can only be played once and needs to be digitized right then and there, so it is a bit risky.

Former Paisley Park engineer Hans Martin Buff (Emancipation era) once gave an interview where he mentioned the tapes in the vault, and how Prince would neglect them, and how worried he was about not preserving the music for posterity.

You may want to look up that interview, it was pretty interesting and was posted here on the org.

KoolEaze said:

Sometimes they use a fruit dehydrator or dryer, some of those have exactly the right size for tapes.

As far as I know a baked tape can only be played once and needs to be digitized right then and there, so it is a bit risky.

Former Paisley Park engineer Hans Martin Buff (Emancipation era) once gave an interview where he mentioned the tapes in the vault, and how Prince would neglect them, and how worried he was about not preserving the music for posterity.

You may want to look up that interview, it was pretty interesting and was posted here on the org.

Thank You Very Much "KoolEaze" for giving me more info on this subject, I appreciate your help.

I will search for that Interview for sure, I want to learn more about this process. I was actually wondering that exact thing, if after "Baking" a tape it would become more 'Brittle' (if you will) due to the intense heat.

Would you recommend just typing in the gentlemens name in the search box to find that article?

Again I Thank You,

DC