Understanding Sticky-Shed Syndrome - Description, Treatment, and Tape List
This article describes a condition known as "Sticky Shed Syndrome" or SSS, which mainly affects magnetic tapes from the 70s and 80s. It presents methods for treating the tapes for digitization and offers a brief overview of Wendy Carlos (why not?), a pioneer of electronic music. You will also find a list of affected magnetic tapes and models , as well as some valuable additional notes.
For direct access to the SSS treatment and tape list, click here.
Wendy Carlos, born in 1939 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island (Family Guy fans may recognize her name?), is a pioneer of electroacoustic music. Beginning in the late 1960s, she recorded several classical works by Johann Sebastian Bach and other baroque composers using the famous Moog modular synthesizer. Wendy Carlos actively contributed to the development of the Moog synthesizer through her collaboration with Robert Moog, whom she met in 1968.
Her groundbreaking album, ‘Switched-On Bach’ (1968), originally recorded on a custom 8-track 1″ (Ampex300/351) tape machine, marked the first time synthesizer sounds were introduced to the public in a non-experimental context. This album is a milestone in electronic music production, and if you have the chance, it’s worth a listen.
Wendy Carlos is not only an accomplished musician, having created her own musical scale, but also a prolific composer, responsible for the soundtrack of films such as A Clockwork Orange And Tron. Like many musicians of the 70s and 80s, her music was originally on audio master tapes from that era. And that's when she decided to transfer her audio master tapes to digital. And, well, you can probably guess where I'm going with this...
Returning to those old tapes and placing them on a Reel-to-Reel player after all these years can have serious consequences if you’re not careful. Some of the very popular tapes from the 70s, 80s, and even pushing into the 90s can suffer from a condition known as Sticky Shed Syndrome or SSS to make it short.
It’s essential to note that only tapes made of polyester are affected, and typically those with a black back coating are the worst. If you have tapes from the 60s and earlier, they are probably acetate and do not exhibit Sticky Shed Syndrome (SSS). To distinguish them, hold the tape in front of your eyes with a light source behind the side of the tape. If the light shines through and it’s translucent, then it’s acetate. Do not bake acetate.
If the tapes are opaque, they are likely polyester, and you can also check on the box if you have it.
If your tapes exhibit SSS, and you decide to play them on your audio tape player, here’s the issue: as the tape passes over the guides and heads of the machine, the glue that holds the ferrous particles to the plastic tape tends to adhere to the non-rotating elements of the tape path (guides, heads). This results in leaving behind those particles on the stationary parts. These particles are crucial for holding the magnetic information, and in this case, the recording. Unfortunately, this scenario is not only problematic but also unrecoverable.
The extent of the damage caused by Sticky Shed Syndrome depends on how severe the condition is on your tape. In mild cases, it may result in a small brown deposit on the machine path, and the high-frequency content of the recording will be permanently lost. In severe cases of SSS, a large deposit forms on stationary parts, causing the loss of more than just the high frequencies.
As a side note, I once purchased a recorder from someone who thought his unit was defective because of the poor sound quality, which sounded muffled. It turned out that they had played a tape affected by Sticky Shed Syndrome on the unit. As a result, not only was the tape problematic, but the heads were also covered in tape residue . Even a good tape would not play properly in this condition. Fortunately, all it took was a thorough cleaning of the heads with a cotton swab and isopropyl alcohol .
Polyester audio tape with black backing (most affected)
As for the tapes, fortunately, there’s a simple solution that even Wendy Carlos has used. The key is to bake them. It was discovered that removing the water absorbed by the culprit binder (the glue) can temporarily fix the problem, providing enough time to transfer the tape to digital or onto a new tape stock. For small 1/4-inch reels, a low stable temperature between 130 and 140 °F for about 4-6 hours is sufficient, while larger 2-inch reels may require up to 12 hours. Importantly, don’t put them in your oven; instead, use a fruit dehydrator, which you can find on Amazon — it’s perfect for this purpose.
If your band is in the list below, it is advisable to " cook ". If it's not listed, you can still "bake" it if you want to be careful; it won't harm the tape, as long as it's not acetate. Remember: do not bake acetate strips. Alternatively, you can perform a test on your reel-to-reel player/recorder using a small portion of the tape. Play it for a few seconds, stop the tape, do not rewind it—just remove it from the path to check for residue. If there is no residue, you can continue playing the entire tape, and perhaps do another test after a few minutes to confirm.
The same testing approach applies when dealing with a tape affected by SSS. After the baking process, perform a test, and if it still leaves residue, consider baking it for a few more hours. Upon completion, rewind the tape by bypassing the stationary parts of the path, if possible.
Ampex 651 polyester audio tape, brown in color and without a backing, is not listed below as problematic.
As a final note, although audio tapes and SSS are often discussed, it is important to mention that some videotapes may also be affected. For example, 1/2-inch open video reels for Sony's EIAJ-1 video format from the 1970s may need to be "baked." This method can also be effective in resolving squeaking issues with U-Matic 3/4 video cassettes inside the player, except for those that leave a dry white residue (see note below).
Sticky-Shed Syndrome
Treatment and affected stock
To summarize the information above, to treat polyester tapes affected by the SSS, place them in a dehydrator at a temperature between 130 and 140 °F (54-60 °C) for 4 to 6 hours. This should be sufficient for 1/4-inch tapes. THE wider formats will require more time in the dehydrator, up to 12 hours.
You can also contact us for us to take care of processing and digitizing your tapes.
List of classic stocks affected by the Sticky Shed
Ampex/Quantegy
– 406/407, 456/457, 478, 499, 2020/373, 3600, 196 (1-inch video), 197 (3/4-inch video)
Scotch/3M
– 211, 226/227, 250, 806/807/808/809, “Classic” and “Master, Master-XS” 908, 966/986, 967 and 996 (50% of the time)
Sony
– SLH, ULH, FeCr, PR-150
In our experience, the videotapes Sony KCA Series (KCA-20, KCA-30, KCA-60) U-Matic 3/4-inch may have a unique problem, leaving a dry white residue which is not mold, but rather deterioration of the lubricant. Unlike Sticky Shed Syndrome, this problem does not appear to be resolved by cooking. Instead, it appears to be alleviated by playing the tape several times until it stabilizes. During this process, it is advisable to clean the transport and heads between plays for optimal results.
Agfa
– PEM 469, PEM 369
– – – – – – – – –
Tapes showing slight deterioration
In most cases, it is sufficient to treat using a cloth through which the tape is passed at high speed.
Scotch/3M
– 201 (Acetate)
– 206/207
Article written by Patric: Understanding Sticky-Shed Syndrome – Description, Treatment and List of Tapes
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