MakeMineDigi
New Member
I have a digitizing business and every once in awhile someone hands me a 1/4-inch audio reel where apparently the take-up reel was used as the source reel and now the tape is playing backwards. Calling the source reel "A" and the "up"-facing side "A-1" and the down-facing side "A-2" (and the take-up reel "B" with its own "up" side "B-1" and its down-facing side "B-2"), who can tell me how to fix this problem? I have already improvised a playback solution by flipping the "A" source reel over, so that "A-2" is facing up, then feeding tape from the top of the reel -- instead of the cardinal rule tape-out off of the bottom of the reel -- and I can get the proper playback. But that does NOT solve the long-term solution of getting it right on the take-up reel so that this fundamental problem is corrected when I give the original master reel back to my customer -- and my improvised playback method cannot be good for the source tape, either. I need someone to explain this to me like the idiot that I fundamentally am. And if you do offer a solution, assume that the source reel is "A-1" side up and tape out from the bottom, as it is supposed to be...I only told you about the playback reversal off-top feed to show that I am devilishly clever, but only in certain directions and applications. A big "thank you" in advance to anyone who offers up their thoughts on this situation.
