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To apply leader tape, follow these procedures:
- Locate the beginning (or the end) of the recorded sound on the
tape, rewind (or fast forward) a little bit to insure that you
won’t cut into the recorded sound you want, then mark (on
tape) the intended cut with grease pencil (always make the mark
on the tape facing away from the side of the record/playback heads.
i.e. the dull, darker brown non-magnetic tape).
- Place the marked segment of tape in the editing block (you can
pull the tape away from the tape heads with the tape still on
the reels).
- Align the grease pencil mark with the desired razor groove (vertical
for a hard, instantaneous sound cut, or diagonal for a soft, more
oblique cut). Then with a clean, swift stroke cut through the
tape.
Diagram 2, Audio Tape meets leader
tape on editing block. Ready to splice together.
- Keeping the tape held in the shallow groove, match end to end
(no gaps, no overlaps) then cut master tape with length of leader
tape, cut the same way (see diagram 2).
- Using the razor blade, cut off enough blue adhesive tape to
cover the splice vertically. Affix the blue adhesive tape across
the cut and joined magnetic and leader tape (use the handle side
of the razor blade or a fingernail to rub the adhesive tape on
and to smooth out the air bubbles). Trim the blue tape from the
top and bottom of the audio tape by holding the razor at an angle
and sliding it along the groove that holds the tape in the splicing
block.
You can cut the leader tape to any length depending
on how much dead silence you want. You can experiment with timing
in this way. Incidentally, timing tape is essentially the same thing
as leader tape, except it’s yellow or red and sometimes it’s
useful to differentiate between timing and leader functions. The
above procedure is useful for inserting breaks in your master tape,
between songs or programs. Again, leader or timing tape is essentially
soundless, so you can also use it whenever you don’t want tape
hiss or want to permanently remove stick clicks.
Tape Loops
Before sequencers and drum machines, enterprising
people made tape loops to achieve endless repetition of a given
sound sequence. If you’ve never seen or made one, the tape
loop is a disarmingly easy and logical device.
To make and playback a tape loop, follow these procedures:
(The only item you need for tape loop playback in addition to
the aforementioned materials is a floating capstan or spool, mounted
on a portable stand, such as a mic stand. See diagram 3.)
Diagram 3, remote capstan device for
tape loops. Note: this can be done a number of ways. Here, a capstan
(or other spool-like tool) is mounted on a microphone stand.
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