Is this article for real?
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/12/hot-yoda/419454/#article-comments
I am not an expert on audio preservation, but I would have thought that digitizing this stuff would have happened a long time ago.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
It’s very real. All magnetic tape deteriorates with time and must be baked to keep the tape from flaking or dropping out. This is the case for multi-track master tapes (records) and television broadcast (video/audio).
Audio engineers have done it for all of your favorite records master tapes, I imagine. Even if they have been digitized I imagine they try and preserve the original tapes for posterity.
“This will begin to make things right.” Lor San Tekka
Actually for a long time there was whale oil used in the formula for the magnetic tapes, but sometimes in the late seventies it was replaced with synthetic oil that is not as stable and those tapes after many years became sticky and could not be played back. The baking of the tapes has the effect to reduce the stickiness enough to allow for the tapes to be played back one more time.
I always wondered what EXACTLY baking means. For me baking is a method how to produce delicious cookies and I can’t really imagine how can you bake a magnetic tape - if you put that thing in an oven it should burn, shouldn’t it?
IIRC, Puggo bakes old reel to reel video tapes all the time. I’m sure he could explain the process.
Where were you in '77?
I’m guessing using a microwave for the process is a definite no-no.
I don’t think they are trying to save the tapes for posterity, but rather to get them to a state so that they can be played one more time and be digitized for posterity.