Tape Baking and Restoration

Mr. Toad's can "Bake" your tapes for you - a process where the glues that hold the magnetic oxide to the polymer backing of the tape are slowly heated to chemically recombine the material to the backing, with less stickiness and higher quality sonics. Tapes that physically were stuck together or in danger of having huge chunks of material separate and fall apart can safely be played again...for a limited time. We try to prepare anyone with a tape over 5 years old for the potential need to bake the tape before archiving it to CD or audio files. Proper storage can extend the life of a tape to 10 years easily, but after that tape baking is practically a requirement for a good transfer, especially for tapes made in the '80's.

Generally we can bake 5 reels of 2" or 10 reels of 1/4" tape in one round of baking. For the first bake we charge $75, which covers up to two days of baking. Tapes occasionally need longer bakes (we've seen them require up to 4 days) and any additonal baking past the first two days is another $50, until ready. Larger quantities can be quoted on an individual basis. Give us a call or email.

We can also restore the splices and leader tape on old reels of tape. Some reels will never be playable again unless the glue that has spread from the splicing tape is carefully and correctly removed before the tape is ever attempted to be spooled. If not, the tapes could be disastrously damaged. This is a noxious, expensive and time consuming process, so it's usually reserved for precious masters about to be re-mastered.

Another noxious, laborious process is dealing with mold. Mold removal is relatively straightforward but the processes required to keep the staff safe from toxic molds is expensive and laborious. If you have moldy tape, try to take a photo of it and send it when you inquire about the service. There are two processes available -one that strictly kills the mold and facilitates the transfer of the tape and a more complex one involving cosmetically removing the mold stains from the tape.