MSR 16 Low Level "Sizzle" Sound When Recording

[Dean Gullberrys]

Hello everyone,

I just pulled my MSR 16 from retirement and noticed a strange, low-level, sizzle type of sound at the end of every recorded passage. All the previous recordings playback perfectly, the problem only happens on new recorded material. I have tried recording with and without dbx, but the "sizzle" or "fuzz" sound is still there at the end of every note.

I cleaned the entire tape path with 99% isopropyl alcohol - which didn't help.

Does anyone have an suggestions? Appreciate the help!

 

[Arjan P]

If it is only on newly recorded material and the tape path is clean, this suggests there must be something going on in the input electronics. Is the problem the same on all tracks, and is it just after audio was recorded or is it also constant where silence is recorded? I don't know the machine myself, but this would be my guess.

 

[Dean Gullberrys]

Hey Arjan,
Thanks for the reply. The low-level "fuzz" noise is appears on all the channels - and only on playback of newly recorded material. The noise is not audible when monitoring the channel inputs or if I record silence. It's most obvious at the tail-end of a passage or transient. It sounds like the sympathetic rattle of snare wires, except I am tracking direct instruments.

 

[Dean Gullberrys]

Could it be a recording bias issue?

 

[wkrbee]

Same brand/formulation of tape? Swap tape- does it have the same problem?Put on a prerecorded tape,find a blank section,record.Same problem?If it's low freq stuff-"bias rocks" was the generic term.Can be minimized by careful re-biasing/over biasing- may be a tape issue.

 

[Dean Gullberrys]

Thanks Wrkbee,

I will give it a go. Yes you are right, the fuzz/sizzle sound does appear to be coming from the lower frequencies. I'm thinking a judicious amount of over/under bias should do the trick.

 

[wkrbee]

If you record a low freq 30 HZ or so to the tape and look at the signal on a scope,you can actually see part of the waveform drop out.