Old, unknown Blind Willie McTell recodings... advice

Hi Julien,

I only have a faint idea of what's involved with restoring tapes so I'll keep the advice as general as possible. 

I would make the suggestion to restore the tapes because they're deteriorating even as you speak to him.  That the tapes would eventually fail if they weren't restored.  Then, the music would be lost. 

I'd also explain each and every step that you're going to take.  A friend of mine used to restore tapes and he would actually bake them in the oven.  I don't know the details, but he was very successful at restoring tapes.  I think the baking prevented the tape from de-laminating when it got played.  Someone who isn't into the restoration process would probably get very nervous if the process wasn't fully explained. 

Good luck,
Jan`

I'd have to peacefully disagree with brother Mike on this one. It depends how old these tapes are, how they were stored as well as what format. Don't even attempt to play them yourself on a pristine deck. There would be nothing worse than attempting to play these and have them come apart right in front of the guy. There are companies that specialize in this stuff. If you can get the tapes in your hands or offer to take the guy with you to the place to have them inspected, that's a good way to go about it. This way there is full trust and it won't set off any red flags for him. But definitely look into places that do this sort of thing and find out what the procedure is...get as much info as you can, then pass it on to your friend and see what he says. The more credible info you provide while maintaining security to his tapes, the more he may go for it. But whatever you do...do NOT attempt to play these tapes yourself or allow someone with a good tape rig to play them that is not experienced on how to handle something as old and sensitive as this. It could break apart in your hands....it could fade to tape dust upon rewind..snap...the list of things that could happen are limitless.

-Danny

I thought I told him to find a guy that has a tape deck?

:-S