Recursive Delete Audio/Visual

Lunar surface or pinch roller?

A great number of the Tascam 244 and 246 machines that come through the RDAV workshop have melted rubber parts. On more rare occasions, we see what is almost like a dry rotting of the rubber, as was the case with a machine we’re working on for this week.

Many of the models we service have pinch rollers with plastic hubs, and we just replace the pinch roller entirely if they show signs of wear or decay. The 244 and 246 have pinch rollers with brass hubs, and for these, cleans off the old rubber and applies a freshly-sourced tire in its place.

Some of the neglected units we work on probably lived for years in an attic, basement or barn, but occasionally we get one that was stored on the moon!

Over the weekend I was in Nashville and returned this Tascam 424 belonging to .moss !

The 424 had a creaky worm gear on the tape counter which I adjusted, making it much quieter.

Some of the transport buttons had been taking multiple presses to respond, so I replaced all the underlying tactile switches. Now they are very responsive when pressed!

The machine had been experiencing issues with its power adapter, so I included a new, compatible one when I returned the machine.

And as always, the unit was fully cleaned, calibrated and tested, and is working great. Excellent wow & flutter numbers!

The only issue I couldn’t fix was the abundance of melty rubber on the k**b caps. I’m not sure if it’s temperature or just random old age decay, but occasionally I’ll work on a Tascam 424 that has one or two k**b caps where the rubber has become very pliable. I have a decent amount of parts machine extras on hand that I can use as replacements, but when the entire mixing surface is effected, there’s not much I can do.

I told Dylan that one of these days I hope to produce some all-plastic replicas of the 424 k**b caps so that I can do a full k**b cap swap in cases where they’re that far gone.

Do you have a machine with melty or missing k**b caps? Which ones do you need? Let me know in the comments!

As seen on the underside of a client’s Tascam 246 that I’m reassembling this afternoon. This address in Los Angeles is now a nail salon.

A conversation I had about tape with is featured today over at !

Here's the link: https://wowandflutter.substack.com/p/wow-and-flutter-009-recursive-delete

Carolyn uses W&F as a means to highlight the work of people who make cassettes a part of their workflow. I’ve really enjoyed reading the other conversations and interviews she has featured, and I’m grateful that she asked me to participate! Be sure to subscribe so you’ll get future issues right in your email inbox!

Most of you probably don’t know that Recursive Delete Audio/Visual was a record label - dating all the way back to 2001 or 2002 - and later a recording studio, before it morphed into a repair business. Carolyn and I discuss a little bit of that, as well as my plans to revive the studio aspect with a focus on digital/tape hybrid recording.

I’d be curious to hear your thoughts in the comments about anything that was discussed. What are *your* strong opinions about music-listening formats?