This is a really great tutorial bar one tiny thing: some (cheap nasty) cassette recorders used a permanent-magnet for an erase head. Bizarre but true, and two big ways you can tell (other than their horrible recordings) is (1) no wires connect to the erase head, and (2) obviously it doesn't press against the tape during Play, only Record. If you have one of those machines, FFS do NOT demagnetise the erase head!

A much easier way to de-mag the heads is with a TDK HD-01 cassette head demagnetizer. You have to change the battery every few years but it is simple. Just pop in the cassette shaped demagnetizer, press play and a little light will go on when done. I've had my HD-01 for over 35 years and it works.

I've read a few things about cleaning tape player heads, one of which was on a web site about, of all things, Teddy Ruxpin, a toy teddy bear that used cassette tapes, one thing that website mentioned is not to press too hard on the pinch roller when cleaning it or you may start shedding rubber, and that can't be good. BadEditPro also made a video about cleaning and demagnetising tape heads, he said you should turn off and unplug your tape deck before demagnetising it. This is very instructive.

I'd say for the overall "health" of the deck, then yes, clean and demagnetize...but to get that crisp dynamic range sound back, I simply do a line-in record straight to Adobe Audition/Soundbooth and tweak the 10 band graphic equalizer accordingly. Does the trick everytime. Very good video.

Back in the late '80s a friend had one of those demagnatizer wands with a rubber tip. He used the thing daily on his Boom Box. So seeing from your demo, I can guess he was doing it wrong, he never had any problems with the tapes, But he would wind up changing his speakers every few months.

Thanks for the video. You demonstrate and explain everything well. This is very helpful for me.

Great video presentation. Excellent educator and communicator.

I had an rx79es that looked almost identical to that. I wonder what the differences were? My capstan motor took a dump and I ended up throwing it out. Apparently I read it's a huge problem on these particular decks with the automatic doors from that time period. Now I see you can purchase capstan motors for them pretty easily. I should have hung onto it as I absolutely loved it. Definitely the best two head deck I've ever owned. The recording quality would give a three-head deck a good run for its money!

Thank you uxbill.. I will dissasemble the cassette/radio deck again and try again to fix the problem. Best wishes

"before" didn't sound bad, but you can certainly hear the better frequency response in the mid and high's after the demag. I would imagine demag'n the record head also provides a better frequency response to which the tape absorbs.

Excellent video.Cheers for uploading it!

@uxwbill I think original recordings do not suffer from additional KZfaq compression, so I wish to hear the difference. Thanks!

If you're careful (easier to do with 8 track and some reel to reel) you can demagnetize with a soldering gun (not iron)

Very good information. Picked up a 3 head JVC with so much crud on the head, the levels were low. After cleaning the crud off the heads, it works great now. Have you ever used a tape demagnetizer in the shape of a cassette tape shell? I've got one made by TDK, the HD-01 that I've used for years. Tom

heej bill, I bought something cool at the secondhand store. a Pioneer T-F21 tape deck. It has a slide like a cd drive, its not working all that great, but i just wanted to have one!

Maybe you can help. The cassette deck in my car favors the right channel on any tape. It also is finicky when it comes to ejecting. Additionally, Sort of unrelated, I have a book on tape where the volume is fading in and out at a steady pace. It was an unopened tape, and does this in any tape deck. How can I get my tape deck to balance, how can I get eject to work consistently, and is that book on tape just bad?

I didn't hear any difference. Unfortunately 360p videos on KZfaq have lower sound quality in high frequency due compression so that might be the case. I recorded clips with 16b/96kHz which is enough for this video and splited clips in two for A/B tests with markers on different parts. My hearing doesn't register beyond 15-16kHz and my Sennheiser HD201 headphones are limmiting factors. Head characteristics & electronics, tape and source are dominant IMHO.

Have you ever thought about if the quality of a recording is better at the end of a tape or the beginning. Giving the tape is running faster or slower across the head. Thought about it a few times but really don't have a way to test.

@uxwbill If you happen to still keep original recordings ( highly unlikely :) from your Mac before and after, could you upload them somewhere? Also, what is your opinion on demagnetisers? Are they really essential or isopropyl should be enough? I plan to transfer some old tapes, one time job, so I wish to do it best I can. Thanks.

i have a tape deck, but the sound isn't as good as it was 5 years ago, i tried cleaning the heads with water and a brush, does this mean it is time to get a better deck from a used shop or ebay?

I always scrubbed the heads side to side, because I thought it might damage them otherwise. It may not matter.

07:47 before cleaning 09:23 after cleaning

Thank you uxwbill good tutorial.. Best wishes

whats the problem if you dont demagnetise is there any vid showing what happens with a magnetized head and if it really is such a problem to need a demagnetizer ie does the sound play warped etc show us what happens with magnetized heads otherwise no motivation to do it.

I can't see the erasure head you are referring too. I'm looking for it on my old panasonic single-head tape recorder, and can't seem to find it either. What am I overlooking??

I think the instructions for my Akai demagnetizer I got when I bought my Akai 570-D deck said approach slowly, don't touch, and rotate the demagnetizer in a slow circular motion. Did you do that last step? I saw one video where the guy didn't. He actually made contact with the head and held it there for 10 seconds. I never heard of that. Can you comment?

Hey,how am i supposed to remove stuck oxides and corrosion from heads and capstan when alcohol does nothing?thanks for the video!

Hi Bill, I own an Aiwa AD-F910 cassette deck and I've noticed that it does not erase when recording. The new track is mixed in with the old at the same volume level, but there is some distortion to the sound too. Any idea whether this is a cheap/simple fix? Thanks

Do you know how to open a cassette tape deck door? I have a sony cassette deck and i can't remove a casstte from the player because i can't open the door to remove it. I dissasembled the unit but was not able to unlock the door to remove the cassette.. Any ideas? thank you

But thanks for the video anyway, it was very helpful!

A classical remake of the song Angie by the Rolling Stones

that orchestra song sounds familiar i cant quite put my finger on it tho

@uxwbill Hi! Mr uxbil , las week i bought a Technics RSB 48R , i try to service it myself it , but i only made things worse , i put back everything together it played fine for like five minutes but after that it became to behave crazy it would play the cassette without touching any button , the cassette was not rolling but the pinch roll , it ate my tape, how much would you charge me to fix it (if you are in the States ) , i hope you can help me thank you .

What brand of swabs are you using?

i dont hear the difrence

would a demagnetizing deguassing wand for CRT's be too strong?

What was the music at the end, I know it but just can't put my finger on it?

Where do you buy a demagnetizer? anyone know?

Hi, i have this noise problem when i rec and play, do you know what is it? Cassette Noise

wow hiss is gone much more mid and low no more scrachy highs

Dude u a cleaning wrong ay..u must clean in tape moving direction

Make sure the deck is off first