[QuadList] Mechanical Splices

Thu Dec 2 09:04:32 CST 2010

I had heard that they usually "developed" tracks using a solvent containing fine iron powder, so they could cut at field lines for the video.  The control track "should" be in-phase and not jump, if you cut precisely.  The audio was a different story.

Of course, playing back spliced tapes always seemed like a crap-shoot to me.  Every time I went over a splice, I held my breath for $2000 worth of quad heads.

Steve Greene
Archivist
Office of Presidential Libraries
(301) 837-1772>>> David Crosthwait <david at dcvideo.com> 12/2/2010 9:32 AM >>>

"you tend to be pleased if they play without frame rolls" Agreed!

Yes, I have spliced 2" tape also, and have made some recently in preparing tape for transfer. It's just part of the routine here.

In my opinion, any sort of physical "L" cut would mean cutting the video first, where the incision would extend only to within the last few millimeters of the top of the 2" tape where the audio track resides, then precisely making a 90 degree cut to the "in sync" audio down the tape, and finishing the incision with a second 90 degree cut. Then, that exact cut (mirrored) would have to be made to the "B" side, to make a proper and seamless mate. Respectfully, I don't see this happening. And if so, it certainly would warrant a round of drinks at the Tiki Room for all the hear the story of success. 

This guy will be happy if the routine splice works. No fancy stuff.

David

On Dec 2, 2010, at 2:31 AM, Trevor Brown wrote:

Having made physical splices on quad tapes, you tend to be pleased if they play without frame rolls, yes the sound edit is about half a second after the video edit, and in theory  it could  to be cured by an L splice, but then the top of the L would be 9" long,. (for a sound and picture cut in the same place)
So I think the L splice is a concept that,  but would not in practice have been carried out by a physical  L cut in the tape, which would be almost impossible to perform, and would be rather hard on the head wheel which would scan across the top of  L,  getting on for 500 head passes, ( could be expensive in terms of head ware)

I suspect buy some sort of audio lift, or parallel audio recording although the dates you quote are very early for anything along these lines

TrevorB
UK Member

From: quadlist-bounces at quadvideotapegroup.com [mailto:quadlist-bounces at quadvideotapegroup.com] On Behalf Of trandoc at aol.com
Sent: 02 December 2010 04:21
To: quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com
Subject: Re: [QuadList] Mechanical Splices

David,

Thanks for your reply.

A little more background on my question:

My dad, (who worked at CBS 1949-1973, but not in tape) remembers hearing of a 1962 musical show edited with an "L Splice" which was a mechanical cut to include the audio track. This seems to be quite a feat, yet it has been verified by a friend of his who also has memories of such an edit. The editor mentioned might have been a George Hartmann?. This is all I know. Quite a feat and really tough on the headwheel!!

Regards,
Harold

-----Original Message-----
From: David Crosthwait <david at dcvideo.com>
To: Quad List <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>
Sent: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 6:23 pm
Subject: Re: [QuadList] Mechanical Splices
Harold, 

I have not heard of this from a standpoint of physically splicing the tape in a non-straight form. What this "L" cut may be referring to is the practice of cutting the picture and conforming a separate mag or audio tape to have the audio cuts be in-sync with the picture cut. Such a system was in place in the 50's and 60's at NBC Burbank. Having laughs cross the edits also helped in the separate system approach, such as in Laugh-In. On the Cyd Charisse (1959 color) presentation, such a system of post pix edit audio conform was used throughout the program, but was especially critical in the first dance scene, which was heavily spliced. The music track that Cyd danced to was consistent and uninterrupted by the physical cuts.

David
www.dcvideo.com

On Dec 1, 2010, at 3:08 PM, trandoc at aol.com wrote:

Hi all,

I would like to access the experience of the list. I have heard of an "L Splice" which was said to compensate for the separation between the video drum and audio stack on a quad machine. This seems quite amazing to me and I wonder if anyone else has heard of this?

Thanks,
Harold
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