Tale of the Leadership Tape | WorldatWork

Ed Manfre wants to know what you’re reading.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website.

As a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ Los Angeles office and a member of Heidrick Consulting, Manfre helps CEOs assemble and develop world-class leadership teams.

Manfre and his colleagues at Heidrick frequently find one trait that he says separates the average leader from the exceptional one: Agility.

The Center for Agile Leadership defines truly agile leaders as being inclusive and democratic, and exhibiting “a greater openness to ideas and innovations. With a passion for learning, a focus  on developing people and a strong ability to define and communicate a desired vision, they possess  all of the tools necessary to successfully inspire others and become an agent for change within any organization.”

To help identify a candidate who possesses such tools, Manfre starts by asking one simple question. “I often ask what someone is reading right now, either about their industry, their role or a personal interest,” he said. “If they struggle with that, it’s a signal about how they prioritize their own learning and the learning of people they lead.”

There are other indicators of agility, of course. “A few signals of an agile leader with high potential include a wide range of project portfolio successes and interests, sometimes across multiple industries and functions,” said Manfre. “They some- times are seen or see themselves as ‘Swiss army knives,’ but also possess deep expertise in at least  a few areas. There is a demonstrated passion and successful track record for collaborating with a wide range of colleagues, and for building their skills as leaders of people.”

Leading people in comes with different requirements than it did in, say, . In addition to being agile and adaptive, the modern manager must be an empathetic, compassionate, emotionally attuned leader who understands what his or her team members need to perform at their best.

The modern manager must also understand that there will be days — during a global pandemic, for example — when family obligations, financial worries or any one of countless other stressors prevent employees from being at their best.

Leaders need to exhibit this kind of empathy and understanding of human nature to be effective in what Manfre describes as “an era of near-permanent disruption” and going forward. He and other experts urge emphasizing these types of attributes as much as experience, education, technical expertise and other “hard” qualities when identifying and developing leaders within an organization.

Undervalued and Overlooked

Research supports the idea that qualities like empathy, compassion, flexibility and agility are valuable tools in a leader’s toolbox.

A Center for Creative Leadership study, for example, analyzed data from 6,731 managers from 38 countries. The analysis gathered responses from subordinates rating their managers in four areas: sensitivity to signs of overwork in others; interest in the needs, hopes and dreams of others; willingness to help employees with personal problems; and compassion toward others when they disclose a personal loss.

The study found that empathy is positively related to job performance, with managers who show more empathy toward direct reports being viewed as better performers in their jobs by their bosses.

The coronavirus pandemic has “amplified and accelerated” the need for these types of compassionate, adaptable and resilient leaders, said  Pam Borton, CEO and president of ON Point and a consultant for PsyBar.

“Times have changed dramatically and permanently, and so have the capabilities and skills that employers need to hire and that employees need to exhibit,” she said. “Businesses are not only trying to stay current and relevant, but also trying to predict and anticipate future needs for upskilling the workforce.”

“Times have changed dramatically and permanently, and so have the capabilities and skills that employers need to hire and that employees need to exhibit. Trying to stay current and relevant, but also trying to predict and anticipate future needs for upskilling the workforce.”

COVID-19 has offered organizations and their leadership a “shocking reminder” that they can’t be caught flat-footed, “and that there needs to be constant focus on the future and helping clients solve complex problems,” Borton said.

“Using our latest crisis as an example, it is more important than ever for leaders to have strong and effective communication skills that transfer seamlessly to remote platforms, and that they are able to project a powerful and inspiring message that engages and motivates a team to achieve shared goals.”

The COVID-19 era has also highlighted the need for managers to sense when a given employee needs more flexibility to do their job, needs a friendly ear or just needs a mental break. This ability to handle interpersonal relationships is often referred to as emotional intelligence (EQ). And modern leaders would be well-served to possess it in spades.

For example, a recent study of 1,325 participants from 70 countries found a distinct link between emotional intelligence and greater leadership performance. The study, which defined emotional intelligence as the capacity to be “smarter with feelings,” to accurately acquire and effectively utilize emotional data, found that individuals with higher EQ were seven times more likely to score higher on a host of leadership drivers such as motivation, teamwork and trust.

Developing this type of awareness doesn’t always come easy, “but interpersonal and soft skills must come first,” said Borton. “The complexities businesses are experiencing in the midst of constant change impact all stakeholders, leadership decisions, overall goals and, most importantly, their own employees.”

“Softer” and sometimes-tough-to-quantify traits like these have for too long been “undervalued and overlooked as critical leadership skills,” said Borton, citing studies that have shown emotional intelligence accounting for as much as 85% of overall business success.

Still, “it has taken a global pandemic to finally put these skills at the top of the priority list,” she added. “In order for leaders to successfully navigate the unprecedented and turbulent tsunami that hit everyone in , all individuals must consciously and intentionally lead much more with empathy, compassion, resilience, adaptability, optimism and effective communication skills.”

“Softer” and sometimes-tough-to-quantify traits like these have for too long been undervalued and overlooked as critical leadership skills...studies have shown emotional intelligence accounting for as much as 85% of overall business success.” 

Identifying the Intangibles

It takes just a few seconds to pull up anyone’s LinkedIn profile to find out where he or she went to college. A quick scan of a resume can shed light on a candidate’s professional experience and accomplishments.

But a resume or a LinkedIn page can’t predict how an individual will lead in a time of crisis, or how a leader will approach an employee who’s underperforming and clearly struggling to cope with the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, for example.

This task is a bit more straightforward when looking at would-be leaders already within the organization, said Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, chief talent scientist at Manpower Group and professor of business psychology at University College London and Columbia University.

Tongxi supply professional and honest service.

“Internal candidates are easier because you know their past performance,” said Chamorro-Premuzic. “But, unfortunately, many companies don’t have good performance data for their employees, so they often promote based on people’s reputation rather than talent, which can be a function of their ability to navigate office politics and suck up to the status quo.”

The irony, he said, is that companies are more likely to use objective and data-driven tools when sizing up an external candidate, “which may end up with a more accurate profile of their leader- ship potential.”

To do this, though, organizations “need to avoid basing their decisions on unreliable methods such as the job interview,” continued Chamorro-Premuzic. “People who seem socially skilled in interviews are often just narcissistic and confident, rather than humble and competent.”

IMA Group has typically relied on many of the “traditional” factors — resume, job experience, references — to predict who will do well in a given role with the organization, said Marc Weinberger, president of the Tarrytown, N.Y.-based provider of medical and psychological evaluations as well as screening services.

That said, softer skills such as emotional intelligence, maturity, reliability and empathy have become a bigger part of the equation for talent decisions at all levels, he said.

As a clinical psychologist, Weinberger understands the importance of these traits in any work environment.

“Informally assessing emotional intelligence and a lengthy interview process helps ferret out the strongest candidates who possess these ever-important traits,” he said, adding that IMA’s goal is ultimately to determine the best cultural fit for the organization.

“I think one of the best ways [to determine cultural fit] is a multi-person interview process. This allows for input from a variety of sources, who each bring their unique perspective into how an individual will fit into our organization,” continued Weinberger.

“While the approach isn’t systematic, I’m always impressed by the insights other people share, especially on some of the ‘soft’ skills we’re now beginning to see are key to success.”

Always Room to Improve

Determining the capacity that a candidate — for a top position or any other role — has for showing empathy, compassion and emotional intelligence is certainly a big first step toward finding the individuals who will lead your organization forward.

The next, equally important step is to nurture these qualities in your own leaders at all levels, as well as lower-tier employees who could one day step into leadership roles.

Interpersonal sensitivity, however, “is a tougher competency to develop, as empathy and compassion are more trait-based and hardwired,” said Marie Holmstrom, senior director of talent and rewards at Willis Towers Watson.

Holmstrom urges training leaders to step back in instances that require such sensitivity, and think about a time when they struggled on the job and what — or who — helped them pull through it, and then apply those strategies to this situation.

“What words or actions did you find most helpful, and what was not helpful? When you observe signs of stress in your staff or colleagues, check in with them to find out how they are doing and offer assistance.”

“Importantly, inclusive training is needed to emphasize a broad range of topics including the critical emotion of ‘belonging’ — why it’s important, what it is and how it is fostered through the employee experience and manager interactions.”

She also recommends teaching leaders to focus on nonverbal communication, which is especially critical when in-person interaction isn’t always an option.

“In person and on video, [leaders should] display positive body gestures — leaning your body forward, nodding your head, maintaining eye contact — to indicate your genuine concern,” said Holmstrom.

“Be observant of nonverbal cues — facial expressions, tone of voice, body language — and behaviors by those you work with, to determine if something is amiss. Is there something you can do to help them?”

Role-playing exercises also provide space to explore various communication techniques and common manager and employee interactions that give leaders “the opportunity to flex [their] empathy muscles,” added Manfre.

“And, importantly, inclusive training is needed to emphasize a broad range of topics including the critical emotion of ‘belonging’ — why it’s important, what it is and how it is fostered through the employee experience and manager interactions,” he said.

Ultimately, every employee interaction offers a chance for leaders to gain insight into how their interpersonal skills are evolving. Those in leadership positions should take advantage of these opportunities, said Holmstrom.

“Ask those who are close to you to alert you whenever you say or do something insensitive. Make amends and put things right whenever possible.

Routinely put yourself in the shoes of others when you make decisions that impact them. If you are not sure, ask for clarification rather than assuming.

“Ask them specifically for input on how well you listen, resolve problems for others, empathize with others and address their needs,” she said. “Identify specific steps you can take to improve in each of these areas.”

Are you interested in learning more about Leader Tape? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

I thought that I'd start this guide with a discussion of the heads since it's the interface between them and the tape that makes it all happen. It's also this interface that makes the difference between a poor performing machine and the very best. Almost every consumer or pro-sumer (machines that attempt to bridge the gap between consumer and professional machines) include recording and playback facilities. Most are 3 head machines and the usual order of the heads (in the direction of the tape during playback) is erase, record and playback. This order is done for a reason. When recording,  erase head clears or deletes any sound that's already on the tape so the record head can imprint the music that you want on the tape. The playback head is last in line so you can hear or monitor what's just been recorded on the tape.
For this post, we'll concentrate on the playback head only since it's the only one that's important for playing the Tape Project tapes.

Track configurations on heads

By ironbut at -08-25 photo courtesy of Richard Hess http://www.richardhess.com/tape/index.htm
Ignoring the embedded text regarding the 8 and 16 track machines( on another photo not included) we can see a good illustration of how the tracks on a four channel machine are spaced. The head in the middle is the record head and the one on the right is the playback head.
These are 4 channel heads as opposed to stereo which of course is 2 channel. This head assembly would record and playback in one direction only on the entire width of the tape. If we were to number the tracks(channels) 1-4 starting with the top and counting down keep an eye on tracks 1 and 3. Most of the older tapes that you buy on eBay that are labeled 4 track (1/4 track) stereo. If we were to superimpose a photo of the heads of a 1/4 track machine you'd see that the tracks on those heads would line up with tracks 1 and 3. The one that lines up with track 1 is always the left channel and the one that lines up with track 3 is aways the right channel (this is important to remember for chasing down pesky problems so just remember that the top track is always the left channel in 1/4 track stereo ( I usually refer to 4 track stereo as 1/4 track to keep it clear that I'm not talking about 4 channel). When you play a 1/4 track tape and finish side one, you flip the tape over. So when you play side two, you're playing what was tracks 2 and 4. That's why a 1/4 track head's track marks look a little offset toward the top with a big space between them. So, a 1/4 track stereo tape does indeed have 4 tracks, but the it's divided into 2 tracks in one direction and 2 in the other direction. A 1/4 track head only has 2 tracks and relies on you to turn the tape over to reveal the other two tracks. If the tape were to slip up or down (on a 1/4 track tape), the other two tracks would be audible which would be pretty obvious because their sound would be in reverse. Of course, if the heads were to shift up or down it would also start to playback the other two tracks in reverse. As you might guess, the adjustment of the head up and down is important. Strangely enough, this head adjustment is called "height".


Next 1/2 track heads

To continue on with our discussion of heads, the picture below is of the heads on a 1/2 track stereo Sony APR series machine. It has a somewhat specialized head assembly. At first we'll focus on the three heads we already know. Once again, we find the same configuration of erase head>record head>playback head (following the direction the tape travels in play-left to right). Although it's a little harder to see the tracks on the record and playback heads you can see a lighter space in the very middle of the head. This is the border between the two tracks. This is the format that the Tape Project tapes are recorded in. Once again, the left channel is on top (track 1) and the right channel is below the border. So, as you can see, the two tracks take up the full width (except for the border between them).
Because the 2 tracks take up the entire width, the tape is unidirectional and unlike the 4 track stereo tapes that were mentioned in the first "heads" posting, if you were to flip the tape and play it, it would be in reverse (which is pretty fun about once). These tapes are best stored in what we call "tails out". All that means is that the tape is put away (without  rewinding it/flipping it or any other tom foolery), just the way it is after playing it till the end. It's actually the most convenient way to deal with these tapes and good for the tapes to boot. Of course this means that before playing a "tails out" tape, you need to rewind it onto an empty reel on the left reel turntable. We'll get into tape storage/handling and care in a later post.

By ironbut at -08-25
 What's particularly cool about this photo is all the other parts in a head assembly are clearly labeled.
Starting on the far left is a metal guide. The guides do just what they say, but this is another case of less is better. The less guiding the guides have to do the better the sound. Any contact that the tape has with a guide creates friction and this friction creates noise. Minimizing this guiding is the result of proper adjustment done on the entire machine. This is a part of what Doc ( the wise guy dude ) does when he optimizes the tape path with his modifications.
After the guide is a "time code" head. It applies a track into that border between the 2 tracks to sync sound to film or whatever. For the purposes of this discussion that's all I'll say about it (pretty easy since that's about all I do know!).
After that comes the 2 track erase head and then the first in a pair of lifters. The lifters "lift" the tape above the heads during fast forward and rewind and retract during play. When the lifters are retracted the tape moves across the heads and through the guides to allow the heads to "read" the information on the tape. When engaged, the lifters prevent wear on the heads. All adjustments of the heads are done without the lifters engaged.
The idler is only present on some machines although one can be added if there's room. The idler on this machine is used for sonic improvement and the use of these devices will be discussed when we talk more about tape handling and the effects it has on sound.
The last device on this head assembly that we haven't addressed before is the tape sensor. There are several different types of sensors (this one appears to be opto-electric) but they all have the same basic function. They stop the machine at the end of a tape from fast forward, rewind or play when there is no tape breaking a light/sensor interaction (as in this one) or releasing a spring loaded arm (as most consumer/prosumer machines have). When you work on a machine you can "fool" any sensor into thinking there's tape present (and you'll be able to engage play, rewind, fast forward) with a piece of tape either blocking the light sensor or holding the mechanical arm up.
If you look at the top of the head assembly, you'll notice a series of labeled holes. These are for access to the head adjustments. One of the main adjustments for a playback head is to keep the vertical orientation as close to 90 degrees as possible or needed. Imagine a tape with a quick, regular pulse recorded on it. If you could see it on the tape, you'd have a pattern that would look a little like a bar code down the length of the tape with this recording on it. If the playback head was tilted , you could see that part of each track of the head, would be "reading" this pulse before it should, while other parts of the head will be "reading" the pulse after it should be. If the tilt was extreme enough you'd also get pre and post echoing from the other track as it read it's track before or after the other. As you might guess, very slight tilts would result in phase issues with transients and images smeared. Adjusting the heads to eliminate any "tilt" is obviously central to the qualities of the outputs sound. This adjustment is called azimuth.

Once again, the photo is courtesy of Richard Hess http://www.richardhess.com/tape/index.htm
By ironbut at -08-26
OK, so you guys have seen pictures of the most often seen formats (1/4 track stereo and 1/2 track stereo). If you've studied the text, here's a little quiz. What is the format of the the machine whose heads are shown above? Well, here's some hints. The tracks are the orange colored slots and since there are two on each head, it's stereo. Another clue is that there's plenty of room between these tracks to put another track in between. From those two observations we can figure that this is probably a 1/4 track stereo machine. The main difference between this set up and what is usually seen on most 1/4 track stereo machines is the fourth head. One thing I haven't mentioned that would help, is that playback heads usually have a "shield" around them to reduce picking up hum from the rest of the machine (the record and erase heads are putting out a signal so they don't need shields). So the first and last heads are both playback. There are two main types of machines that have more than one playback head, a multi format machine such as the Technics RS series and the Otari mk1 and 2 and auto reverse decks. This is one of the latter since as you can see, both of the playback heads have the same track width. The shields make it difficult to see the offset of the tracks but as I keep saying, the second head must be the erase head, the third is the record head and the fourth is the playback head. With an auto reverse deck, rather than having to flip the tape to play the "B" side, the machine plays backwards and switches which head is being accessed.  Even though we can't really see the opposite offset of the two playback heads, it must be there.
On one of the Technics machines (which playback in 1/2 and 1/4 track stereo) it depends on which model ( or ) on which head playback is first and which is last. A records in 1/2 track stereo and plays back in 1/2 and 1/4 track stereo. Once again the old rule applies. Erase>Record>Playback. If it records in 1/2 track stereo than the 4th head "must" be the 1/2 track playback head. If it's a which records in 1/4 track stereo, than the 4th head "must" be a 1/4 track playback head.
There are machines that were pretty popular in the -80's that throw a monkey wrench in this. Teac created quite a stir when they released a machine called the s. The "S" stands for sync and the s was a 4 channel machine (that's 4 channels in one direction like the head assembly shown in the first picture in the heads posts). Four channels was nothing new but this machine allowed each channel to be recorded at a time and the remaining channels could be added (overdubed) one at a time later. This doesn't seem too revolutionary since it would seem that it would only require switching of each record channel as you overdub each channel. If you look at the picture above and look at heads 3 and 4 (record and playback) you will see that there's a space between the two. Depending on how fast the tape is moving, there is a significant delay between the moment the the sound is recorded onto the tape and when you could hear it. Not only that, but if you're trying to play in time with the other channel/s which have already been recorded, you'd need to anticipate this delay and "hit" the beat before you could hear it. What Teac did was enable the record head to also act as a playback head too. So if drums was recorded on channel 1 you could switch channel 1 on the record head to playback and add a guitar track on channel 2 in perfect sync. Of course studios machines had been doing this ever since Les Paul introduced overdubbing decades earlier but this was the first affordable machine that could do this. The home studio was born and Otari and Teac's own Tascam dominated this market right up to today. We can be mighty thankful for this home studio market since lots of the Pro-sumer stereo machines were designed and bought to mix down these multi track recordings. Some of the members here probably own ex- home studio mastering machines.
Another significant tape/tape deck format was mono. If you collect records, I'm sure you have at least a few mono recordings (enough are being currently produced to prompt cartridge builders to introduce mono versions of some of their stereo models). And if your into jazz, lots of Blue Notes (all the series ) were originally recorded in mono (can you imagine getting your hands on one of those!). There are actually two pretty popular mono formats. One was a full track (full tape width) and 2 track mono (I can't believe that no members jumped on me for forgetting this is the 2 track discussion). The 2 track mono is like a 1/4 track stereo and requires a tape flip to listen to the second side.
There are, of course, lots of other formats such as 24, 16, and 8 channel and some early consumer machines had combination record/playback heads, heads that rotated or raised to have a 3 head 1/4 and 1/2 track playback machine. If anyone has questions regarding these, feel free to ask.
By ironbut at -09-01

Ok,.. just a little head basics. I won't go into lots of technical stuff since this is a beginners guide. Heads are (see top illistration) made of laminations of alloys in 2 main parts. If you look at the bottom cross section, there's a right and left half. To orient you, the tape would be traveling left to right or right to left across the top of the bottom picture. You can see that the haves are made up of "C" cores just like some transformers. Between these cores is a small space called the gap (of all things). The gap is the muzzle of the head. It's where the magnetic flux is allowed to flow out of the head and magnetize the tape. There's a spacer placed into the gap and the whole thing is epoxied into a single piece. One thing to keep in mind with these transducers is the extreme tolerances that they are machine and polished to (we're talking micro inches here). And just like lot's of things here on the planet earth, the material that heads are made of are a balancing act of compromises. In this case, it's between permeability and hardness (output and wear characteristics).
You might ask about the "glass" heads that Sony and Akai used in many of their latter models. I owned a couple of those and the problem with those heads is that they don't wear like a metal head which is usually pretty regular and smooth. They develop microscopic shearing of the crystals that surround the gap. After a while these develop into micro-chips (Hey,.. don't go there CV!) and can do real damage to your valuable tapes without you ever knowing it. Once they go bad, they have to be replaced.
With metal heads after they get worn, they can still be resurfaced (lapped). If you look at the first illustration there's a area on the top labeled "Depth of Gap". When a head wears, a flat spot begins to appear where the tape makes contact. An extreme case of this can be seen in the photo on the right. A head can be relapped until the "depth of gap" begins to equal zero. Since the gap spacer is just that, a spacer, when the gap begins to open up like the track on the bottom of the photo. That head is history.
When the wear isn't nearly as extreme as it is in the photo, the head can be reshaped and polished. How fast a head wears depends on several things.
The hardness of the metal the head is made of.
The speed that the machine is used (30 inch per second machines will wear out heads much faster than 7.5 ips machines)
The abrasiveness of the tape that's used.
The tape tension the machine is set at.
The cleanliness of the tape path and tapes.
Proper adjustment of the heads and guides.
Temperature and humidity (heads will rust ).
Most machines you'll come across aren't going to be as obviously worn at the picture above and to get a good idea of the wear you should use a magnifier of some sort and a good light. Look for the shinny flat spot (which all will have to some degree) and the real tell tail clue is grooving. This is something that you can feel. A head that needs relapping will have a ridge that you can feel with your fingernail (be very gentile, remember some of these heads are made of soft metals and you don't want any scratches on them). Even if you feel this ridge, it doesn't mean that the heads that worn either. Many heads have what's called "edge relief slots" cut into the surface right where these ridges would normally be found. They're there to keep the tape edge from being damaged by a ridge and also to prevent shedding oxide from being trapped along these ridges and escalating the tape and head wear. So, unless you get a good look at the head, you may just be feeling these slots. Also, it's important to see if the wear is even or not. That will tell you more about the condition and adjustment the heads and tape path were in during the majority of service. These are all great clues on how well the machine was cared for or if it was taken to a total hack for regular servicing. If you already own the machine, examining the head wear pattern will tell you if you need to take it in for adjustment. Worn heads can result in high frequency loss, excessive tape wear, inconsistent output (dropouts) and loss of overall output. As you can see from the open gap on the bottom of the head in the photo that this machine either needed to have the heads or guides adjusted. If the uneven wear (from top to bottom) was the result of the head being tilted back, the adjustment that would correct this (here it comes!) is called Zenith.
Just a few more things about heads for this post.
If you should need or choose to replace your playback head/s here's the main things you need to know when you choose one. The two spec's usually associated with them is DCR and fluxivity measured in nano Webers per meter (nWb-m). A service manual will have these figures. The fluxivity is a reference number when you wish to choose an alignment tape too. 185 to over 500 nWb-m heads can be found. Aside from those two figures, many times space available will be another determining factor for which heads can be used with a particular machine. Remember that with playback heads they almost always have a shield around them so the fit can be tight.

If you're interested in more info regarding relapping and head wear, John French is the man and his web site is full of info.http://jrfmagnetics.com/

Here's JFR's procedure when relapping heads:

In the JRF alignment procedure each head (erase, record and playback) is
aligned for track placement (referenced to the tape guides and set within
.), zenith (90 degree tilt), wrap (gap centered on tape contact scrub
pattern), and azimuth (90 degrees).  Head assemblies that do not have tape
guides attached to the head plate are mounted on our lab fixtures that
simulate the recorder tape path (with guides for height reference).

Upon re-installation of our optically aligned assembly we recommend the
use of a test tape to optimize the azimuth for phase.  This is required
because of the tolerance differences between tape width (typically .246)
and guide width clearance (.252).  As you can see, there is about .006
clearance which can allow the tape to enter the assembly incoming guide
low (or high) and exit the outgoing guide high (or low).  This potential
tape path error along with the quality of the tape slitting
and/or other components in the tape path (such as the pinch roller) will
have an effect in the azimuth that cannot be anticipated in the lab.  We
are generally dead on about 70% of the time however, I always recommend
the use of a test tape.




By ironbut at -09-13
Once again, I start this episode with some pretty pictures. Nothing is too good for my special friends here at the Tape Project.
The first two are pictures of the different way that light shines through acetate and polyester tape. Holding the reel up to a light will show that the acetate lets light through. This was important since acetate was the backing that was used for films in the early days. This is the easiest way to determine what you've got. The most important reason for identifying an acetate tape is that, as opposed to polyester backed tape, acetate will not stretch. The older the acetate tape is, the more brittle it will become. For that reason, very careful handling needs to be taken to avoid breaks. Some of the things that you should do is to attach long lengths of leader ( I now splice in 2 full turns of white leader tape and 5 full turns of RMGI recording tape that I have around, just like the Tape Project tapes are done). The reason for this is that there is "no" reason that I ever have to subject the acetate to starts and stops or handling at all. The other thing to avoid is rewinding or fast forwarding these tapes. Of course this can be time consuming with 1/2 track stereo tapes but like I said,.. avoid it if you can.
This brings us to an often mentioned term of "gentile tape handling" or tape handling by a machine in general. This encompasses just about every adjustment on a machine and really starts in the design of the tape transport. For now, I'll just mention the basic adjustments that are directly related to the preservation of your tapes.
Brakes- The brakes should slow the two reel as a team rather than fighting each other. If you turn the reels on your machine with it turned off (and the brakes engaged) you'll notice that the turntables have more resistance in one direction than the other. In fact, you'll find that the side that would be pulling the tape (take up reel) always has more braking applied than the side that would be supplying the tape (supply reel) no matter which direction the tape would be traveling in. You can imagine that if the opposite were true than breakage or stretching would occur. So, having the brake tension and the timing of the braking just right is important.
Tape Tension- On most machines, it's the motion of the capstan that controls the flow of tape during play (I'll get more into the what and whys of capstans latter). The reel motors pull the tape in opposite directions applying tension to the tape. You can see this for yourself if you turn your machine on play without a tape threaded on it. The tension helps keep the tape flowing smoothly through the guides and creating an even tape pack as it goes. Correct adjustment of tape tension is important to prevent slippage as the tape is metered through the capstan/roller assembly.
If you look at the third photo of "uneven wind" you will see one of the main causes of problem tapes. Tape pack is how evenly the tape appears from the side and indicates how each layer of tape is laid upon the layer underneath it. Anything that the tape comes in contact with on it's way from the supply reel to the take up reel effects tape pack. That includes air. In fact, one of the main causes of an uneven wind is air. On the sides of a tape reel there are holes of one sort or another. On the Tape Project reels we have cool looking circle/square/triangles. On plastic reels, they're more like the holes that form spokes but it's the holes that are important. These are called windage holes and for good reason. As the tape winds onto the layer beneath it, there is air pressure created between them. Of course there is much less pressure the slower the tape is laying down but the faster this happens, the more likely that the air pressure will begin to act against the tape tension. The windage holes help to release some of this pressure. But this is one of the reasons that a tape has a less even wind in fast forward or rewind.
So what's so important about getting an even wind?  The tension that's applied to the tape as it travels through the machine doesn't go away once the tape is on the reel and put away . It's still there pulling each layer of tape toward the center of the reel. If the tape is stored like the third picture, the edges that are unsupported are allowed to move farther toward the center then the rest of the tape. Even a relatively short time of storage in an uneven wind will give this curling a memory which may not show up except on playback. If you laid a strip of a "curled" tape on a flat surface you'd see that it won't lay flat. The oxide side is lifted off the surface by the curling and the same thing happens when it tries to lie flat against the head. This results in a loss of signal on that channel. And after the discussion of heads told you, if it's a 1/4 track tape, your left channel will be lower in volume or at least, have some high frequency losses.
Other problems associated with an uneven wind is that when a tape is correctly wound, the oxide is protected by the other layers of tape on top of it. When the tape is sticking out on an uneven wind, the oxide on those layers are exposed to dust and impurities in the air.
A correctly wound tape will appear flat and a little shinny through the windage holes. The best way to ensure that this happens and avoid "curling" is to store your tapes in a played condition rather than fast forward or rewind. If you look at the polyester example, it looks pretty good except for a couple of spots that appear as a dark lines. These were probably caused by stopping and restarting the tape at those points. A correctly adjusted machine will minimize these and except for very long storage, I wouldn't worry too much about this.
Probably the most common problem with any tape is called drop outs. These appear as momentary drops of the volume on playback. The most common reason for this is dust or some other contaminant on the oxide surface which interrupts the tape/head contact. This can happen to even the best cared for tape and the narrower the track (1/4 track) the more obvious and distracting it will be. Luckily many times these contaminants can be removed. If you collect a lot of eBay tapes, you should keep a roll of Pelon cleaning tissue around. This can be obtained from US Recording Media and depending on your tape path, it can be held on the tape at any easily accessible spot and will gently clean the oxide side of your tape as it's moving. Since it's usually 7" reels that I have to clean, I use it just after the tape comes off of the supply reel. I use an old aluminum film container that I epoxied a thin suction cup on the bottom (which I kinda smooshed in) so when I stick it to the surface of my deck, it's almost flush. Then I tape some Pelon on it and play it at 15ips. I rotate the can a couple of times to keep clean Pelon on the oxide. (edit: I usually just use my finger on rewind now)
Just one other thing to mention regarding acetate tape in particular, never bake it! You shouldn't have problems with sticky shed (as mentioned by Dr. Bogart) with this type of tape but if you do, baking will ruin acetate so another solution will need to be taken.
Well, I think that's enough for this post. Next time I'll talk a little about other common problems.
http://usrecordingmedia-store.stores.yahoo.net/quclwi1x15.html