Orpheus unglued: sticky shed syndrome and tape’s archival anxieties

Abstract

In the late 1980s, sound archivists discovered that many of their tapes were crumbling into dust. A condition known as sticky shed syndrome was causing several tape stocks from the 1970s to grow unstable, due to a problem with the adhesive binding that affixed the magnetic oxide to its polyester backing. In the worst cases, an affected tape would literally shed off its oxide the moment it was played, irrevocably destroying the item. Although preservationists quickly devised effective solutions, the threat of loss surrounding sticky shed has continued to loom large in popular media, appearing each year in news stories about important artefacts at risk of disintegration. This article considers the overpowering language of anxiety that saturates these discussions, arguing that the anxiety does not stem from sticky shed alone, but is built into the very nature of sound recording and archival practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Audio tape
• sticky shed syndrome
• preservation
• archives
• memory
• Orpheus

Notes

1. For a general history and overview of sticky shed, tape baking, and related issues, see Brylawski et al. 2015; Hess 2008; Norris 2007; Paton 1998.

2. This technique – which involves a brand of car polish called Nu Finish – remains a frequent and controversial discussion topic on online forums like Tapeheads.net. The technique was first proposed in 2007 by a poster named Jeff Koon on the message boards Audioasylum.com.com and TapeOp.com. (see “Tape Trail: A Permanent Solution to Sticky Shed Syndrome” [forum thread started by Jeff Koon]. Audio Asylum. 2 May 2007, accessed 16 June 2016. http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=tape&m=8002)

3. To be clear, anxiety is not the only discursive register one could probe in discussions of shed. Related themes of rescue and salvation, homemade/DIY ingenuity, or collaborative problem solving in the early years of the internet are equally palpable, and could provide fruitful avenues for further consideration. I thank one of my anonymous peer reviewers for making this point.