HW: Heard on Space Ritual

[Paul Mather]

On Mon, 22 Dec 1997, John McCartney wrote:

> This is a common artifact, and is known as printthrough. It is from
> the recorded magnetic pattern on a section of tape affecting the layer
> of tape that's pressed against it when the tape is on the reel, a sort
> of bleeding effect. You'll usually only hear it when there's a very
> quiet or silent part that ends up 'next to' a section recorded at a
> high level,which is why it's usually only noticed at the beginning of
> a track.

Yeah, what he said.  I seem to remember Uncle Cecil covers this question
in his indispensable tome, _The Straight Dope_.

Cheers,

Paul.

obCD: King Crimson, _Red_

e-mail: paul at gromit.cs.vt.edu

"I didn't mean to take up all your sweet time"
        --- James Marshall Hendrix