DAT USER TWENTY COMMANDMENTS

by Art Munson of Cassette House and the TASCAM User Group, 
rewrites by Mike Metlay of Atomic City

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF DAT USE

• 1. When using a DAT for the first time, fast forward it to the end and rewind it, to repack the tape on the reels and ensure smooth transport.
• 2. Start every tape with one or two minutes of recorded silence, and don't go to the end of a tape either. Error rates are much higher at the ends.
• 3. Avoid SCMS if at all possible, by recording to pro decks and dubbing from consumer decks to pro decks rather than vice versa.
• 4. Record at 44.1 kHz if you think your tapes will be moved to CD; sample rate conversion is costly and can introduce artifacts into the sound.
• 5. The 0 VU mark is more critical on DAT than on analog tape, but if your only overloads are very brief percussive transients, let your ears judge.
• 6. Use Cue and Review only when Fast Forward and Rewind won't do your job for you at all; you'll save head and tape wear, which can add up fast.
• 7. Ditto the Pause function; use Stop if possible, and reserve Pause for time-critical applications like punch-ins for building archive tapes.
• 8. Don't re-record multiple takes on the same part of a DAT; record them in order, and pick the best one later. It's much better for the tape.
• 9. Listen to every track after recording to be sure there are no glitches; this inspection can be done while recording ONLY with a 4-head recorder.
• 10. Never leave a DAT (or any other kind of recording tape) in a machine when you power it off. It's bad for the tape, and jams transports.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF DAT UPKEEP

• 1. Make backups or suffer the consequences. DAT audio is digital data, and can be corrupted. Use a second DAT to make digital copies; beware SCMS.
• 2. If you don't have a second DAT, many hard-disk recording systems have features that allow for backup to DAT, and you can use them for transfers.
• 3. For critical material, have rotating backups. Use write-protect tabs to differentiate between the latest backup (protected) and older ones (not).
• 4. Label your DATs with track indexes, titles, times, sources, and sampling rates. Keep a notebook if you can. It's easy to lose track of songs....
• 5. When you label your DATs, date them by first use. Tapes that are five years old should probably be digitally copied to preserve the material.
• 6. When you label your DATs, use felt-tip pens only. Ball-point pen ink and pencil graphite leave solid residues that can fall into transports.
• 7. Store your DATs in a cool, dry, dust-free environment. DAT tape is metal; it'll rust if you store it in a humid spot.
• 8. Store and use your DATs away from strong magnetic fields. They're somewhat sturdier in this regard than analog tape, but they're not indestructible.
• 9. Clean your DAT deck (when? watch error rates, or read the manual). If you don't know how to PROPERLY clean by hand, use a dry cleaning cassette.
• 10. Keep updated on software updates and other revisions to your DAT machines; new features are rare but sometimes performance can be improved.