Even with the mainstream shift to all-digital recording in the mid-1980s, a significant portion of music history remains on analog tape. This began in 1945 with the German invention of magnetic tape, ushering in the third wave of audio recording: the Magnetic Era. Now, original recordings from the mid-40s to the 70s are in danger of being lost forever due to unique degradation that afflicts magnetic tape. But there’s a man in New Jersey who managed to crack the code of salvaging and restoring these old recordings.
That would be Kelly Pribble, an archivist, engineer, and audio-preservation wizard who works for the information-storage company Iron Mountain. Artists, record labels, and estates use Iron Mountain to preserve and restore their physical media. Past clients include The Grammy Museum, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and the Prince estate, among others.
A recent New York Times profile dove deep into Pribble’s methods of combating what he called “adhesion syndrome.” This affects magnetic tape specifically, causing it to stick to itself. Without time-intensive and laborious restorative techniques, the masters of some of Cannonball Adderley’s final recordings, for example, would be lost.
But what’s so special about Kelly Pribble? There are many audio archivists in the world doing similar work with analog tape. Why does the Library of Congress audio preservation lab call him “the magician”? What does Pribble know that others don’t?
Kelly Pribble’s ‘Wallace & Gromit’-Style Approach to Audio Preservation
The reason for all the hype around Kelly Pribble is that he’s often the guy that other audio archivists go to when they’re stumped. In 15 years at Iron Mountain, Pribble has developed a formula that saves even the most vulnerable and damaged tapes.
Among the issues plaguing magnetic tapes are adhesion syndrome, mold damage, and sticky shed syndrome. The latter affects tapes from the 70s and 80s most often, while mold can destroy tapes that are not kept in climate-controlled storage.
But sticky shed syndrome, also known as hydrolysis, is one of the more daunting issues Pribble has faced. The magnetic compound that contains the audio information on a tape—its oxide—tends to deteriorate over time. This produces a residue that will destroy the tape if it’s played prior to restoration. The process involves first baking the tapes in an oven to remove moisture, a long-standing industry practice.
While baking remains an established technique, Pribble has had to develop more aggressive methods to combat hydrolysis. This scale of degradation is rare, but when it happens, he’s the guy to call.
In 2011, Pribble restored a collection of tapes in Brazil with a level of damage that no one else had experienced at that point. It took Pribble three years to develop his methods, which involve baking, soaking, and running tapes through a handmade Rube Goldberg-type contraption.
Trade Secrets, Complicated Inventions, and Iron Mountain’s Monopoly on Audio Preservation
In 2018, archivist Kevin Przybylowski recommended Kelly Pribble to Bob Dylan’s team. The job involved restoring two of Dylan’s albums, Empire Burlesque and Knocked Out Loaded. But they were so degraded that Przybylowski said he felt out of his depth.
Meanwhile, Pribble had long perfected his formula. To unbind the tapes, he usually starts by baking them. Then, he soaks them in a deionized water solution for up to a month. The tapes then go into another tub with an ultrasonic cleaner, allowing tiny bubbles to get between the layers of stuck tape. Next, the tapes must be dried. Pribble devised a homemade contraption for this, which he called a “wet rewind machine.”
Described as the size of a doorframe, the machine is made from the skeleton of a standard audio equipment rack. The tape is spooled through the rack continuously, passing by a small mounted table fan and four hair dryers.
Pribble keeps the specifics of the soaking solution and some of the process a secret, which has frustrated some audio archivists who operate smaller-scale workshops. But it turns out this is more of an Iron Mountain practice than anything.
“They said, ‘Yes, we can treat these,’” Mark A. Davidson, curator of the Bob Dylan Archive, told the New York Times. “And when we asked what it was, they said that’s a proprietary Iron Mountain thing.”
Dan Johnson, who owns and runs Audio Archiving Services in Burbank, said, “If they have some magic formula,” in reference to Iron Mountain, “it’d be nice for the rest of us to find out what it is so we can help other people’s tapes.”
‘This is Nobody’s Fault,’ Says Kelly Pribble of Magnetic Tape Degradation
Pribble has also worked on a collection of Bruce Springsteen’s live recordings that had seen better days. Out of 350 tapes, more than 100 displayed “loss of lubricant syndrome,” in Pribble’s words. This affliction causes a sticky, beige residue to form on the tapes, which can damage playback equipment and distort the audio.
There is a homemade solution for that as well. In true Wallace & Gromit fashion, Pribble fixed a strip of pellon—the mixed-fiber fabric used in hair removal—to a length of PVC pipe to form a handle. He then feeds the tape through a deck, swabbing the residue away with his makeshift paintbrush. This method isn’t a permanent solution, according to the report. But it allows Pribble to transfer the audio to a digital format in the meantime.
“This is nobody’s fault,” Pribble told the New York Times. “This is natural degradation; This is something that’s happening even while the tape is stored in great condition.”
Photo by Lori Van Buren/Albany Times Union via Getty Images
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