How were masters protected before digital?
I assume that the master tracks of the Beatles, etc. have all been
transferred to more durable optical digital - i.e. CD or DVD. But back
in the days when tape was all there was, what measures were taken to
protect/backup masters?
Seems precarious that hundreds of expensive hours of work for an album
were riding on a few mils of plastic tape coated with a few microns of
oxide.
And what about multiple takes - how many times could a tape be run
through the path before it shed enough to be audible?
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