Tape bleed?

[EdPowers]

I've been listening to vinyl for only a year and I was excited to get a copy of Reiner's 1960 Living Stereo performance of Rimsky Korsakoff's Scheherazade. I dropped the stylus onto the lead-in groove, and about one revolution before the first movement starts, I could hear a faint 'pre'-echo of the signal. I pulled out my copy of the same performance on XRCD and didn't hear it, but it might have been edited or cropped off the beginning, or maybe been dampened below the noise threshold.

Is what I'm hearing "tape bleed" from the analog master? Would someone explain how this happens?

Did the tape bleed happen during the original recording in 1960, or after the tape reels have been stored and pulled out to remaster? (Would a first pressing copy have the same problem?)
Would tape bleeding occur throughout the entire recording, or only during certain sections of the tape?
Is this problem exclusive to vinyl pressings?
Have modern recording practices eliminated this issue?

Thanks, any information about it is appreciated.

[PHC1]

Yep, from what I've heard about the topic and I also have some LPs that exibit that same phenomenon, it is tape print through or bleed through. Analog tapes are magnetic, when stored wound for a period of time, there is a bit of this "print through" or whatever you want to call it from one section to the adjacent layer. It is most noticeable on the quiet sections like those that would occur in the beginning of the track since that part of tape or the "tail" is blank and has a bit of that magnetic print through.

[PHC1]

Oh yeah, there is also a "groove echo". Do a search on that topic, I am sure it is out there.

[jdandy]

EdPowers.......Serge's explanation is accurate, and is most common on tapes that have been stored for a period of time, although it can happen on newly recorded tapes if the recorded signal is hot enough. The magnetic flux in the oxide of one layer literally passes through the polyester or acetate tape backing, and magnitizes a weak imprint into the layer below it. If you listen closely, this can be heard on Shelby Lynne - Just A Little Lovin, the title track of her newest CD. This entire CD was recorded analog tape, then digitally mastered. Sometimes engineers will ride gain, where they literally turn the level down, and then back up to eleiminate print through, but the more modern way is to remove print through in the digital domain if the tape is digitally mastered.