Ive used both. plastic and paper. for some reason I get the impression that plastic is better for splicing in bewteen songs and general use. The reason is that I feel like paper tape is more damaging to the tape heads. Am I full of it? Is there a specific application fo reach type of tape or is it just preference?
thanks,
mtar

i've been told from the internets that there's no significant difference btw the two and it's a preference thing. it's more apparent to me when you hit paper leader than the plastic though. i use paper on the 1" and it's a nice warning track that separates tones and says "hey asshole - get over to the machine quickly before your reel goes spooling off" - the sound of paper moving over the heads is definitely different. i use plastic for the 1/4" though.

personally, and i will get me coat if i'm "out of order", but i do like no leader between tracks. reason being, is the hiss is even through the transitions between the tracks. remastering engineers spend hours of their lives putting hiss/ ambience back into these gaps.
can't do it so much with cd mastering from digital/ analogue, or digital to vinyl , but for vinyl, from analogue i like no leader. i appologise but i like hiss

I was recently told the same thing by someone on the recording end of things. He said that if you put silent leader tape between songs, it is irritating to the ears and makes the hiss during the songs more noticeable. But even for the beginning of a reel, I can't see paper being any better than the plastic type.



-Noah