Sound problem with tape

I have found that something I recorded onto a Panasonic DVC tape is experiencing choppy sound, not unlike what you'd hear from a cell phone with bad reception; the sound will be normal and then every couple of seconds or so, the sound will drop out completely for a split second. Although the sound is messed up, the video is fine.

I know that this is a problem with the tape itself and not something that went wrong with the camera itself. I'll explain.

Immediately after completing my shoot, I watched my tape on the camera and the audio and video were perfect. So when I did the actual recording, nothing went wrong. However, just today this aforementioned problem with the audio occurred. I tried switching the camera that was playing the tape, but the problem remained consistent. This leads me to believe that something has happened to the tape, screwing with the sound.

So, my question to you all is... Can I clean/fix my tape? Can anything be done?

I hope I have explained my problem thoroughly and clearly. Thank you.

I have that same problem with my current video camera (Canon OpturaXI, currently awaiting delivery of my new DVC30)... The problem is that I would end up with a small 'glitch' into the sound at the weirdest times.. and not all the time.. You'd listen to the conversation and BLIP or TICK noise would spike up killing any audio for that split second.. Not a HUGE problem but when the sound is lost, you can't recover it.. If it's during a lull of conversation or background noise I can clean it out but if it's in the middle of action, then there is little saving it as you end up cleaning out the ambient noise as well...

I've had that camera cleaned several times, changed tape and meh, it still happens every once in a while. I HAD thought it was the hotshoe shotgun mic causing it, a slight shift and blip or something but could never figure out what was causing it.

I'm just hoping I don't have a repeat with the new camera..