Analog

Maybe some of you are unfamiliar with one of these. It used to be the really big thing for capturing sound. Sound is variations in air pressure. When you talk, sing or make a noise, the air molecules gets pressed forward and when you're silent they are still. These variations can be picked up by a microphone that transfers the pressure differences into electricity. The electric signal can then be made to affect a magnetic surface of a tape so that you can store the signal. When you reversed the process, changing the microphone to a speaker, you could hear sound again. This method of recording lasted till about 1995, if your'e born later than that, all this might be news to you, or unnecessary knowledge perhaps.

I'm part of a generation that used this technique a lot and I've kept two of my Revox tape recorders just in case I can find use for them, and to play my own tapes. Lots of people have got old tapes lying about their homes in drawers and boxes but they don't have the machine to play them. I've spread the word to people in my vicinity that I can help them digitalize their tapes so that they can be listened to the content through their computer or a cd player. 

Last night a good friend and neighbour had found a box, that she knew existed but didn't know where it was, full of old reel to reel tapes. They contained recordings of long gone family members, grandmothers, friends and relatives performing something or just talking or being intervjued. Her husband managed to borrow an old tape recorder from the school where he works and when she heard the first tape she started to cry when she recognised herself and an old friend singing songs in 1965. My friends don't have the equipment to get the sound into their computer so they asked if I could help, something I'm more than happy to do. I've done the first side of the tape now, it really is a treasure and I would love to have kept my oldest recordings but they're all gone. 

The tape recorder they borrowed didn't work too well and I think I'm going to surprise her even more when I tell her that her tapes probably contains more than she is aware of. The tape was recorded in four tracks, meaning two mono tracks on one side and when you turn the reel over you have two more mono tracks to record on. I don't think she's aware of this. Track 2 on the A side of the tape contained some very old people talking, she didn't mention knowing this. There'll be tears.