OT: Recording Wire

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Edisonfan
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OT: Recording Wire

Post by Edisonfan »

Found this in an antique mall. I have never come accross recroding wire before. I have seen pictures of it, in books. I know this is not related to antique phonographs, but I had to share it.
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Shane
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Re: OT: Recording Wire

Post by Shane »

Neat! Wire records are the predecessor to reel-to-reel tape recorders. They mostly date from the late 1940s through the early 1950s. Some of the wire recorders had radios within the same unit, and the owners sometimes recorded interesting vintage radio broadcasts. Other units came without the radio, and often contain less interesting stuff, like the whole family singing happy birthday to little Johnny or something like that. Those are interesting to members of the family, but not so much to anyone else.

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Edisonfan
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Re: OT: Recording Wire

Post by Edisonfan »

Well, the cool thing is, is that the plastic wrap, is still around the wire. So this one was not used. The machines are really cheap on ebay. Although, I saw one seller had a couple of auctions, with four wire spools, for $50.00.


Paul

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Viva-Tonal
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Re: OT: Recording Wire

Post by Viva-Tonal »

Some wire recorders, among them those sold under the Crescent brand, used a mechanism whose takeup drum ran at 78 rpm, and was of sufficient diameter that the wire would run at 2 feet per second as it did. Some of these also had a tonearm with a crystal cartridge, and the drum doubled as the turntable, permitting record playback and/or direct transfer of records to wire. (And most of those that did also had an AM radio as well which also could be directly recorded from, in addition to a crystal microphone.)

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WDC
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Re: OT: Recording Wire

Post by WDC »

The wire recorders from the 50's usually have an excellent recording quality. I was very surprised about this when I heard one first. It could record frequencies up to 16KHz which means that real Hi-Fi was easily possible. One major problem with wire is the circuitous handling, and they do tear easily as well as getting tangled up. ;)

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Edisonfan
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Re: OT: Recording Wire

Post by Edisonfan »

True, but with the advent of magnetic tape. It made cutting and splicing a lot easier. Plus adding multiple tracks was possible, then with a wire. I myself have never heard a recording on a wire before?

Paul

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WDC
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Re: OT: Recording Wire

Post by WDC »

This here is a good example of what I mean, the fidelity is not a single bit lower than with any period tape:

[youtubehq]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRVmq5GPn3Y[/youtubehq]

NashTwin8
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Re: OT: Recording Wire

Post by NashTwin8 »

When I was a kid, my uncle had an old wire recorder kicking around in his garage. My cousin and I tried playing it a couple of times, as there was a spool of wire on the machine. The recording was of little interest to us, and since the machine was no longer valued or much cared for, the wire had become kinked, making portions of it unplayable (unlistenable).

I think wire recording, which came on the scene before tape recording did, had some advantages over early tape recording. For one thing, wire was stronger than the early acetate tape, which was fairly brittle and tended to break easily. When the first plastic tapes came out, they often stretched when they broke, requiring a larger section to be removed when splicing to repair. Also, a spool of wire was much more compact than an equivalent length spool of tape, requiring less storage space.

As someone already inferred, it was stereo that sounded the death knell for wire recording, as multiple tracks were impossible on a single wire.

I'm not sure what ever happened to that machine, but most likely it made its way to the garbage dump before the 1970s were over.


Take care,

Jerry K

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Edisonfan
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Re: OT: Recording Wire

Post by Edisonfan »

Thank You For sharing the video, Norman. I'm glad I finally got to hear a recording on wire. I see that the play head moves up and down with the wire as it plays.

Paul

richardh

Re: OT: Recording Wire

Post by richardh »

Paul, these are great machines and I just wish I had one. Here is a link I have posted before. It truly is an eerie wire recording but makes for great listening!

RJ 8-)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ122PObscg[/youtube]

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