The Sound Wave
Music. Technology. Stories. For people who love the art and science of listening to and enjoying recorded sound.Here, it’s all about the art and magic of sound reproduction and related human stories. We survey music, technology and stories from the early beginnings of relatively low-fidelity to the heyday of the 70’s high-fidelity (HiFi) and the modern age of digital and streaming.
The Sound Wave
Reel to Reel: From Dubious Beginnings in Nazi Germany to the Beatles and Beyond!
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Pat Shepherd
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Season 2
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Episode 2
Note: this version fixes a couple audio glitches.
Welcome to Episode 2 of Season 2 of TSWS! I started putting this episode together thinking I’d move back to a little bit of technology and look at reel to reel tape recording, but as I got into it I found RTR’s back story is as interesting as the technology itself. So, today we will be looking at
- Where did the Reel to Reel tape deck come from
- What were it’s dark, even clandestine beginnings in WWII
- A smuggling operation that started an audio revolution
Resources:
- https://www.gearpatrol.com/tech/a569491/reel-to-reel-tape-players/
- https://digital-audio-systems.com/reel-to-reel-vs-digital-audio/?lang=en#:~:text=The%20digital%20files%20sounded%20lighter,even%20in%20the%20quietest%20passages.
- https://www.phaidon.com/agenda/design/articles/2019/september/12/the-starry-rise-of-magnetic-tape/
- https://rxreels.com/blogs/news/how-a-gi-brought-hitler-s-r2r-technology-to-bing-crosby-part-1
- https://rxreels.com/blogs/news/how-a-gi-brought-hitler-s-r2r-technology-to-bing-crosby-part-2
- https://www.grunge.com/919686/these-long-lost-adolf-eichmann-tapes-uncovered-some-disturbing-details/
- http://www.soundfan.it/en/history.html#:~:text=On%20April%2025%201948%20takes,for%20a%20delayed%20radio%20broadcast.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tape_recorder
- https://www.amazon.com/Hi-fi-History-High-end-Design-Movements/dp/0714878081/ref=sr_1_1?crid=482K7UESS6JR&keywords=hi-fi+the+history+of+high-end+audio+design+gideon+schwartz&qid=1658079467&sprefix=Hi-Fi%3A+The+History+of+High-End+Audio+Design%2Caps%2C43&sr=8-1
- https://www.theregister.com/Print/2013/09/19/history_of_magnetic_tape_part_two/
- https://rxreels.com/blogs/news