May 16, 1946…70 Years Ago Today, America Met Audio Tape
May 16, 1946…70 Years Ago Today, America Met Audio Tape
As a compliment to today’s earlier story on the history of AMPEX, here is a companion article on Jack Mullin, who, on this day in 1946, stunned attendees at the annual Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) conference in San Francisco.
There, with a captured German Magnetophon, switching between a live jazz combo and a recording of the group, literally asked the question “Is it live or…?” None of the golden ears in the audience could tell. It was America’s first public demonstration of audio tape recording. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
Tape recording was introduced 70 years ago today
A case of insomnia led to the introduction of tape recording — and, by extension, the entire home media business.
I was given a heads-up to this article a couple days ago on another forum. It is rather jingoistic in its total ignorance of the 17 years of research and development that engineers at AEG and BASF put into developing tape recoding before Mullin “discovered” it. If you really want to set a year at which tape recording was “introduced” make it 1935 at the Berlin Radio Show, when the Magnetophon K1 was displayed. As the Germans said, tape recording technology came as a total surprise to the Americans, who were still using the 1920s technology of wire recording during the war.
Stan: still have my Lafayette Radio TR reel to reel they got me for Christmas 1962, have the mic that came with it on my desk at work.
And it’s becoming as rare as an honest politician
wow hard to believe…
I wish AMPEX 406 1/4 inch tape was more stable. During my stint at NPR, from 1986 to about 1993, I used it almost exclusively, and now all of the Ampex tapes have the oxide flaking off the celluloid and if all of it has to be baked and digitized if one wants to use the tapes again. Cassettes from that period seem to have survived.
GREAT ENTRY BOBBY! My father told me that magnetic recording tape was a “Nazi Invention”, someone had told me that AGFA was the first producer of magnetic recording tape. Truth of the matter was, they first used paper, then it was BASF who tried using acetate. From wikipedia; “Magnetic tape was invented for recording sound by Fritz Pfleumer in 1928 in Germany, based on the invention of magnetic wire recording by Oberlin Smith in 1888 and Valdemar Poulsen in 1898. Pfleumer’s invention used a ferric oxide (Fe2O3) powder coating on a long strip of paper.”
but the event itself wasn’t recorded for posterity?
Part of wire’s problems were that wire twisted despite the heads that wrapped around the wire, the azimuth couldn’t be controlled. Also splicing wire was an inexact science, they’d cut the wire then tie a square knot (it was suggested that editors smoke so the knot could be held in the hot ash to anneal it and make it stronger).
I do recall working with a wire recorder back in the 60’s, a friend found it in his attic along with several rolls of Shamrock Wire. Terrible fidelity considering the advances in 1/4″ recording tape of the era. Still an amazing feat at the time it was invented.
Shamrock went on after wire, to producing acetate based recording tape. Until tensilized Mylar came along, most tapes, when over-tensioned, would release a cloud of oxide dust (and destroy the integrity of the recording). One reason why recorders of the day had elaborate tape tensioning methods.
I have tried every recording device known, and owned many. ElCassettes, Minidiscs, Minisette, Phillips cassettes, 8 tracks, reel to reel. In all, I still prefer Phillips style cassettes. For what they were used for, they sound the best. For years, you recorded vinyl onto a TDK SA or Maxell UDXLII and listened to that on a high grade cassette deck, and when the tape eventually failed (on the dash in the car, to drying out, to being in the washing machine) you just made another. Tape is awesome. I have tons and tons of blanks!
recommend Ampex 631 great ribbon ages well
The Pavek Museum in Minnapolis has one of the AEG machines, in working order. It’s pretty cool. https://flic.kr/p/4gvTUK
…one of the History Channels would air a program entitled High Tech Hitler where the secret to high fidelity recording and playback was discovered after Hitler’s death and the ACBias circuit was discovered and analyzed by electronic engineer experts with confiscating German made tape decks ..and Crosby saw the potential and went forward with it and audio and eventually video recording became THEE thing that revolutionized the industry ..great posting, Bobby E. !
Before DAT’s……. I recall using the term “1/4” to standby audio tape playback. As of a few years ago I still referred to DAT’s as 1/4 “. On a different note I still call the building at 30 Rock as “the RCA Building” even though there were subsequent owners of that building.
Hard to believe I’ve lived six years longer than audio tape. Humbling.
… and somewhere in the back of the room, someone started muttering nasty things about Voice-Tracking…
I can remember audio tape with a paper backing in the early days.
proponent
I recorded on a German made wire recorder in the 50’s