Hello
I have some reel to reel tapes from when my siblings and I exchanged conversations with our dad who was on a course in Philadelphia. These are from the mid 60s.
One of them plays fine on the machine that I have, but 3 of them sound like chipmunks talking.
Would this problem be solved with a reel to reel machine that could vary the playback speed?
If so, where could I find someone who had one?
I found this forum and was hoping that this would be a good place to start my search.
Thanks, in advance, for you help with this.
Grant
I have some reel to reel tapes from when my siblings and I exchanged conversations with our dad who was on a course in Philadelphia. These are from the mid 60s.
One of them plays fine on the machine that I have, but 3 of them sound like chipmunks talking.
Would this problem be solved with a reel to reel machine that could vary the playback speed?
If so, where could I find someone who had one?
I found this forum and was hoping that this would be a good place to start my search.
Thanks, in advance, for you help with this.
Grant
Thank you to both of you for your replies.
I'm not sure what speed the tape machine that I have is playing the tapes at. It's a Holiday Model #666. The 3.75 IPS is most likely what the problem is. I'm not sure what machine dad recorded the tapes on, but they had a family friend in Victoria who owned a TV shop, and he played the tapes back for mom and us kids.
Kevin, your idea is brilliant!
I have Screenflow for the Mac and I just checked and it will vary playback speed, so I will do what you said.
Thank you both for your insights.
Grant
I'm not sure what speed the tape machine that I have is playing the tapes at. It's a Holiday Model #666. The 3.75 IPS is most likely what the problem is. I'm not sure what machine dad recorded the tapes on, but they had a family friend in Victoria who owned a TV shop, and he played the tapes back for mom and us kids.
Kevin, your idea is brilliant!
I have Screenflow for the Mac and I just checked and it will vary playback speed, so I will do what you said.
Thank you both for your insights.
Grant
Budget machines from the 50's and 60's often had only two speeds. 3.75 IPS, often labeled "music." and 1.875 IPS labeled "voice." Only "HiFi" machines had 3.75 and 7.5 IPS, and they weren't found in my usual hunting grounds.
The cheap portable battery operated machines from Japan with 3 inch tape reels in the early 60's did not run at a constant speed. A rubber wheel on the motor shaft contacted the take up reel, while a cotton pad contacted the supply wheel for tension on the tape. The tape movement itself started out pretty slowly, and sped up as the take up reel filled. All movement was highly dependent on the state of battery voltage.
These were neat toys for time warping sound effects when powered by a variable power supply made from the selenium rectifiers out of an old car battery charger and a Lionel train transformer. Their large single track mono head allowed for easy backwards voice just by swapping the reels.
The rim-drive machines were especially cheap.
Standard audio tape speeds ran in halves from 60ips: 30 15 7.5 3.75 1.875 and rarely 0.9 for logging.
3-speed, 7.5 3.75 1.875, machines were somewhat common in the 1970s.
It is very rare to see a single-speed machine except for dedicated application.
I remember keeping at least one slow (3.75 1.875) and one fast (15 7.5) machine in running order so I could play "any" tape thrown at me.
Yes, today an audio-edit program reduces the need. I remember trying to play a 78 at 45 and scrunching it in software (worked better to feed 104Hz to the 45rpm TT). The EQ is still wrong, though rarely 2:1 wrong; and childhood memories can stand much strangeness.
Standard audio tape speeds ran in halves from 60ips: 30 15 7.5 3.75 1.875 and rarely 0.9 for logging.
3-speed, 7.5 3.75 1.875, machines were somewhat common in the 1970s.
It is very rare to see a single-speed machine except for dedicated application.
I remember keeping at least one slow (3.75 1.875) and one fast (15 7.5) machine in running order so I could play "any" tape thrown at me.
Yes, today an audio-edit program reduces the need. I remember trying to play a 78 at 45 and scrunching it in software (worked better to feed 104Hz to the 45rpm TT). The EQ is still wrong, though rarely 2:1 wrong; and childhood memories can stand much strangeness.
Second speed found
Hi
This is indeed one of those cheap Japanese machines. I looked around for a speed switch and didn't find any, but then looking underneath I found a battery compartment with a label inside.
It said to take off the cover over the heads and remove the sleeve from the capstan for the slower speed.
You're correct in saying that the speed isn't consistent and changes as the tape plays. I can hear my dad's voice, but it's kind of garbled/mumbled.
I tried to record it as "chipmunk speech" and slow it down in software, but it did't work as I expected. My current plan is to see if I can import the digital file into Soundtrack Pro and see if I can tweak the speed and pitch to clear it up.
Alternatively, I would need to find someone who has a good quality machine who would be wiling to play these for me so that I can get better quality recordings.
Thanks for all your expertise with this.
Grant
Hi
This is indeed one of those cheap Japanese machines. I looked around for a speed switch and didn't find any, but then looking underneath I found a battery compartment with a label inside.
It said to take off the cover over the heads and remove the sleeve from the capstan for the slower speed.
You're correct in saying that the speed isn't consistent and changes as the tape plays. I can hear my dad's voice, but it's kind of garbled/mumbled.
I tried to record it as "chipmunk speech" and slow it down in software, but it did't work as I expected. My current plan is to see if I can import the digital file into Soundtrack Pro and see if I can tweak the speed and pitch to clear it up.
Alternatively, I would need to find someone who has a good quality machine who would be wiling to play these for me so that I can get better quality recordings.
Thanks for all your expertise with this.
Grant
Before I run out to buy a R to R machine, do any reel to reel machines have the ability to vary the speed on a certain setting?
What's happening is that my dad's voice sounds garbled, so I'm wondering if there are machines that will vary the speed instead of just having fixed speeds?
A fellow in Parksville has a Phillips and a Pioneer machine that he says are "near studio quality", but I don't know the model numbers.
What's happening is that my dad's voice sounds garbled, so I'm wondering if there are machines that will vary the speed instead of just having fixed speeds?
A fellow in Parksville has a Phillips and a Pioneer machine that he says are "near studio quality", but I don't know the model numbers.
Garbled as in just runs slow and steady? Or garbled like the tape or recorder could not hold the same speed from moment to moment?
Steady speed error "can" be handled on "some" tape players, but rarely a semitone or 6%. 6% error on speech is not always obvious.
Variable speed error either needs magic ears and fingers or a steady pilot tone. In principle if there is a 60Hz hum a tracking servo "could" put it back to 60Hz. This is the kind of thing you *might* do for *some* precious historical recording (Caruso, Eisenhower) but not really for family.
Most of this mechanical tinkering is now FAR easier in software. Even in 2004 I was re-tempo-ing choir recordings in a Pentium.
Steady speed error "can" be handled on "some" tape players, but rarely a semitone or 6%. 6% error on speech is not always obvious.
Variable speed error either needs magic ears and fingers or a steady pilot tone. In principle if there is a 60Hz hum a tracking servo "could" put it back to 60Hz. This is the kind of thing you *might* do for *some* precious historical recording (Caruso, Eisenhower) but not really for family.
Most of this mechanical tinkering is now FAR easier in software. Even in 2004 I was re-tempo-ing choir recordings in a Pentium.
Hi
It seemed like the machine could not play the tape at the proper speed. His speech was a bit slow and it sounds like he's talking with marbles in his mouth. The pauses also seem to be longer than they would be in normal speech.
To change speed on my machine is to take the outer shell off of the drive pin, which doesn't seem very accurate.
What I would like is to play it on a machine that can, for sure, play it at the proper speed. Then, if further tweaking has to be done in software, I would at least know that I have a good base to work from. I'm going to ask around where I live to see if anyone has a good machine I could use. The fellow who has two for sale is asking $200 and $250 for them and I can't pay that much to record a few family audio tapes.
I have a program that I can use to tweak speed and pitch with, so I'll pursue that once I get a good base recording.
Are there any particular machines that I should look for to get a good accurate recording?
Thank you very much for your help.
Grant
It seemed like the machine could not play the tape at the proper speed. His speech was a bit slow and it sounds like he's talking with marbles in his mouth. The pauses also seem to be longer than they would be in normal speech.
To change speed on my machine is to take the outer shell off of the drive pin, which doesn't seem very accurate.
What I would like is to play it on a machine that can, for sure, play it at the proper speed. Then, if further tweaking has to be done in software, I would at least know that I have a good base to work from. I'm going to ask around where I live to see if anyone has a good machine I could use. The fellow who has two for sale is asking $200 and $250 for them and I can't pay that much to record a few family audio tapes.
I have a program that I can use to tweak speed and pitch with, so I'll pursue that once I get a good base recording.
Are there any particular machines that I should look for to get a good accurate recording?
Thank you very much for your help.
Grant
I think that it's because the machine could not play the tape at the proper speed. The voice sounded like he was talking a bit slow, with marbles in his mouth, and the pauses seemed longer than normal.
What I would like is to find someone who will loan me a machine that will play the tape at the proper speed so that if I have to do some software tweaking, I know that I have a base recording that is accurate. Mine seems to be
I will advertise locally to see if I can find someone.
Then I have software to do further tweaking.
What machines do you recommend I look for that will do accurate speeds?
Thanks
Grant
What I would like is to find someone who will loan me a machine that will play the tape at the proper speed so that if I have to do some software tweaking, I know that I have a base recording that is accurate. Mine seems to be
I will advertise locally to see if I can find someone.
Then I have software to do further tweaking.
What machines do you recommend I look for that will do accurate speeds?
Thanks
Grant
The little conversational machines I remember didnt even have a capstan - the 3" take up reel drive determined the speed. In that case, tape speed increased as the tape wound up on the reel. Put that on a machine with a capstan (constant speed) and it's going to be more of a challenge to straighten it out in software.
Can you remember at all the type of machine that these recordings were made on?
Can you remember at all the type of machine that these recordings were made on?
The reels are 3"
Come to think of it, I bet he recorded it on this machine because my mom said that they went over to a friend's place to listen to the tapes that he sent home.
It's a capstan driven machine and to change speed you unscrew the sleeve off of the capstan down near the heads. I was concerned that the rubber pinch wheel would change size with wear and change the speed, but I guess it's just an idler and would not make any difference with wear. The diameter of the capstan would determine the speed.
Ok, so I'm probably best to play it back on this machine and then do what I can to fix in software.
Come to think of it, I bet he recorded it on this machine because my mom said that they went over to a friend's place to listen to the tapes that he sent home.
It's a capstan driven machine and to change speed you unscrew the sleeve off of the capstan down near the heads. I was concerned that the rubber pinch wheel would change size with wear and change the speed, but I guess it's just an idler and would not make any difference with wear. The diameter of the capstan would determine the speed.
Ok, so I'm probably best to play it back on this machine and then do what I can to fix in software.
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