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| The tapes |
It is always interesting when you come across obsolete
technologies that were amongst your grandparents belongings that you never even
knew existed. Being the age where everything is basically digital the older
technology has been rendered obsolete even if they are something like 50 or 60
years old. Then there is how they were stored as that could have impacts on
their playability in the future. I would hate to think what would happen if I had lost the ability to get things like the voice letters digitised.
Recently I came across some talking tapes that were similar to cassette tapes, but were more along the line of the 8mm film I also had. There were around 5 tapes that belonged to my grandfather and I don’t know what was on them. They did seem to be in really good condition too. I didn’t have anything to play them on, nor even knew what year they would have been made. I was wondering if there was anything recorded on these tapes. Was there scandal or something just ordinary like what everyone used to do with cassette tapes and record the radio.
The function of these tapes seemed to be pretty much as the name suggests. You talk into the tape recorder of some sort, and then send them on like a letter in the post. Though I guess they could also be used for notes when writing letters. They had been stored in my grandfather’s house for a number of years as the house he had been living in was built between the late 1970s and 1980s. Before then their movements could have placed them anywhere, but they were in good condition.
Wanting to know what was on them intensified once my grandfather passed away, and I wandered into a camera shop to ask about some Kodachrome film I had as well. At the same time I asked about the talking tapes and the sales person couldn’t help me as it was something he had never seen before. I asked if he would know if the National Film and Sound Archives might know. He did reply if they replied back.
I emailed the National Film and Sound Archives other wise known as the NFSA. They responded within 24 hours with a list of people they use as they said they couldn’t specifically recommend one. I emailed several on the list and went with the one who responded, although for reasons the email ended up in the spam folder, but that is something I always check.
The company was a local one based in Canberra and the business owner was the one responding to my email. He asked for pictures of the tapes and if I knew anything else. The tapes themselves were in pretty good condition especially when one had the date stickered on the side saying 1972. The audio specialists even had an IMDB page of their accomplishments in the film industry, so I knew they would look after my tapes when I sent them on. I will put a link to their website in this blog.
I express posted the tapes to Canberra and wasn’t expecting
them to even have a look at them for at least a month. I assumed that they
would be extremely busy with other jobs. Within a week they had the tapes
digitised with a report on what was on them. They even included a USB of the
audio. Several had music from the radio and made it sound like the computer game
Fallout. One had my grandfather reading the news and one had him actually using
the tape like a talking letter. I would say it was worth it just to get it done
or else the tapes would have degraded over time. I was told three of the tapes
were acetate based tapes that went out of date around the late 1960s and 1970s.
They did include an excel spreadsheet on what they did recover from the tapes,
so that was pretty good. I believe they did an excellent job and communicated with me what they could do.
Links
Infidel Studios
https://www.infidelstudios.com.au/
IMDB page for Duncan Lowe
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9206443/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_4_nm_4_q_Duncan%2520lowe
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