--- Forwarded Message from Derek Roff <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 16:16:26 -0600
>From: Derek Roff <[log in to unmask]>
>To: LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: #5255 Wire recordings
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Originator-Info: login-id=derek; server=mail.unm.edu

I know something, but I don't think it is useful.  I have seen, used,
touched and recorded my voice on a wire recorder.  This was probably 30
years ago, and I don't know where you would find a machine.  I was told
that the wire was not particularly special, just a steel alloy that had
reasonable physical and magnetic properties.  It looked/felt rather like
music wire, springy and strong.  I cannot say whether we had the "right"
kind of wire or not.  The machine and a few spools of wire was a gift to my
friend from someone who found it somewhere (yard sale?) and knew nothing
about it.  The wire was magnetized (recorded) or played back by running
over an electromagnetic head, similar to and the forerunner of the magnetic
tape head.

We heard noticeable print-through almost immediately, meaning that after a
spool of wire sat for a few days, you could hear ghostly background voices
speaking words that came before or after the primary passage.  This was my
first experience with print-through, and I was fascinated that the
magnetism could be transferred from one layer to the next.  This doesn't
bode well for the clarity of Bruce's WWII recordings.

In my questionable memory, the head on the wire recorder looked roughly
like the head on my dad's reel to reel, which was all I could compare it
too.  I don't remember any capstan/pinch roller equivalent, but I do
remember that the take-up spool moved up and down to wind the wire evenly.
If I had no access to a wire recorder, I would try modifying a reel to reel
tape recorder, adding perhaps teflon guides to run the wire over the tape
head, and see if I could pick up the signal.

Derek

>> From: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Wire recordings
>
> Does anyone on the list know anything about recordings made
> circa World War II using wire (specially imprinted/registered
> with markings which can be read and amplified)?
>
> Our library is in possession of wire recordings and we are
> looking for equipment which can play the wire for format
> transfer purposes.
>
> Any leads appreciated (no pun intended!)...
> Bruce Parkhurst, Director
> Geddes Language Center
> Boston University
> [log in to unmask]


Derek Roff
Language Learning Center, Ortega Hall Rm 129, University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131  505/277-4804 fax 505/277-3885
Internet: [log in to unmask]