Need advice about reel to reel tapes found in an attic

This thread sounds rather fantastical rather then fantastic to me.....

 

This thread is amazing as I might be reading history unfold. I certainly hope the tidbits in those tapes are rare and long unheard!

 

pictures pictures pictures please!!

 

Give these guys a call: Stanley Productions : Transfer from a reel to reel audio tape to all formats »

They used to be located in Soho but I believe they moved. I know people who worked with them in the past.

Since some of those tapes have dates on them, it might be worth Googling the artist name and the date in case it coincides with a concert or session date or some other significant recording event.

 

I transferred some of my Dad's old home reel to reel tapes mostly of his old bands rehearsing or playing live and after a week of it I got little bumps all over my hands! Some which were not 3M were shedding and I have a latex allergy anyway, but it was awful itchy for a long time and I swore I'd never do that again. The original poster is wise to know to have anything really important handled carefully. The only off-air thing of any significance he had was a couple radio announcements about Ira Louvin and his wife's death that day.

Yes, maybe some otherwise lost Hancock's Half Hour radio shows, but also there are various Saturday Club and other BBC radio appearances of '60s and early '70s artists in demand even in less than perfect fidelity as well. I'm personally holding out hope for some later Ecelection with Doris Henderson turning up some day. But these all seem to be 1976 or later if they even are off-air.

 

Most of the time these things are just run-of-the-mill, stereo mix of She Loves You, that sort of thing. Only for the niche audio nerds. I wouldn't get excited.

 

We do not know what there is in these tapes. They could be home mix tapes from common LPs, or there could be previously unheard studio takes--which could be more or less interesting. Until we know, it is all speculation.

 

I'm unsure as to why anything suggests its rare or unheard songs or outtakes. That just seems like wishful thinking/collective delusion when there's literally hundreds of listings for reels on eBay that are taped from broadcasts.

Example: I bought a cardboard box of reels from a store that were dutifully annotated with dates, contents and so on by the original owner. All it turned out to be was a few radio programmes from the early 80s, and a taped version of Beauty On A Back Street by Hall & Oates. I could go to any number of stores and find exactly the same thing.

I'm happy to offer use of my reel to reel player as a way to check some of the contents, if the owner can get to London, but maybe it'd be better to send it to a pro if the consensus is that it's a trove of Beatles outtakes.

 

I think it's the provenance that's getting some people excited, a studio engineer/producer, so someone who would have had access to studio masters, hopefully the photos will be enough to confirm if they are worth the cost of transferring or just some home recordings from vinyl.

 

Hi I'm trying to put pictures up and it will not let me, please could someone help. Many thanks.

 

Hi,

I know what needs to be done. A company i have helped out in the past, deal with this situation, they take tapes like this and crosscheck them with archives to see what they can find and if anything is missing or important. Please dont sell these to any collector who will hoard them for years. Private message me and i can sort out contact details for you. They can also come and view the tapes and if theres nothing of importance they can help you sell them. They have found lots of rare TV and radio recordings in the past and are very well know in their field of work.

 

The easiest way is to sign up for a free hosting site such as Photobucket, upload the photos then copy the bottom of the four links they offer and just post it here, job done, you can only post 5 or so photos at a time here though, any more and you will need multiple posts.

 

Okay thank you Dubmart, ill do an account later with photobucket,

 

That can be a can of worms, certain labels can lean very heavily on people claiming ownership of tapes without financial recompense and regardless of the genuine ownership, they have lots of lawyers on staff, likewise the BBC will generally not pay to get copies of material they no longer possess.

 

Easier is to go to postimage.org, upload your photo and copy "direct link", which you then paste into the image icon on this forum. If everything goes well, you'll see the image appear right away. No account needed.

Also, guys, please stop using the term "home recording" when you actually refer to homemade mixtapes. I know it might have been called that in the '70s, but nowadays it means music recorded at home. It leads to confusion.

 

Thank you Crispi ill try that later also

 

I understand that the OP's son was given the tapes while cleaning out the tape owner's attic. I believe if the tapes were unique or rare, the owner would have sold them instead of giving them away.

 

<fixes a brew, settles in>

 

The people im talking about have worked along side the BBC. They have all the correct skills to deal with this. They have the equipment to playback and to make it converted and they will deal with rights holders. For example, one of the tapes says 'Top of the pops' - most are missing before 1976 and this could be the only surviving tape. Its better in their hands. They can also arrange collection of the tapes and make sure they are properly stored.

p.s i just realised we are both bristolians!

 

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Sorry but i do not know how to make the photos smaller, and this is some of them only
many thanks

 

This raises more questions.

 

Questions about what Kevin j ? we were told by our client to do what we want with them, sell them as he did not want them anymore as he had sold his property and wanted his premises cleared for new owners, as i stated in previous post he was a producer/engineer and partied with many artists, some before they became known. As he knew many on a personal basis. I have answered truthfully, we hold a receipt, i asked for any advice on these and many have given us very good advice what we have found very helpful. I do not know what other questions there would be to answer, we just wanted to know if they could be of any value, if not then they shall be destroyed or stored for another 40+ years
many thanks

 

Gallagher and Luke recorded at AIR Studios during this time as I see the pic of the reel to reel tapes, that's very interesting...