Can someone explain what a wire recorder was

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by aberyclark, Sep 7, 2011.

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  1. Tedster

    Tedster Forum Resident

    It has an eye tube, probably 6E5, these were commonly used for all kinds of equipment up until the 1970s. I have an Eico capacitor checker that uses one for the display. It is sensitive and accurate, far less expensive than a meter would have been and very rugged, moreso than analog meter.

    Here's a neat page to support (heh) your newfound addiction...

    All About Magic Eye Tubes »
     
  2. P2CH

    P2CH Well-Known Member

    My dad had a TV repair business and someone brought a wire recorder to him back when I was probably 11 or 12. I was playing around with it as I found it an odd mechanical device. At least compared to the usual tape recorders I was brought up with in the day. I thought it was rather an interesting concept for my inquisitive mind.

    Like Bill said though, those condenser mics they used were poor sounding units; on no matter what kind of recorder.
     
  3. Benzion

    Benzion "Cogito, ergo sum" Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    They were heavily used in surveillance in the 40's-50's
     
  4. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I saw someone mention Techmoan in this thread, but didn't see the link to the video he did on the wire recorder:

     
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  5. kevinsinnott

    kevinsinnott Forum Coffeeologist

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    My dad had a wire recorder. He had two radio shows he's air-checked and subsequently transferred to tape. I later gave those recordings to Buddy Black, who hosted an old radio series Those Were The Days each day on WNMP (later WLTD) in Evanston. The series was later hosted by Chuck Shaden (Wikipedia is wrong), who supposedly was involved from the beginning, but Buddy Black was a personable host. He was also waxing about wire recorders when I made my donation, which he insisted on matching by giving me some OTR shows in trade.

    I know my dad must've made other home recordings, but they'll have to wait until my mother dies for me to rifle through his collection. Knowing my dad, he tossed his original wire recordings out after his transfers.
     
  6. JBStephens

    JBStephens I don't "like", "share", "tweet", or CARE. In Memoriam

    Location:
    South Mountain, NC
    Oh, that's a sad thing to do. Wires live a lot longer than tape, and when you throw stuff away like that, they're gone forever. Wires done right can actually sound halfway decent.
     
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  7. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    Tape won because of fidelity and ease of editing. While the Germans had been recording in stereo since the early 1940s, it didn't see mass use until well after tape was firmly established as *the* professional recording medium.
     
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  8. JBStephens

    JBStephens I don't "like", "share", "tweet", or CARE. In Memoriam

    Location:
    South Mountain, NC
    Bing Crosby is the one that brought tape into everyday use. But after working for years with splicing tape and razor blades, I gotta at least give a nod of admiration to wire.
     
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  9. Lord Hawthorne

    Lord Hawthorne Currently Untitled

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    You must not have ever had to deal with a broken wire, the stuff is really hard to tie back together, and you always lose some of the recording.
     
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  10. JBStephens

    JBStephens I don't "like", "share", "tweet", or CARE. In Memoriam

    Location:
    South Mountain, NC
    I've dealt with LOTS of broken wires, it's part of my job. You have to tape down the ends of the wire, leaving about a foot of each end. Then put a piece of tape on the end of each wire. I prefer duct tape for that. Then after tying it in knot, you just snip off the remains with scissors. You do lose a LITTLE bit of wire, but at two feet per second, you don't lose much. Really nothing to it
     
  11. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    You may not lose much, but it's still clunky and inexact compared to tape.
     
  12. Murphy13

    Murphy13 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland
    Wasn't Bing a home video pioneer as well? Didn't he video tape the 1960 world series and it was just discovered a few years back?
     
  13. Lord Hawthorne

    Lord Hawthorne Currently Untitled

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    I use hemostats, I end up snipping less loose end.
     
  14. jjh1959

    jjh1959 Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Charles, MO
  15. JBStephens

    JBStephens I don't "like", "share", "tweet", or CARE. In Memoriam

    Location:
    South Mountain, NC
    Thanks for the information, I'll try that next time. And we used to call them "roachclips". :D
     
  16. indy mike

    indy mike Forum Pest

    Art Shifrin explaining how he did transfers from wire:
     
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  17. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    Thanks, I was just looking for that the other day. It would be nice to see an unedited version of that interview. As well as a direct line-recorded comparison of the original machine and the Ampex, rather than played over speakers.
     
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  18. indy mike

    indy mike Forum Pest

    Art's a unique guy with a talent for developing ways to extract the most sound from obsolete formats. He developed a cylinder playback system that uses a modified Rabco straight tracking tonearm for extracting sound, his wire playback machine was used for the Woody Guthrie wire tape reissue from a few years back - he's quite a character. He's not online much these days - health issues have prevented him from doing much posting. There are a few posts here from Art that are worth digging for - he really enjoyed the challenges of playing back material and getting the best sonic results possible.
     
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