Re: [ARSCLIST] a different ATR-102 :-) (Rim Drive Recorders)

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Richard:

Of course, you are 100% right that most portable recorders -- reel, wire, and cassette -- ran on 
their own notion of speed/pitch/time, and that notion depended on battery strength, the weather, how 
often they had been dropped, whether a fungus was growing on the drive wheels or belts, etc.

But, I'm sure you've experienced the following many more times that I have. I find, in the case of 
recovering an old family event or the voices of passed relatives, the client couldn't care less if 
there's wow or if the pitch is somewhat funny. They are so thrilled to be able to hear that audio 
again, and their brain corrects pitch and hears the deceased's voice as it was to them.

So, my net-net on all this is, it's more important that the recording was made and preserved than if 
it was made with a Nagra running at perfect pitch. These cheapo recorders were what people could 
afford and I'm actually glad they were made and sold. I'm sure we all remember our first little tape 
recorder (maybe some are so young that their first recorder was something more exotic like an MD or 
early flash-memory machine). I doubt Edison himself was anymore thrilled than any one of us the 
first time we made a recording of ourselves or our family and played it back, realizing we had now 
captured and preserved a moment and could relive it as many times as we wished. Well, I know in my 
case I promptly rewound and tried to find a more interesting thing to record ;).

Anyway, viva the proud tradition of portable sound recorders, but more so viva our modern age where 
we don't have to rely on pitch-challenged mechanical contraptions to capture our sonic memories.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 12:20 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] a different ATR-102 :-) (Rim Drive Recorders)


> At 11:59 PM 2008-05-28, Dave Nolan wrote:
>
> > Does anyone know of any other good writeups on rim drive recorders?  This
> > website has more than I've seen elsewhere...
> > http://www.radiophile.com/recorder.htm
>
> A good writeup on the scourge foisted upon an unsuspecting public? Am I too vitriolic about 
> rim-drive recorders that have cheated people out of good solid memories of their ancestors?
>
> Even the author of the above page recognizes the fact that these were toys...ok, but too many 
> people used them to record family memories that exist nowhere else and unless there is hum on the 
> tape we need to guess at the correct speed.
>
> Fortunately, with fresh batteries and operating well when new, the speed is fairly stable and the 
> speed trajectory is somewhat predictable and can be compensated for in the DAW.
>
> Cheers?
>
> Richard
>
> Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
> Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.