Once again, the BVExpo (the essential broadcast and production technology event) was held at the ExCeL Centre London, between 25th and 27th February.           The state-of-the-art Olympic venue hosted an impressive line-up with over 300 exhibitors, 200 speakers and 120 free seminars, demonstrations and workshops. This free-to-attend show is a must […]

Cassette tapes are pretty robust, but occasionally they have to be repaired before any audio transfer can be carried out. This particular cassette appeared to have been in the wars – not only was the tape snapped, it was also very badly wound on the reels, and the pressure pad assembly had become bent out […]

Another week, another interesting job – this time in the form of a rare, early 78 rpm transparent flexi-disc dating back to the mid 1940s. Unfortunately the record has suffered damage with a crack from the centre hole spreading to half-way across the grooves. Clearly the disc’s flexibility has diminished over the years and it […]

An interesting request came in the other day to repair and transcribe a 45 rpm single which had inadvertantly been sat upon, and had snapped in half! Normally, this would not cause any problems – but in this case the two halves had been held together with extremely sticky tape, right across the grooves, so […]

Part 2 Next, the phonograph base unit was cleaned up. Although the cogs and drive-screw turned after a fashion, they were pretty gunged-up with years of accumulated dirt and grease. Everything that could be unscrewed was removed, and the non-painted parts (cogs etc) were soaked in a white-spirit bath overnight. All painted metalwork was cleaned […]

Part 1 Recently I got the urge to buy an early Edison cylinder phonograph. I’d seen plenty of photos of them in the CLPGS magazines and read many articles on the subject, and was keen to actually get my hands on one, and find out for myself just what the sound quality was like. The […]

Sticky Shed Syndrome (SSS) is a well-known phenomenon which can afflict audio and video recording tape. Its existance was discovered in the 1990s during routine archiving of studio tapes. Audio engineers noticed that certain tapes, especially those produced in the 1970s which used polyester-urethane binders to support the magnetic particles on the base film, exhibited […]

These 78 rpm discs were produced back in the ’50s and ’60s and were designed to be played on a gramophone with a thorn needle. Pre-dating acetates, these ‘lo-fi’ but robust aluminium discs were generally used for family greeting messages. Three arrived recently with slight dents to their surfaces – sufficient to render transcription at […]

Making a CD anthology of your band for commercial release – the nuts and bolts…from one who has been through the mill. Back in August 2010, I was contacted by Simon McKay, the lead singer of “Said Liquidator”, an indie pop band based in Newcastle upon Tyne, active between ’87 – ’91. Despite (or perhaps […]

Most transfer projects arrive at the studio in the format they were designed for; cassette tapes enclosed in their shells, records in their sleeves, but a while ago I received an unusual request to transfer a short passage from 1/4 inch open reel tape, supplied wound round a cotton reel! The series of pictures below […]