This was the Blatterphone (left), which used 6mm wide steel tape travelling at 5 feet per second: the large reels allowed for 20 minutes of continuous recording and, importantly for the BBC, once the recording had been rewound it could be played back without further processing. However there were many technical difficulties, and it was not until the late 1920s that a moderately practicable magnetic recorder was developed in Germany. Magnetic recording had been around since Valdemar Poulsen's 'Telegraphone' of 1899 - a wire recorder without amplification (the carbon microphone - as used in telephones - was connected directly to the recording head) which could just about drive headphones. Only gradually as viable recording methods were developed did the use of recordings for repeats, or for internal listening to assess the success of a programme, become possible.Īs a BBC Engineer and then Studio Manager from 1961-2007 I saw some of these developments take place:Īnd though obviously I had no contact with the earlier systems I did work with people who had used them or worked with people who did: so I can comment on some of the history from my own experience. Radio plays which were repeated had to be performed again, as did any features or musical programmes. ![]() This made it useless for repeating items, and was used very sparingly for important events such as royal speeches.Īll broadcasting was done 'live' - this was part of the attraction since listeners knew that what they were hearing was happening now. The recording had to be made on a wax blank, which was too soft for immediate playback and had to be electroplated to produce a stamper before playable records could be pressed, an expensive process which took at least twelve hours. The only recording in the BBC archives pre-dating this is of King George 5 opening the 1924 British Empire Exhibition, and this was made by an amateur pointing his radio speaker down a home-made acoustic recording machine.įrom 1925 the BBC had a few recordings made over landline by gramophone companies such as HMV or British Homophone. Gramophone records were made by using a horn with a diaphram at the end of it, connected directly to the cutting stylus electrical recording only came into use in 1925. When the BBC was formed in 1922 there was no electrical recording system outside laboratories. This content was provided by Roger from his web site. The Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording greatly appreciates Roger Wilmut, who worked for the BBC from the 1960's to 2000, for providing us with the following information on the BBC and EMI. These interviews have also been made available to the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammy’s). These interviews will be available on MOMSR’s web site and in the permanent facility when it is created. The Museum’s goal is to document the stories of those persons who contributed significant inventions, manufactured equipment and who engineered and produced audio recordings, especially in the areas of music, broadcast, film/video and science. ![]() ![]() Preserving the stories of significant individuals in sound recording generally and magnetic recording specifically is a major project of MOMSR.
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