Celebrating Ancient Geek, Vintage Tape Recorder Hall of Fame Opens
It's a Geek's paradise online. ClydeSight Productions launches the Vintage Tape Recorder Hall Of Fame featuring information about 1950's through 1990's cassette and reel to reel tape recorders.
- (1888PressRelease) July 13, 2010 - ClydeSight Productions announces the opening of the Vintage Tape Recorder Hall Of Fame. The virtual online technology museum features information for vintage audio tape recorder enthusiasts.
It contains Photo Galleries, Specifications, and Videos of consumer tape recorders - reel to reel and cassette - dating from the 1950's through the 1990's (ancient times by technology standards) as sold in the United States.
It also includes 'project videos', things people can do with their vintage recorders that are fun and helpful. One shows people how to make a timing cassette tape. Another shows how to jump one recorder's playback head to another's amplifier, similar to 'jump starting' a car. This helps diagnose head and amplifier faults.
The Vintage Tape Recorder Hall Of Fame has been created by two audio enthusiasts, Tim Thompson -- owner of ClydeSight Productions -- which hosts the virtual museum, and Skip Murray, an audio enthusiast who photographs the machines in the collection.
"Skip seeks special lighting and angles to capture the lines and beauty of the recorder's inspiring designs," says Thompson. "For example, the Mayfair 1600 is a model of minimalist simplicity, and its seafoam green and cream color palette is very eye-catching. It calls to you; you want to look at it; you want to touch it, to play with it."
The vintage tape recorders in the collection share a touching characteristic. They have been 'orphaned' - thrown in the trash, put up for sale on E-Bay, or offered in yard sales to get rid of them. They are the unusual, the unknown, the abandoned, and sometimes the abused.
A small, colorful pink (retro rose) MINY 401 reel to reel recorder featured in the museum arrived with its case broken in half, failed electronics, and 'butchered' rewiring. Thompson restored it. The video section of the MINY gallery shows how he did it. He adds, "I rescue these machines and try to restore them to their original function. They were an important part of everyday life, and many have a nostalgic value. I get e-mails from people who say things like, 'My dad had a recorder and left tapes. I want to hear them, to hear his voice once more.'
The "About Us" page of the Vintage Tape Recorder Hall of Fame also explains, "Our objective is to document a collection of cassette and reel to reel tape recorders that have been preserved, restored, and saved from destruction. Hall of Fame visitors can learn about the legacy of magnetic analog technology and appreciate this part of our technological history before it disappears."
Thompson, who designed the Hall of Fame Web site, took his inspiration from the machines he restores. He designed a 3-D fantasy building for the page banners based on tape recorder parts. Those 'in the know' will recognize recorder heads, tape, reels, and even pinch rollers. Thompson took the "building" metaphor a step further into what he calls "Themed Web Page Banners." Every page banner shows the fantasy building from a different perspective, including interior views, like a virtual tour. It's a geek's paradise online.
The online museum is in its infancy, and presently there are 6 tape recorders, (reel to reel and cassette) on display, along with three project videos. More tape recorders and videos are scheduled to be added to the site on a monthly basis.
The Vintage Tape Recorder Hall Of Fame is free to the public as an educational service of ClydeSight Productions. Visitors are welcome worldwide, 24/7, and they are invited to leave their comments and suggestions.
ClydeSight Productions are producers of DSPP subliminal software, music, e-books, and more, including vintage tape recorder information and free original MP3 music.
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