First tape recorded with 1934 AEG Magnetophon prototype
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ธ.ค. 2010
- What you hear is what was recorded in On April 27, 1935 in the Ludwigshaven Theater using the pictured AEG Magnetophon prototype. Four different prototypes were built between 1932 and 1934, and this is the last one. It should have been exposed in the 1934 Berlin Radio Fair, but still had some troubles, especially a major design issue where the tape would break if you did not wait until the reels stop before playing/rewinding. There was no fast forward and the capstan motor was asynchronous, hence audible pitch variation. Its improved successor became the Magnetophon K1 (which is a visually different machine).
The cuts, pitch variations and other sound "defects" are authentic. The tape used was the early gray Carbonyl Iron type, quickly replaced by black Fe3O4 tapes in 1936. The tape speed was 1 meter per second (100cm/s).
The piano and cello sonata heard remains unknown. If anybody knows this music please let me know.
Note that I am looking for AEG Magnetophon machines: please contact me if you have one. - เพลง
This sounds better than most phonograph recordings of the time.
Yes. Captured German machines were brought back to the U.S. in 1945; German patents were void. Ampex then began production, using the technology.
Hollywood studios had multi-channel sound-on-film technology, but audio recording in the U.S. remained disc-cutting-based well into the 1940s. When German machines were brought back at the end of World War II, it was immediately evident how superior their fidelity was, not to mention their ability to accommodate editing, splicing, and erasing tape. The days of disc recording were numbered. Singer Bing Crosby pioneered the taping of radio shows for later airing, as he did not wish to perform live at scheduled broadcast times. He invested heavily in the tape-recording industry accordingly.
I'm shocked at how good this sounds, I don't even know if microphones of the time were capable of using it to it's full advantage.
I like the " yea " at the beggining....
This recording is actually quite good sounding (If you ignore the tape saturation) for such an early machine. Very cool!
This is the first tape recording th-cam.com/video/YABES_D9xfE/w-d-xo.html
@@THENOOBISYOU no, its not! Its a other maschine.
@@THENOOBISYOU that's not magnetic tape, that's soot paper
I guess they didn't have VU meters then...
Man... the audio fidelity is stunning!
This dates from 1944, and shows just how far ahead German tape recording was, in comparison to disc-cutting. Bombs can be heard falling in the background. th-cam.com/video/EY7lvuVjjX4/w-d-xo.html
if this audio is unprocessed (taken directly from the tape machine and spliced directly into the video), then tapes of the time had much better fidelity and frequency response then the records of the time. I have records from the 1930's -- near mint condition some are -- and they have no where near the frequency range that this does.
Yes. When German-made tape recordings were made available in the U.S. after WWII, along with the recording machines, listeners were amazed. German patents were useless. The days of disc recording were numbered.
Cheers! As a long time tape addict, it's great to hear a recording made with the earliest tape technology! As i recall these were DC bias, yes? That wopuld explain the harsh upper frequencies, or lack thereof.
It's a shame the tape has detiorated so much (from some of your comments in your responses). This is truly an historic recording!
One of the most haunting I've heard was a stereo recording from around 1942. During a pianissimo, you could hear anti-aircraft guns aimed at allied bombers.
@stratocat9999 The tape has deteriorated since the late 1980s when it was transferred. The sound didn't deteriorate. It's the cellulose acetate itself which became brittle (like Pyral records) and which would no longer pass trough the machine. As for the stereo recording, this is Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto (The Emperor) with Walter Gieseking and Arthur Rother. This was recorded in 1944. It's now available on CD (Music & Arts, AES, Iron Needle, Piano Library, etc.).
If you want to hear how far ahead Hollywood was in audio recording for the movie industry, as compared with disc-cutting, listen to the soundtrack music recorded by the Glenn Miller band for their two motion pictures, in comparison with their conventional recordings.
Wow, great quality.
Great song, Its so ahead of its time.
AC Bias was added in 1942 and that dramatically improved the sound.
Not 1942 but 1941. I happen to own a few tapes recorded in the fall of 1941 already with AC bias.
Are those tapes available to hear on TH-cam?
@@videogamehistorian where can i find these 1940s records
Amazing!
Sounds great!
Grate sound....considering the age......and the early stages of technologie, what now we are enjoing.....thank you. GERMANS ...be proud of you
love this music
Actually, after reading the other comments and description, I would have to say that the distortion, while high is Breyer than other DC bias recordings I have heard. Of course later AC bias was the breakthrough for them that Ampex then copied. I hear no appreciable wow or flutter or speed drift and I typically am quite sensitive to that. There is a key change at one of the cuts. But this is explained musically later in the tape when they revert to the original key.
I would argue that some 1930s records had lower distortion and as wide of response as this tape, but a different noise characteristic of course. (Less steady state hiss but more impulse noise.)
Interesting. Since 1980's this tape aged quickler than from 1935 to 1980's. It's a pitty. Anyway, the recording is very good for 1935.
interesting!
I think it's an arrangement of a Handel aria, as it has some resemblance to the Largo
Yes, the ornamented cadences with trills and steady rhythms. The harmonic progressions sound like Handel as well.
@stratocat9999 This was indeed a DC bias recording. Actually, Magnetophones started to use AC bias in 1941. The stereo recording is Beethoven's 5th piano concerto, the Emperor, and was recorded in 1944. It is available on CD and was issued by several labels. It was first issued on LP in 1979 by Varese Sarabande.
I wonder, where did you get this tape from, and when did it happen?
@videogamehistorian Very Cool! I understand about the break down of the cellulose backing. Question; as it broke down did it excrete palmetic acid or something similar? I know when a nitrocellulose disc breaks down it can get covered in this white sticky mess (I've had to do battle to restore some of these). Some of my older tape ( 50+ years) are shedding lint-like matter onto the guides. Any thoughts? Cheers!
I’m interested in very early tape recordings. Is there somewhere a direct transfer of this can be purchased on CD (or WAV/FLAC Lossless download?) I already have the early stereo CD from AES
Hello ! Bravo pour ce tuto ! moi aussi je sais enregistrer....signé : " Jo le magnéto "
It sounds fantastic, although a little distorted. Did they understand about not saturating the tape in those days, and did they have VU meters? I think some older recorders used magic eye tubes as well. to check the level..
I understand that the German tapes were backed by PAPER, not mylar or other plastic. That might explain breakage.
No. They were made with acetate which indeed was quite breakable. Homogeneous tapes (Type L) from 1943 reduced the problem. I own both type C and L tapes. The former easily breaks. With the later, you really have to pull .
Is.leave.possible
Did any of the prototypes survive?
A voice can be heard; a recording engineer, perhaps?
Yes
@chromal That's not entirely true, magnetic recording was in use on this side of the Atlantic before the war but used wire or a metal band rather then plastic or paper tape, the principles were already understood way back into the 1920s. The British also produced high fidelity recordings using record lathes, Decca in particular was at the forefront, the U.S recording industry had little interest in true hi fidelity until after the war, they figured that the American public didn't care.
дурень)) речь идёт о магнитофоне и магнитной ленте
DC biasing yet, or HF AC?, because the tape hiss remains really very low to be DC. Ultrasonic biasing was developed later by W. Weber and H. J. Von Braunmüll almost accidentally when a tube of the record amplifier began to self oscillating by a defective feedback loop, then, the RF signal generated by such a valve was superimposed to the audio signal being both applied simultaneously to the record head coil. The result was an astonishing recording by its high fidelity and low noise too far away from that was usual when biasing by a fixed and unipolar field of direct current to overcome the hysteresis effect of the magnetic domains onto the tape.
It's DC bias. But it is possible that the tape was blank. If it had been previously recorded, the sound may have been a lot worse. DC bias is not that bad on blank tapes. The AC bias was rediscovered sometime in 1941.
Thanks for your kind reply.
@@videogamehistorian So is DC bias just a steady magnetic field applied to the tape at the same time as the signal?
What were the microphones used? Tape is oversaturated, of course, but the distortion doesn't seem too bad. Were recording levels set by ear?
Unfortunately there is no information. The tape was recorded with DC bias, hence the high distortion.
Many tests were done during the development years, so it's possible that the levels were determined with trial and error, but nothing attests of it.
And probably no one among German technicians from that period is still alive to give details.
@@videogamehistorian I guess the engineers were thrilled just to get a recording at all, & only later worried about saturating the tape...
Hello, I just purchased a K4 Magnetophon and I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival. I will be looking for some parts should you have any for sale or trade!
more, I have a picture of a 1943 calendar showing one of the first video chat...in germany...if you wish, can send you it
Is Some body interested in having the first album stereo recorded by PHILCO ?
1.- Demostration instructions
2.- Gershwind Blue rapsody
3.- Bizet : Camen
4.- Khachaturian: Ballet Gayne Suite N 1
5.- Grieg
6.- Beetthofen
7.- Tchaikovsky
8.- Mendelssohn
9.- Strauss Walses
10.- Stephen Foster by Kostelanetz
Contat me
Was it a paper tape or a plastic tape ?
Acetate, coated with carbonyl iron (gray iron powder).
Can you tell me what piece is it? I feel like it is from the early romantique, Schubert, Schumann, maybe Beethoven.
Read the description, it says this: "The piano and cello sonata heard remains unknown. If anybody knows this music please let me know."
+Canberk Duman The first 4 bars are reminiscent of the beginning of the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, "Pathétique", but then it rapidly goes off someplace else...
This is not piano and cello, this is piano and viola (or alto).
@@Vladislaw81 It's a cello. As poor as the sound is by modern standards it's not so bad that the cello sounds like a viola.
The composer seems to be German from 19-th century, though by now he is unknown. That is because I've showed this video to professional, greatly experienced classical musicians, and at least by now no one (!) can tell me who is the composer. This means that he's not one of the greatest composers of that era, not of the highest league. Otherwise they could easily tell me who wrote this piece.
The only thing I can say about this piece is that it is written in As-Dur.
Dear mr. David Winter, please tell me, how did you manage to find out the correct tonality of this recording? Also, it would be interesting to know, how did you get this record?
This dates from 1944, and shows just how far ahead in audio fidelity Germany was at the time, in comparison with disc-cutting. Bombs can be heard in the background; the war was going on as this was being recorded. th-cam.com/video/EY7lvuVjjX4/w-d-xo.html
...first came a 'wire-recording' ! but 1935 is listed in literature ! the dates are not fixed ! first stereo-recordings were dated in 1941, on lost 'Karajan-master-tapes' ! stereo was invented for locating submarines ! LES (berlin/germany)
Is this clip intended to contain images?
Yes originally the video showed the Magnetophon you quickly see at start, and comments would appear to explain its operation. This video was generated on TH-cam itself so I had no source or project file. Only the sound file that you hear. No idea how this can be fixed unfortunately.
Hello David,
you have wride in Description you Search early aeg magnetophon tapemaschines...
I have one if you are interested,
please let me know!
...Greetings
Contact me at d_winter AATT Hotmail DOOT com
@@videogamehistorian thanks! ...i will wride you! Greetings
@@videogamehistorian hello David, have you get my mail?
Nope
@@videogamehistorian now it must work, i wride you again! We get in touch, Greetings
So there is nothing that can be done for the tape?
je recherche le mode d'emploi -RK-4215 (magnetophon)
The distortion is pretty horrible. I take it that these machines used no form of bias when recording?
***** Mate, you're a sockpuppet with a little too much time on your hands. I'm guessing as the video is labeled with the technology it's recorded with then it's a subject open to the discussion, i.e. it is presented as a piece of sound recording history and I personally find the techniques used at the time quite interesting, in this case the distortion levels are quite higher than normal which indicated that perhaps no bias is used. If you don't like my comments then don't follow me.
You have obviously never heard a recording made without bias.
Godfrey Poon
Heard a few cassettes recorded with DC (permanent magnet) based bias. Quite nasty, lot's of LF noise. There are lots of speed and distortion issues here though. Still useful as a historical example of a technology in development.
Magic Monty When I was a stupid little kid, I hooked an audio amplifier up to drive the replay heads in a tape player, in an attempt to make it record.
There was basically no response at all until I drove it very hard, and then the distortion was ungodly.
DC bias is ultra Hi-Fi compared to no bias at all.
This is normal ! The machine was still a prototype with DC bias and the tape itself was far from perfected. It would require two generations of tape formulas and AC bias to reach high fidelity. This is why almost no musical recordings were made on tape before around 1941 when AC bias appeared.
Amazing!