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No followup on this from across the pond. Anyone at the BL want to help out? -- Tom Fine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 7:36 AM Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Magnetic Recording History (was OTR online? > Hi George and others: > > It seems like those BIOS reports would be at the British Library or a UK government archive. > Perhaps a listmember in the UK could track down photocopies. I'd be happy to scan them and, > assuming they are in the PD, perhaps the AES Historical Committee would be interested in hosting > them? I will check into that if we can track down a copy for scanning. Some Googling last night > netted nothing readily available online. > > -- Tom Fine > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "George Brock-Nannestad" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Friday, January 02, 2009 6:42 PM > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Magnetic Recording History (was OTR online? > > > From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad > > Richard Hess gave us a lot of information that needs to be constantly > repeated, or myths will survive. > > I did an attempt at myth-busting in a Letter to the Editor of the JAES, while > Jack Mullin was still around: > > "Comments on -The History of Magnetic Recording- and Author's Reply" > JAES Volume 29 Issue 7/8 pp. 524-525; August 1981 > > The Author had been John T. Mullin, who wrote: > > "Magnetic Recording for Original Recordings" > JAES Volume 25 Issue 10/11 pp. 696-701; November 1977 > > but apparently it has not helped a bit: I argued that the development of the > procedure was no secret, that scientific Journals like Akustische Zeitschrift > that were subscribed to outside Germany were freely available, and that the > procedure was patented. The inventors Weber and his boss von Braunmühl were > jubilant in the press releases. I think that the fact that this knowledge was > apparently not present when German radio stations were taken proves > difficulties in disseminating the information among the Allies. > > Apart from bringing home Magnetophons in pieces, as Mullen famously did, the > British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee and the Field Infomation > Agency, Technical rounded up scientists and engineers in Germany 1945-47, > interviewed them and copied and translated copious amounts of documents for > publicly available reports, many of which are now forgotten, in all areas of > endeavour. All US patents belonging to the Axis powers had been confiscated > from (if I recall correctly) 1941 and were available for the war effort at a > license fee of US$1 (one). After 1949, when Western Germany was created, all > these permissions to use became null and void. > > The two most important documents relating to the present discussion are: > > "The magnetophon sound recording and reproducing system" > B.I.O.S. Final Report No. 951 > based on several trips 1945-46 > > "Plastics in German sound recording systems" > B.I.O.S. Final Report No. 1379 > based on an expedition lasting a month in 1946 > > These are essential reading, and they are in English. But there are several > more. > > Kind regards, > > > George > > P.S. Lorenz AG was completely independent from AEG, which later became > related to Telefunken (and Lorenz became part of Standard Electric). The > Magnetophon GmbH was formed as a 50/50 ownership company by AEG and I.G. > Farbenindustrie (which in itself was an industry conglomerate of dye and > chemical industries, including Agfa). > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > > > Richard Hess wrote: > >> For the record, the full name of AMPEX's founder >> is Alexander M. Poniatoff. It is my understanding >> that AMPEX came from Poniatoff's initials plus >> the first two letters of the word EXcellence. >> >> At 03:27 AM 2009-01-02, Michael Biel wrote: >> >> >Second, that Hitler story is laughable. Hitler >> >would "be" where ever the broadcast announcer >> >said he was!!! Besides, Hitler was not making >> >many speeches during the war. The sound quality >> >of distant radio reception would mask any >> >differences between a speech recorded on tape and a speech recorded on >> disc. >> >> The version of this story that I heard was that >> Mullin and other Signal Corpsmen heard late night >> orchestra broadcasts of some length and thought >> that the sound quality was better than any >> long-form transcription device they had so they >> were interested in learning about this German >> technology after the war. They thought the >> recordings sounded live, but wondered if even >> Hitler would schedule musicians to play in the middle of the night. >> >> I concur with Tony that early AM radio sounded >> much better than what we hear today. I recall >> owning a tube Zenith AM/FM radio that was >> reasonably high-fidelity in the 1950s--even on >> AM, and having my first exposure to the "Texaco >> Metropolitan Opera Radio Network" via WOR on the AM band. >> >> >Lastly, the entire first season of Philco Radio >> >Time was recorded and edited on DISC. Tape was >> >only used for mastering and editing starting in >> >the second season, and even then the tapes were dubbed to disc for >> broadcast. >> >> The first show recorded on tape was broadcast >> 1947-10-01 (which was the start of the 1947-1948 >> season). While the original tape went missing >> from the Ampex Collection prior to it being >> transferred to Stanford (it would be on a 14" >> Ampex NAB-hub reel in all likelihood), excellent >> 2nd generation copies remain. One of those has >> been digitized and delivered to the Stanford Ampex Collection. >> >> No one at ABC wanted to risk going with tape >> live-to-air due to the fragility of the early >> tapes with multiple splices as well as having >> only two of Mullin's modified Magnetophons to >> play them on. Mullin shipped the transports and >> heads home but did not bother with the >> electronics as he saw improvements that he could >> make right away. Mullin's electronics have one >> additional tube as compared to the original AEG >> electronics with AC bias that he left behind. >> >> At 10:51 AM 2009-01-02, Anthony Baldwin wrote: >> >> >In Germany this situation changed irrevocably in 1941 when AEG >> >engineers von Braunmühl and Weber stumbled across AC tape bias, where >> >the addition of an inaudible high-frequency tone resulted in a >> >striking improvement in sound quality - something that was radical >> >enough to be discernible in prerecorded German AM broadcasts, if the >> >BBC's Caversham Park wartime monitoring reports are to be credited. >> > >> >In fact, this is not so hard to believe, as the generous bandwidth of >> >national AM channels in the 1930s and '40s offered a far higher level >> >of AM fidelity than we're used to today. Nazi speeches aside, the >> >technical leap forward was most glaringly obvious in prerecorded >> >broadcasts by the likes of Fürtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic, >> >as recent CD reissues have adequately confirmed. >> >> For a more detailed discussion, please see >> Engel, Friedrich Karl. >> <http://www.richardhess.com/tape/history/Engel--Walter_Weber_2006.pdf>Walter >> Weber's Technical Innovation at the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft >> and >> Engel, Friedrich Karl and Peter Hammar, >> <http://www.richardhess.com/tape/history/Engel_Hammar--Magnetic_Tape_History >> .pdf>A >> Selected History of Magnetic Recording >> >> There may be additional items of interest at >> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/history/ >> >> >While Jack Mullen may have been able to kickstart Ampex by sending >> >home a couple of these liberated machines in bits via the no-doubt >> >bemused Army Post Office, the final broadcast requirement for tape - >> >superior editability - was only really achieved when the notoriously >> >fragile German acetate-backed "paper" tape could be abandoned in >> >1947-48 in favor of 3M's new, sturdier #111 stock. From that moment >> >on tape was definitely superior to disc as a studio medium, even if >> >Bing's transcriptions were still pressed up as discs. >> >> That is partially true in that the German tape >> that Mullin brought back was fragile but more in >> the context that he had only about fifty reels >> (most of which survive in various states of >> repair in the Stanford Ampex Collection) and they >> were cut and spliced and recut and respliced >> until 3M came up to speed with tape >> manufacturing. Audio Devices also supplied some >> tape at this time or shortly thereafter (we found >> some spliced in with some of the German tape). >> >> However, paper tape was abandoned circa 1935 in >> Germany while it was still made for the Brush >> Soundmirror and sold directly by 3M (Scotch) >> until some time in the 1950s in North America. >> Utah recorders in Canada also sold paper tape. >> >> The German tape from 1935-1944 was an >> acetate-based tape called Magnetophonband Typ C. >> The factory where this was manufactured was >> destroyed in an industrial accident (not a >> war-related explosion) and from 1944 until the >> end of the war, only homogeneous PVC >> Magnetophonband Typ L tape was available. In the >> Typ L tape, the gamma ferric oxide was embedded >> in the PVC matrix and not coated on the basefilm >> like current and preceding tapes. The "Typ L" >> refers to IG Farben's trade name "Luvitherm" for >> their brand of PVC, just as "Mylar" became >> perhaps better known than PET for this later basefilm. >> http://www.wipo.int/ipdl/en/madrid/key.jsp?KEY=453247 >> http://heritage.dupont.com/touchpoints/tp_1952/overview.shtml >> >> Most of the Magnetophonband tape has survived >> well. Some of the Typ C is starting to exhibit >> signs of vinegar syndrome, but this has occurred >> mostly with ones stored in the steel film-style >> cans than in the cardboard (press board?) boxes that most of them came in. >> >> Some of the Typ L tape is showing some structural >> weakness and, as with many plastic films, shows a >> tendency to tear when edge nicks have occurred. >> Sometimes, splices would catch at the tape edge >> and start a long tear at a very shallow diagonal. >> In one case, the tear was about half a metre >> long. Repeated playing of this tape on the >> less-than-completely gentle original Magentophon >> in the Pavek collection has caused some pinholes >> to occur in the Typ L tape where clumps of the >> oxide material have fallen out of the PVC film matrix. >> >> You may also enjoy reading my paper on the >> playback effort for some of these tapes. As of >> 2008-08, all of these have been delivered to both >> Stanford and the Pavek Museum and we included 101 >> (IIRC) different items in the collection, most >> were on the original Magnetophonband. These have >> been ingested into Stanford's Digital Repository >> system. I am not sure about access. >> Hess, Richard L. >> <http://www.aes.org/journal/suppmat/hess_2001_7.pdf>The >> Jack Mullin/Bill Palmer Tape Restoration Project >> >> Since there was additional material in the Pavek >> Museum collection, including Magnetophonband from >> other collectors, I concatenated the the >> Mullin-Palmer collection, the Mullin family >> collection, and the Pavek collection plus a few >> other related items into one collection for the >> sake of looking at these early tapes. The >> original material for the Mullin-Palmer >> collection resides at Stanford, while the Mullin >> family collection is retained by the family, and >> the Pavek retains its own collection. I have >> recorded the 1947-10-01 show back onto some >> new-old-stock Magentophonband Typ L for >> demonstrations at the Pavek and I need to make >> one or two more copies for them on NOS material I still have from the >> Pavek. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Richard >> >> Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask] >> 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. >