Recording Music on Wire

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 33, 28 February 1930, Page 11

Recording Music on Wire

A CORRESPONDENT has sent im &ti inquiry for further particulars this recording apparatus, evidently with a view to constructing the s The -article was not written with @ view to being used as a guide for eox struction, because, apart from any. patent rights considerations, partie lars in the writer’s possession are & sufficient for the purpose, and the dia gram given is little more than an elaborated theoretical diagram. The short article was written With a view to giving readers an idea as te the general method adopted in this system of recording, as it has several times been briefly mentioned in the "Record." There are signs that it fs being revived, which of course means also that use will bring rapid improvement. Proof that the system is capable of high-grade reproduction in its present state is afforded by the fact that in a leading Continental conservatoire of music the singing and playing by students is recorded by this system, and afterwards reproduced for the benefit of the individual student, who is thus able to hear and criticise his own performance and benefit thereby. The reason for placing the three magnets for different purposes pét- manently along the path of the wire appears at first to be rather puzzling, but it must be remembered that only the magnet in use is supplied with current, and the others, not being so supplied, have no effect. The demagnetiser will presumably be supplied with alternating current when in use, The recorder will be fed with the output of a good amplifier, connected in the usual way to a microphone or other means of converting sound into elec trical impulses. Many difficulties would beset the ii» tempts of an amateur constructor~~ the exact method of passing the wire in front of the magnet poles, the quality of steel wire to be used, speed regu« lation involving the varying diameter of the spool as the wire is wound on, and so on,