Retro Tech: The Wire Recorder

The Wire Recorder was expected to take over the world but disappeared almost overnight. In this video I take a look at this now largely forgotten technology from the past..and piece together its history. PLEASE CLICK 'SHOW MORE' TO READ ALL THE TEXT

If you want to know why I didn't record via the line-in....here's the answer

'Recording via line in requires connecting the input device to the 'mic socket' via a Jones connector. I imported some Cinch Jones connectors from the US, and wired them up to RCA sockets but the sound recorded on the wire was clearer when recorded through the mic. I didn't include this section in the video because it was as dull as this explanation about it'

...and if you wanted to know why I didn't record the audio out of the headphone output....well the levels were very low and the sound had an audible whistle.

So now you know, you can go back to having a lovely worry-free day.

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[slicey]

an older lovely lady I worked with (she was a receptionist) until a few months ago brought in a very similar unit to this from her childhood once that she wanted to see if we could get going again, along with a few tapes ( we are/were IT technicians) and it ended up being our TV technician that replaced a few valves, spliced a new power supply to the old header and got it going,

We got to hear a 15 to 17 year old Carmel messing around with her friends at the time, talking about boys they liked and girls they didn't etc etc, she cried and laughed at recordings she had not heard for about 40 ish years, was honestly amazing.

[DaniilHomyak]

It's breathtaking to hear the recording of a 1955 New year celebration. I really feel like a time traveler.
Thank you for making this absolute fantastic video

[oxymoron]

In 1955, those people could never have known that their humble little home recording would be so widely accessible to all of us listening to it.

Whether they're still alive or not, we had a glimpse into a their lives; which is incredible.

[TheBitGuy]

Wow, I had no idea these even existed.

[LGR]

Another piece of retro tech I've never heard of. Absolutely love this stuff :)

[pland]

When I was a child (born 1958) my dad had such a "Recordophone" which was built stationary into a piece of furniture. Mostly before I was born he had recorded family members that visited my parents' home and so when I grew up I knew the voices of some relatives that had passed away in the meantime. Around the end of the sixties or beginning of the seventies my dad copied all intact wires onto a compact cassette before getting away with the machine. I recently transferred the compact cassettes to MP3 and now I have family audio documents of about 70 years ago, which is great. In my teens I continued the recording passion of my dad but on compact cassettes and then also added a 78 rpm shellac record with songs of my great-grandmother who recorded them in a recording studio ("Jecklin" in Zurich) in 1948 at the age of 86 years!

[vazhanatroshvili]

in late 80-s I served in Soviet Army, (1986-88) and wire recorder was still in use there, it was used in Air defense complex, to record conversation with other units, and it was working fine. year after year

[Sleelan]

There's something eerie about listening to random people's voices from 60 years ago, captured and stored on a metal wire.

[RavenJCain]

Insane how nice that machine looks for it's age.

Not even 80 and 90 stereo equipment looks this good that old.

[lukischwab]

Those people that recorded themselves were never expecting 29700 people listen to them allmost 80 jears in the future :o

[FoulOwl]

Ive got an old wire recorder and some reels with my grandparents abd my Dads voice on it when he was only two or three years old. Kinda one of my most valuable, worthless possessions.

[WHatchitW]

"Check him to see if he's got a wire. "

"He's clean, boss."

[Stormrider]

This makes me wanna play Bioshock all over again

[RayBrach]

My parents were married in 1948. Their wedding was recorded on wire. We had the wire through the 60's and 70's. I had hopes to listen to it but never found a device to play it on.
Thanks for the video to bring back some memories.

[loganinkosovo]

The U.S. Army in WWII used these wire recorders installed in Jeeps with loudspeakers mounted to make the sounds of an armored or infantry unit moving up into position across from the enemy. The psy-ops units were called Ghost Battalions.

[kennethcohagen]

My father in law was an electronic engineer who helped the US and British Navy develop surface contact radar during WWII. After the war he worked on many projects and had a lot of hobbies as well. In the late 60's early 70's when reel to reel tape took off he would transcribe wire recordings to tape for people. Most of them were things like a baby's first words and other family recording. Later he got into refurbishing Philips radios. They had a tube that burned out regularly, the 51A which was basically a pair of ballast resistors. He made a solid state replacement using wire from these recorders to wind his own resistors which he then encapsulated in an epoxy like material. These were cheap to make and lasted longer than the 51A tubes. Unfortunately the process was lost when he died and the last of his stock was sold off.

[davidfl]

Man I love those thick switches on older machines “click” so satisfying

[kirishima]

Absolutely love this. This is classic 1940s technology; well designed but solidly built. It's a piece of art. And built to last! No design obsolescence BS!

Also as was common with that era, the manual contains complete diagrams and disassembly guides. The end user was not treated like an idiot back then.

[CoolAsFreya]

The fact that the "record" and "playback" are labeled as "dictate" and "transcribe" is really interesting! Fascinating how the user's language and conventions evolve over time

[cupcakethesabertooth]

There's something just so amazing listening to a new years party from 1955, it's an audio time capsule! Amazing. I'd love to listen to the entire recording.