The Magnetic Recorder

[Music] [Music] music or speech in fact almost any sound for any purpose can be recorded magnetically and played back immediately equipment for magnetic recording is available to schools churches service organizations business industry and the home these instruments are comparable to those used in radio stations and professional recording studios but the cost is moderate this scene is familiar to any primary teacher the mastery of speech and the ability to read are extremely important to the child because they undoubtedly are two of his most fundamental subjects much progress has been made in recent years in discovering such difficulties as early as possible in the child's school career early corrective measures can make a vital difference in the degree of success with which the child responds to his entire educational program when reading or speaking problems are present the teachers first responsibility is to make the child aware of these shortcomings recordings made under optimum conditions on an individual basis can be extremely helpful in resolving this type of problem in some instances the child may actually doubt that he's making mistakes but after listening to a playback of his recorded voice he immediately becomes aware of his difficulty student practice teachers also find recordings profitable for use in later consultations with their supervisors by having the recorders set up in advance it is easy for the student teacher to record either a complete classroom routine or any specific portion of the presentation or discussion the children are already accustomed to the presence of the recorder as a standard teaching a tape recordings of classroom procedures make it possible to study teaching techniques in detail repeated playback may suggest improvements in method supervisors who have many practice teachers to assist find it a great convenience in scheduling their work to have classroom recordings available reviewing the recording together the supervisor and practice teacher can evaluate and discuss the teaching techniques in detail teachers at any level in an educational system can use a recorder to analyze and improve their lectures in music as in speech the musician is so engrossed by the physical manipulations necessary to produce musical sounds that he may be actually unaware of the nature and quality of the sounds emanating from his mouth or instrument by recording his efforts it is possible for the student to listen to his own technique objectively and without the necessity to concentrate on the mechanics of the process here again the student can listen to himself and can objectively compare his playing with that of recognized artists accompaniments for solos can be recorded and the soloist can practice with this recording this saves many hours of the accompanist time and also allows the soloist to practice at his own convenience the magnetic recorder is useful also in courses relating to the planning and construction of radio programs dialogue sound effects and microphone placement can be checked as they would actually sound on the air in shorthand classes speed of dictation can be more accurately controlled by recordings foreign language pronunciations can be more nearly duplicated if the student can hear himself he can compare his pronunciations with the teachers and with the voices of native speakers recorded for this purpose certain broadcasts suitable for educational purposes seldom coincide with class schedules recordings of these programs can be made and used as desired the portability of the average magnetic recorder used in schools makes it possible to record interviews with business and professional people these interviews can be conducted by the teacher and brought back to the school this is one way of bringing the community into the classroom where companies cover large areas recordings of successful sales talks can be distributed to be studied by other salesman sales managers have encouraged their salesmen to practice sales talks by recording them these can be studied either by the salesman alone or on a conference basis between salesmen and sales manager at a conference table the magnetic recorder will capture every spoken word at the conclusion of the conference a secretary can transcribe and put an order all pertinent material in the church the recorder can also serve a very useful purpose church services by their own pastors may be brought to members who are confined to their homes these are only a few of the many uses of magnetic recording equipment but how should such equipment be selected how difficult is it to operate well portability is a prime consideration when the recorder is to be used in schools however durability should not be sacrificed most recorders are completely self-contained usually in one case the power of course is derived from a 110 volt AC outlet the design and operation of the controls may vary considerably among different makes of recorders their purposes however are always the same and can be readily illustrated by a generalized drawing there is an off on switch this is usually combined with either the volume control or the tone control a record and listen selector switch a lever to set the tape in motion through the recording head either for recording or rewind purposes a fast forward speed is desirable as this enables the operator to locate rapidly any desired section in the tape on successive uses a choice of inputs making it possible to record either through a microphone or directly from a radio or other playback equipment a recording level indicator a selector for determining the recording speed of the tape an output selector making it possible to use either the self-contained speaker or an auxilary amplifier for use in large rooms or auditoriums a magnetic recorder head assembly contains two elements as shown by this generalized schematic drawing the first is the erase him when energized this head will erase any magnetic patterns from the tape and prepare it for the recording to follow this leaves the tape and condition to receive a new pattern as it passes over the recording head the second element is the recording head itself here electrical impulses from the microphone by way of the amplifier are translated into a magnetic pattern in the oxide coating of the tape when these patterns on the tape are drawn across the same head at a later time they give back through the amplifier and speaker a facsimile of the impulses that originally went into the microphone various mechanical arrangements permit dual track recording these double the amount of material which can be recorded on any given length of tape but introduced complications if the tape is to be edited now let's go back to the boy who was setting up the recorder and see how easily a recording can be made by a ten-year-old the power cord already has been plugged into the wall outlet and the switch turn to the on position while the amplifier is warming up the tape is threaded the tape needs only to be dropped into the slot in the recording head the use of a pencil simplifies threading the take-up reel the microphone is carefully unpacked and plugged into the amplifier the record lesson selector switch is turned to the record position the input selector switch is turned to the microphone position the volume control is adjusted until the recording level indicator shows the proper setting the tape is started through the recorder in the proper direction and the recording is on its way this is a report of the brown thrasher the brown thrasher is an easy bird to see because of its length of 11 inches it made me clear birds and is sometimes hard to tell from the cat bird it has other names such as Thrasher Brown thrush sandy mocker and song thrush its general description is distinct its upper parts are brown and it's under parts or buff-colored its Billis about the length of head curved downward at the end its wings are rather short and rounded its tail is decidedly longer it is possible to see it in any state of the United States at the end of the recording the tape is stopped and the microphone is removed the input selector switch is moved to the tape position the selector switch is moved to the listen position and the tape is rewound the tape is started through again in the original direction and the volume and tone controls are adjusted many recorders are now designed to avoid accidental erasure of valuable recorded material teachers can use any of several methods to record radio programs directly usually it's easy for anyone to make connections at the rear of the radio here a two wire lead is attached to the radio speaker the other end of the two wire lead is plugged into the recorder other adjustments and procedures are the same as used in recording through the microphone a permanent plug in connection which can be installed by any competent radio service man is a great convenience if many radio programs are to be recorded occasional programs also can be recorded by placing the microphone in front of the radio speaker however results from this method are likely to be inferior once a recording is made it can be played back hundreds of times without any loss in quality a piece of tape may be erased and new materials recorded on it the subsequent recordings will have the same quality as the first recording if a tape is accidentally broken or if it becomes desirable to edit a program splices can be made easily and quickly in editing the tape is first marked the length of tape between marks is to be removed so the tape is cut at one mark and then at the other the two ends of tape that are to be joined are placed in a splicing block and an expensive device designed to position the tape properly while the spice is made with both ends of tape clamped in place a diagonal cut is made with the razor blade the trimmed ends are removed and a piece of adhesive splicing tape is pressed into place trimming the edges of the splicing tape up close to the edges of the recording tape completes the splice properly made a splice like this will make no noticeable noise as it passes over the playback head in recent years educational recording libraries have greatly expanded the variety of magnetic recordings available for use in classrooms thousands of such tapes are already available by sending reels of tape to the library anyone may have copies made for educational purposes at a very small cost or in some instances for the cost of transportation only such service is a valuable supplement to the recordings that any teacher can make for specific classroom applications in this film we have seen some uses of the magnetic recorder but these are only a small selection of the possibilities the magnetic recorder now makes it possible to use recorded sound as a convenient and relatively inexpensive teaching tool any kind of sound for any purpose can be recorded and played back immediately or a year from now whenever or wherever the sound is neat