Tape recorder

An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape

player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a
sound recording and reproduction device that records and
plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage.
In its present-day form, it records a fluctuating signal by
moving the tape across a tape head that polarizes the
magnetic domains in the tape in proportion to the audio
signal. Tape-recording devices include the reel-to-reel tape
deck and the cassette deck, which uses a cassette for
storage.

The use of magnetic tape for sound recording originated

around 1930 in Germany as paper tape with oxide lacquered
A reel-to-reel tape recorder from Akai, c.
to it. Prior to the development of magnetic tape, magnetic 1978
wire recorders had successfully demonstrated the concept of
magnetic recording, but they never offered audio quality
comparable to the other recording and broadcast standards of the time. This German invention was the
start of a long string of innovations that have led to present-day magnetic tape recordings.

Magnetic tape revolutionized both the radio broadcast and music recording industries. It gave artists and
producers the power to record and re-record audio with minimal loss in quality as well as edit and
rearrange recordings with ease. The alternative recording technologies of the era, transcription discs and
wire recorders, could not provide anywhere near this level of quality and functionality.

Since some early refinements improved the fidelity of the reproduced sound, magnetic tape has been the
highest quality analog recording medium available. As of the first decade of the 21st century, analog
magnetic tape has been largely replaced by digital recording technologies.

History
Early tape recorders
 An early experimental non-magnetic 1909 analog tape recorder of Franklin C.
tape recorder patented in 1886 by Goodale. This machine had 15 Tracks
Alexander Graham Bell's Volta
Laboratory.

Franklin C. Goodale built the first working Prototype of the Goodale tape recorder.
tape recorder in 1909 and got the patent The patent is based on this machine.
for this invention

Wax strip recorder

The earliest known audio tape recorder was a non-magnetic, non-electric version invented by Alexander
Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory and patented in 1886 (U.S. patent 341,214 (https://patents.google.com/pa
tent/US341214)). It employed a 3⁄16-inch-wide (4.8 mm) strip of wax-covered paper that was coated by
dipping it in a solution of beeswax and paraffin and then had one side scraped clean, with the other side
allowed to harden. The machine was of sturdy wood and metal construction and hand-powered by means
of a knob fastened to a flywheel. The wax strip passed from one eight-inch reel around the periphery of a
pulley (with guide flanges) mounted above the V-pulleys on the main vertical shaft, where it came in
contact with either its recording or playback stylus. The tape was then taken up on the other reel. The
sharp recording stylus, actuated by a vibrating mica diaphragm, cut the wax from the strip. In playback
mode, a dull, loosely mounted stylus, attached to a rubber diaphragm, carried the reproduced sounds
through an ear tube to its listener. Both recording and playback styluses, mounted alternately on the same
two posts, could be adjusted vertically so that several recordings could be cut on the same 3⁄16-inch-wide
(4.8 mm) strip.[1]
While the machine was never developed commercially, it somewhat resembled the modern magnetic tape
recorder in its design. The tapes and machine created by Bell's associates, examined at one of the
Smithsonian Institution's museums, became brittle, and the heavy paper reels warped. The machine's
playback head was also missing. Otherwise, with some reconditioning, they could be placed into working
condition.[1]

The waxed tape recording medium was later refined by Edison's wax cylinder, and became the first
widespread sound recording technology, used for both entertainment and office dictation. However,
recordings on wax cylinders were unable to be easily duplicated, making them both costly and time
consuming for large-scale production. Wax cylinders were also unable to record more than 2 minutes of
audio, a problem solved by gramophone discs.[2][3]

Celluloid strip recorder

Franklin C. Goodale adapted movie film for analog audio
recording. He received a patent for his invention in 1909. The
celluloid film was inscribed and played back with a stylus, in a
manner similar to the wax cylinders of Edison's gramophone. The
patent description states that the machine could store six records
on the same strip of film, side by side, and it was possible to
switch between them.[4] In 1912, a similar process was used for
the Hiller talking clock.

Photoelectric paper tape recorder This tape recorder of Dr. Goodale is

In 1932, after six years of developmental work, including a patent exhibited in the private Phonograph
Museum in Mariazell, Austria.
application in 1931,[5][6] Merle Duston, a Detroit radio engineer,
created a tape recorder capable of recording both sounds and voice
that used a low-cost chemically treated paper tape. During the recording process, the tape moved through
a pair of electrodes which immediately imprinted the modulated sound signals as visible black stripes into
the paper tape's surface. The audio signal could be immediately replayed from the same recorder unit,
which also contained photoelectric sensors, somewhat similar to the various sound-on-film technologies
of the era.[7][8]

Magnetic recording
Magnetic recording was conceived as early as 1878 by the American engineer Oberlin Smith[9][10] and
demonstrated in practice in 1898 by Danish engineer Valdemar Poulsen.[11][12] Analog magnetic wire
recording, and its successor, magnetic tape recording, involve the use of a magnetizable medium which
moves with a constant speed past a recording head. An electrical signal, which is analogous to the sound
that is to be recorded, is fed to the recording head, inducing a pattern of magnetization similar to the
signal. A playback head can then pick up the changes in magnetic field from the tape and convert it into
an electrical signal to be amplified and played back through a loudspeaker.

Wire recorders
The first wire recorder was the Telegraphone invented by
Valdemar Poulsen in the late 1890s. Wire recorders for law and
office dictation and telephone recording were made almost
continuously by various companies (mainly the American
Telegraphone Company) through the 1920s and 1930s. These
devices were mostly sold as consumer technologies after World
War II.

Widespread use of wire recording occurred within the decades

Magnetic wire recorder, invented by
spanning from 1940 until 1960, following the development of
Valdemar Poulsen, 1898. It is
inexpensive designs licensed internationally by the Brush exhibited at Brede works Industrial
Development Company of Cleveland, Ohio and the Armour Museum, Lyngby, Denmark.
Research Foundation of the Armour Institute of Technology (later
Illinois Institute of Technology). These two organizations licensed
dozens of manufacturers in the U.S., Japan, and Europe.[13] Wire was also used as a recording medium in
black box voice recorders for aviation in the 1950s.[14]

Consumer wire recorders were marketed for home entertainment or as an inexpensive substitute for
commercial office dictation recorders, but the development of consumer magnetic tape recorders starting
in 1946, with the BK 401 Soundmirror, using paper-based tape,[15] gradually drove wire recorders from
the market, being "pretty much out of the picture" by 1952.[16]

Early steel tape recorders

In 1924 a German engineer, Kurt Stille, developed the Poulsen
wire recorder as a dictating machine.[17] The following year a
fellow German, Louis Blattner, working in Britain, licensed
Stille's device and started work on a machine which would instead
record on a magnetic steel tape, which he called the
Blattnerphone.[18] The tape was 6 mm wide and 0.08 mm thick,
traveling at 5 feet per second; the recording time was 20 minutes.

The BBC installed a Blattnerphone at Avenue House in September Marconi-Stille steel tape recorder at
1930 for tests, and used it to record King George V's speech at the BBC studios, London, 1937
opening of the India Round Table Conference on 12 November
1930. Though not considered suitable for music the machine
continued in use and was moved to Broadcasting House in March 1932, a second machine also being
installed. In September 1932, a new model was installed, using 3 mm tape with a recording time of 32
minutes.[19][20]

In 1933, the Marconi Company purchased the rights to the Blattnerphone, and newly developed Marconi-
Stille recorders were installed in the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in March 1935.[21] The quality and
reliability were slightly improved, though it still tended to be obvious that one was listening to a
recording. A reservoir system containing a loop of tape helped to stabilize the speed. The tape was 3 mm
wide and traveled at 1.5 meters/second.[12]
They were not easy to handle. The reels were heavy and expensive and the steel tape has been described
as being like a traveling razor blade. The tape was liable to snap, particularly at joints, which at 1.5
meters/second could rapidly cover the floor with loops of the sharp-edged tape. Rewinding was done at
twice the speed of the recording.[22]

Despite these drawbacks, the ability to make replayable recordings proved useful, and even with
subsequent methods coming into use (direct-cut discs[23] and Philips-Miller optical film[24] the Marconi-
Stilles remained in use until the late 1940s.[25]

Modern tape recorders

Magnetic tape recording as we know it today was developed in
Germany during the 1930s at BASF (then part of the chemical
giant IG Farben) and AEG in cooperation with the state radio
RRG. This was based on Fritz Pfleumer's 1928 invention of paper
tape with oxide powder lacquered onto it. The first practical tape
recorder from AEG was the Magnetophon K1, demonstrated in
Berlin, Germany in 1935. Eduard Schüller of AEG built the
recorders and developed a ring-shaped recording and playback
head. It replaced the needle-shaped head which tended to shred the
tape. Friedrich Matthias of IG Farben/BASF developed the Magnetophon from a German radio
recording tape, including the oxide, the binder, and the backing station in World War II

material. Walter Weber, working for Hans Joachim von

Braunmühl at the RRG, discovered the AC biasing technique, which radically improved sound quality.[26]

During World War II, the Allies noticed that certain German officials were making radio broadcasts from
multiple time zones almost simultaneously.[26] Analysts such as Richard H. Ranger believed that the
broadcasts had to be transcriptions, but their audio quality was indistinguishable from that of a live
broadcast[26] and their duration was far longer than was possible even with 16 rpm transcription discs.[a]
In the final stages of the war in Europe, the Allies' capture of a number of German Magnetophon
recorders from Radio Luxembourg aroused great interest. These recorders incorporated all the key
technological features of modern analog magnetic recording and were the basis for future developments
in the field.

Commercialization

American developments
Development of magnetic tape recorders in the late 1940s and early 1950s is associated with the Brush
Development Company and its licensee, Ampex. The equally important development of the magnetic
tape medium itself was led by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M) corporation. In 1938, S.J.
Begun left Germany and joined the Brush Development Company in the United States, where work
continued but attracted little attention until the late 1940s when the company released the very first
consumer tape recorder in 1946: the Soundmirror BK 401.[15] Several other models were quickly released
in the following years. Tapes were initially made of paper coated with magnetite powder. In 1947/48
Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company (3M) replaced the paper backing with cellulose acetate or
polyester, and coated it first with black oxide, and later, to improve signal-to-noise ratio and improve
overall superior quality, with red oxide (gamma ferric oxide).[28]

American audio engineer John T. Mullin and entertainer Bing Crosby were key players in the commercial
development of magnetic tape. Mullin served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and was posted to Paris in
the final months of WWII. His unit was assigned to find out everything they could about German radio
and electronics, including the investigation of claims that the Germans had been experimenting with
high-energy directed radio beams as a means of disabling the electrical systems of aircraft. Mullin's unit
soon amassed a collection of hundreds of low-quality magnetic dictating machines, but it was a chance
visit to a studio at Bad Nauheim near Frankfurt while investigating radio beam rumors, that yielded the
real prize.

Mullin was given two suitcase-sized AEG 'Magnetophon' high-fidelity recorders and fifty reels of
recording tape. He had them shipped home[26] and over the next two years he worked on the machines
constantly, modifying them and improving their performance. His major aim was to interest Hollywood
studios in using magnetic tape for movie soundtrack recording.

Mullin gave two public demonstrations of his machines, and they caused a sensation among American
audio professionals; many listeners literally could not believe that what they heard was not a live
performance. By luck, Mullin's second demonstration was held at MGM Studios in Hollywood and in the
audience that day was Bing Crosby's technical director, Murdo Mackenzie. He arranged for Mullin to
meet Crosby and in June 1947 he gave Crosby a private demonstration of his magnetic tape recorders.[26]

Bing Crosby, a top movie and singing star, was stunned by the amazing sound quality and instantly saw
the huge commercial potential of the new machines. Live music was the standard for American radio at
the time and the major radio networks didn't permit the use of disc recording in many programs because
of their comparatively poor sound quality. Crosby disliked the regimentation of live broadcasts 39 weeks
a year,[26] preferring the recording studio's relaxed atmosphere and ability to retain the best parts of a
performance. He asked NBC to let him pre-record his 1944–45 series on transcription discs, but the
network refused, so Crosby withdrew from live radio for a year. ABC agreed to let him use transcription
discs for the 1946–47 season, but listeners complained about the sound quality.[26]

Crosby realised that Mullin's tape recorder technology would enable him to pre-record his radio show
with high sound quality and that these tapes could be replayed many times with no appreciable loss of
quality. Mullin was asked to tape one show as a test and was subsequently hired as Crosby's chief
engineer to pre-record the rest of the series.

Crosby's season premier on 1 October 1947 was the first magnetic tape broadcast in America.[26] He
became the first major American music star to use tape to pre-record radio broadcasts, and the first to
master commercial recordings on tape. The taped Crosby radio shows were painstakingly edited through
tape-splicing to give them a pace and flow that was wholly unprecedented in radio.[b] Soon other radio
performers were demanding the ability to pre-record their broadcasts with the high quality of tape, and
the recording ban was lifted.[26]

Crosby invested $50,000 of his own money into the Californian electronics company Ampex, and the six-
man concern (headed by Alexander M. Poniatoff, whose initials became part of the company name) soon
became the world leader in the development of tape recording, with its Model 200 tape deck, released in
1948 and developed from Mullin's modified Magnetophons.

Tape recording at the BBC

The BBC acquired some Magnetophon machines in 1946 on an
experimental basis, and they were used in the early stages of the
new Third Programme to record and play back performances of
operas from Germany. Delivery of tape was preferred as live
relays over landlines were unreliable in the immediate post-war
period. These machines were used until 1952, though most of the
work continued to be done using the established media.

In 1948, a new British model became available from EMI: the EMI BTR2 machines in a BBC
recording room, 12 November 1961.
BTR1. Though in many ways clumsy, its quality was good, and as
it wasn't possible to obtain any more Magnetophons it was an
obvious choice.

In the early 1950s, the EMI BTR 2 became available; a much-

improved machine and generally liked. The machines were
responsive, could run up to speed quite quickly, had light-touch
operating buttons, forward-facing heads (The BTR 1s had rear-
facing heads which made editing difficult), and were quick and
easy to do fine editing. It became the standard in recording rooms Early model Studer professional
for many years and was in use until the end of the 1960s. tape recorder, 1969

In 1963, the Beatles were allowed to enhance their recordings at

the BBC by overdubbing. The BBC didn't have any multi-track equipment; Overdubbing was
accomplished by copying onto another tape.

The tape speed was eventually standardized at 15 ips for almost all work at Broadcasting House, and at
15 ips for music and 7½ ips for speech at Bush House.

Broadcasting House also used the EMI TR90 and a Philips machine which was lightweight but very easy
and quick to use. Bush House used several Leevers-Rich models.

The Studer range of machines had become the studio recording industry standard by the 1970s, gradually
replacing the aging BTR2s in recording rooms and studios. By the mid-2000s tape was pretty well out of
use and had been replaced by digital playout[29] systems.[30]

Standardized products
The typical professional audio tape recorder of the early 1950s used 1⁄4 in (6 mm) wide tape on 101⁄2 in
(27 cm) reels, with a capacity of 2,400 ft (730 m). Typical speeds were initially 15 in/s (38.1 cm/s)
yielding 30 minutes' recording time on a 2,400 ft (730 m) reel. Early professional machines used single-
sided reels but double-sided reels soon became popular, particularly for domestic use. Tape reels were
made from metal or transparent plastic.
Standard tape speeds varied by factors of two: 15 and 30 in/s were used for professional audio recording;
71⁄2 in/s (19.1 cm/s) for home audiophile prerecorded tapes; 71⁄2 and 33⁄4 in/s (19.1 and 9.5 cm/s) for
audiophile and consumer recordings (typically on 7 in (18 cm) reels). 17⁄8 in/s (4.8 cm/s) and occasionally
even 15⁄16 in/s (2.4 cm/s) were used for voice, dictation, and applications where very long recording times
were needed, such as logging police and fire department calls.

The 8-track tape standard, developed by Bill Lear in the mid-1960s, popularized consumer audio
playback in automobiles in the USA. Eventually, this standard was replaced by the smaller and more
reliable Compact Cassette, which was launched earlier in 1963.

Philips's development of the Compact Cassette in 1963 and Sony's

development of the Walkman in 1979[31] led to widespread
consumer use of magnetic audio tape. In 1990, the Compact
Cassette was the dominant format in mass-market recorded
music.[32] The development of Dolby noise reduction technology
in the 1960s brought audiophile-quality recording to the Compact
Cassette also contributing to its popularity.

Later developments Compact cassette

Since their first introduction, analog tape recorders have

experienced a long series of progressive developments resulting in increased sound quality, convenience,
and versatility.

Two-track and, later, multi-track heads permitted discrete recording and playback of
individual sound sources, such as two channels for stereophonic sound, or different
microphones during live recording. The more versatile machines could be switched to record
on some tracks while playing back others, permitting additional tracks to be recorded in
synchronization with previously recorded material such as a rhythm track.
Use of separate heads for recording and playback (three heads total, counting the erase
head) enabled monitoring of the recorded signal a fraction of a second after recording.
Mixing the playback signal back into the record input also created a primitive echo
generator. The use of separate record and play heads allowed each head to be optimized
for its purpose rather than the compromise design required for a combined record/play
head. The result was an improved signal-to-noise plus an extended frequency response.
Dynamic range compression during recording and expansion during playback expanded the
available dynamic range and improved the signal-to-noise ratio. dbx and Dolby Laboratories
introduced add-on products in this area, originally for studio use, and later in versions for the
consumer market. In particular, Dolby B noise reduction became very common in all but the
least expensive cassette tape recorders.

Computer-controlled analog tape recorders were introduced by Oscar Bonello in

Argentina.[33] The mechanical transport used three DC motors and introduced two new
advances: automated microprocessor transport control and automatic adjustment of bias
and frequency response. In 30 seconds the recorder adjusted its bias for minimum THD and
 best frequency response to match the brand and batch of
magnetic tape used. The microprocessor control of transport
allowed fast location to any point on the tape.[34]

Operation

Electrical Solidyne GMS200 tape

Due to electromagnetism, electric current flowing in the coils of the tape recorder with computer self-
adjustment. Argentina
head creates a fluctuating magnetic field. This causes the magnetic
1980–1990
material on the tape, which is moving past and in contact with the head, to
align in a manner proportional to the original signal. The signal can be
reproduced by running the tape back across the tape head, where the reverse process occurs – the
magnetic imprint on the tape induces a small current in the read head which approximates the original
signal and is then amplified for playback. Many tape recorders are capable of recording and playing back
simultaneously by means of separate record and playback heads.[35]

Mechanical
Modern professional recorders usually use a three-motor scheme.
One motor with a constant rotational speed drives the capstan.
Usually combined with a rubber pinch roller, it ensures that the
tape speed does not fluctuate. The other two motors, which are
called torque motors, apply equal and opposite torques to the Tape deck in operation
supply and take-up reels during recording and playback functions
and maintain the tape's tension. During fast winding operations,
the pinch roller is disengaged and the take-up reel motor produces more torque than the supply motor.
The cheapest models use a single motor for all required functions; the motor drives the capstan directly
and the supply and take-up reels are loosely coupled to the capstan motor with slipping belts, gears, or
clutches. There are also variants with two motors, one motor being used for the capstan and one for
driving the reels for playback, rewind, and fast forward.

Limitations
The storage of an analog signal on tape works well but is not
perfect. In particular, the granular nature of the magnetic material
adds high-frequency noise to the signal, generally referred to as
tape hiss. Also, the magnetic characteristics of tape are not linear.
They exhibit a characteristic hysteresis curve, which causes
unwanted distortion of the signal. Some of this distortion is A typical portable desktop cassette
overcome by using inaudible high-frequency AC bias when recorder from RadioShack.
recording. The amount of bias needs careful adjustment for best
results as different tape material requires differing amounts of
bias. Most recorders have a switch to select this.[c] Additionally, systems such as Dolby noise reduction
systems have been devised to ameliorate some noise and distortion problems.
Variations in tape speed cause wow and flutter. Flutter can be reduced by using dual capstans. The higher
the flutter the more noise that can be heard causing the quality of the recording to be worse.[36] Higher
tape speeds used in professional recorders are prone to cause head bumps, which are fluctuations in low-
frequency response.[37]

Tape recorder variety

There is a wide variety of tape recorders in existence, from small
hand-held devices to large multitrack machines. A machine with
built-in speakers and audio power amplification to drive them is
usually called a tape recorder or – if it has no record functionality
– a tape player, while one that requires external amplification for
playback is usually called a tape deck (regardless of whether it can
record).

Multitrack technology enabled the development of modern art

music and one such artist, Brian Eno, described the tape recorder
as "an automatic musical collage device."[38]

Uses
Magnetic tape brought about sweeping changes in both radio and
the recording industry. Sound could be recorded, erased and re-
Otari MX-80 24-track with 2-inch
recorded on the same tape many times, sounds could be duplicated reels
from tape to tape with only minor loss of quality, and recordings
could now be very precisely edited by physically cutting the tape
and rejoining it. In August 1948, Los Angeles-based Capitol
Records became the first recording company to use the new
process.[39]

Within a few years of the introduction of the first commercial tape

recorder, the Ampex 200 model, launched in 1948, the invention
of the first multitrack tape recorder, brought about another
technical revolution in the recording industry. Tape made possible Klaudia Wilde from the German
the first sound recordings totally created by electronic means, WDR radio archive with a broadcast
opening the way for the bold sonic experiments of the Musique tape from 1990. This is a center hub
Concrète school and avant-garde composers like Karlheinz with only a very short length of tape
Stockhausen, which in turn led to the innovative pop music studio- wound round it.
as-an-instrument recordings of artists such as Frank Zappa, the
Beatles, and the Beach Boys. Philips advertised their reel-to-reel
recorders as an audial family album and pushed families to purchase these recorders to capture and relive
memories forever. But the use for recording music slowly but steadily rose as the main function for the
tape recorder.[40]
Tape enabled the radio industry for the first time to pre-record
many sections of program content such as advertising, which
formerly had to be presented live, and it also enabled the creation
and duplication of complex, high-fidelity, long-duration
recordings of entire programs. It also, for the first time, allowed
broadcasters, regulators and other interested parties to undertake Editing magnetic tape
comprehensive logging of radio broadcasts for legislative and
commercial purposes, leading to the growth of the modern media
monitoring industry.

Innovations, like multitrack recording and tape echo, enabled radio programs and advertisements to be
pre-produced to a level of complexity and sophistication that was previously unattainable and tape also
led to significant changes to the pacing of program content, thanks to the introduction of the endless tape
cartridge.

While they are primarily used for sound recording, tape machines were also important for data storage
before the advent of floppy disks and CDs, and are still used today, although primarily to provide backup.

Tape speeds
Professional decks will use higher tape speeds, with 15 and 30 inches per second being most common,
while lower tape speeds are usually used for smaller recorders and cassette players, in order to save space
where fidelity is not as critical as in professional recorders.[36] By providing a range of tape speeds, users
can trade-off recording time against recording quality with higher tape speeds providing greater
frequency response.[41]

There are many tape speeds in use in all sorts of tape recorders. Speed may be expressed in centimeters
per second (cm/s) or in inches per second (in/s).
 Common tape speeds
cm/s in/s Usage
15
1.2 ⁄32[42] Found on some Microcassette pocket dictaphones

15 Microcassette standard speed; Cassettes issued by the National Library Service For The
2.4 ⁄16
Blind And Physically Handicapped

4.75 17⁄8 Standard for Cassette tape. Common on portable reel-to-reel machines
9.5 33⁄4 Lower speed, common on full-size reel-to-reel and some portable machines

19 71⁄2 Common on full-size reel-to-reel machines

38 15 Higher end of prosumer machines, lower end of professional machines

76 30 Highest end of professional reel-to-reel machines

Tape formats

Type Image

8-track tape

Compact audio cassette

Digital Compact Cassette

Microcassette

Digital Audio Tape (DAT)

Elcaset

Size comparison of Elcaset (left)

with standard Compact Cassette

Reel-to-reel audio tape recording

RCA tape cartridge
Size comparison of RCA tape
cartridge (right) with the more
common Compact Cassette

Recorders

Type Image

Cassette deck

Helical scan
Wire recording

See also
Audio tape specifications – Details of different audio tape formats
Bootleg recording
Dictation machine
Electronic music
History of sound recording § Magnetic recording – Magnetic tape in the context of the
history of sound recording
Multitrack recording – Advanced usage of sophisticated tape recorders
Preservation of magnetic audiotape
Reel-to-reel audio tape recording – Details of using old-style recorders
Sound follower – For film
Video tape recorder
Volta Laboratory and Bureau § Sound recording and phonograph development

Explanatory notes
a. The Allies were aware of the existence of the pre-war Magnetophon recorders, but not of the
introduction of high-frequency bias and PVC-backed tape.[27]
b. Mullin claims to have been the first to use canned laughter; at the insistence of Crosby's
head writer, Bill Morrow, he inserted a segment of raucous laughter from an earlier show
into a joke in a later show that hadn't worked well.
 c. In a cassette recorder, bias settings are selected automatically based on cutouts in the
cassette shell.

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 This article incorporates text from the United States National Museum Bulletin, a
government publication in the public domain.

External links
Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording (http://museumofmagneticsoundrecording.org)
A History of Magnetic Recording (https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3224936) BBC/H2G2
A Selected History of Magnetic Recording (http://www.richardhess.com/tape/history/Engel_
Hammar--Magnetic_Tape_History.pdf)
Walter Weber's Technical Innovation at the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (http://www.richar
dhess.com/tape/history/Engel--Walter_Weber_2006.pdf)
Timeline from U of San Diego's Archive (https://web.archive.org/web/20100312213800/htt
p://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/recording/notes.html#tape) at the Wayback Machine (archived
2010-03-12)
History of Recording Technology (https://web.archive.org/web/20040603152849/http://www.t
vhandbook.com/History/History_recording.htm) at the Wayback Machine (archived 2004-06-
03)
History of Magnetic Tape (https://web.archive.org/web/20040603153341/http://www.tvhandb
ook.com/History/History_tape.htm) at the Wayback Machine (archived 2004-06-03)
Description of the recording process (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/audio/tap
e.html) with diagrams. pg. 2 (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/audio/tape2.html),
pg. 3 (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/audio/tape3.html), pg. 4 (http://hyperphysi
cs.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/audio/tape4.html), pg. 5 (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hb
ase/audio/tape5.html).
Recording at the BBC (http://rfwilmut.net/broadcast/recording.html) – a brief history of
various sound recording methods used by the BBC.

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