Nick Ware

Not sure where I got this from (attached mp3), it might even have been from here… More likely it’s from one of the last analogue tapes that I no longer have.

But here’s a nostalgic little memory of a place we all knew, but is no more, a programme that is no more, and possibly a voice that is no more. All I know is that we used to play this out to the regions on a daily basis for a good few years.

I find that I often remember the sound of people’s voices from the distant past better than I do their faces. I have an idea that this might have been Richard Partridge. What does the team think? (assuming that iOS is capable of attaching an audio file).

David Plowman

I remember another with a ‘posh’ voice being on them – Richard Jeffs? At the time a bunch of modified car ‘8- track’ players, as they used a continuous loop.

John Howell

Yes, I thought Richard Jeffs, certainly not RKP.

Oh it’s all there! the tape hiss, distortion, print-through (pre-echo), wow & flutter despite using lubricated tape (so-called) they were terrible machines. Then along came cassettes, can’t even spell them! and we started all over again, at 1.875 Inches per second, there were even machines that ran at 15/16ips!

I came across a reel of Zonal 1/4 inch that over a length of a foot or two went down to bootlace width and back up again, a sort of enforced down and up! Happy days!

Dave Newbitt

The talk of ‘posh’ voices reminds me of Dave Kitchen who was an excellent exponent except when a little lubrication generated somewhat of a lapse into his native Yorkshire.

Dave Plowman

Would you believe I still have a working car 8 track player/recorder? It’s part of an Akai reel to reel. Still gets occasional use making tapes for the hard core classic car brigade.

It only gives its best with decent tape. Not a surprise given the low speed and track width. And I’ve no doubt the very cheapest was used for those ident tapes – same as the studio 1/4″ machines. Good for tying up the roses, but little else.

In the day, BASF made the very best I could find.

I do remember seeing a late one made by Woolensack. Used v.expensive chrome tape and Dolby A. And sounded really pretty good, considering.