Listen to Ghosts from the Past: Original 1950s Spool on a Webster-Chicago Wire Recorder Model 228-1

[@greatadventures7378]

I purchased a wire recorder this week at Goodwill. It came with a 1952 wire recording of family singing and talking about their $90/ month mortgage.

[@MadeOnTape]

amazing 🙌🏻

[@skysurfer]

14:40, recording the sound of drawing a bath in an old cast iron bathtub. And thusly, the first ASMR recording was born.

[@MadeOnTape]

😂🤘

[@larryboysen5911]

I have the same machine as yours...it came with six spools...of "ghost family gatherings"...as well as clips of vintage radio shows. As a side note...I'm part of a "ghost gathering"...all on discs...yes discs. We had...and I still have the Philco 41-608 radio/phonograph...equipped with a recording arm. My parents and maternal grandparents are on these discs...I was four years old at the time these recordings were made! I'm the only one who's not a ghost...at age 80! These were done on Philco "Slow Burning" 7 and 10 aluminum based discs, coated with the recording medium. All are at 78 speed. The changer is a Webster-Chicago slicer type changer. The Philco console featured the "Beam of Light" pickup technology..."Music on a beam of light" utilizing a mini mirror attached to the stylus, illuminated by a mini lamp...the movement of light from the stylus focusing on a photocell...these changes in the beam were converted into electrical impulses...and amplified, reproduced by the loudspeaker! This set was one of the last Philco civilian radios produced prior to WW2.

[@VintageGearMan]

Thank you greatly! I always wanted to hear one of these. Also appreciate no interuptions!

[@MadeOnTape]

should i play more spools? they're mostly recordings of radio broadcasts...i loved this one because it's 100% unique and doesn't exist anywhere else.

[@kaecake9575]

Listening to the past is very comforting 💁

[@MadeOnTape]

one of my pass times is watching interviews conducted in the 1920s of people in their 80s 🙌🏻

[@mgconlan]

The earlier and louder of the two solo piano recordings was a. four-song medley from the musical "The King and I," which premiered in 1951 "Something Wonderful," "I Whistle a Happy Tune," "I Have Dreamed" and "Hello, Young Lovers." So that part of the recording, at least, must be from 1951 or later.

[@MadeOnTape]

thank you! funny enough: on the backend of KZbin, those songs were recognized so this video is claimed by them. That's how i learned what the music was hahaha

[@VintageGearMan]

Amazed how clear this wire recorder sounds!

[@MadeOnTape]

the only “processing” i did was put on a 60 cycle hum notch filter

[@VintageGearMan]

@@MadeOnTape Makes perfect sense.

[@VintageGearMan]

I still run 78's at times to. They are a fantastic window into the past no doubt.

[@MadeOnTape]

big time!

[@whiteshedrecordings]

What an awesome find! I had chills the whole time. The harmonies were on point. Very musical family. The sounds at the end though... 🤭

[@MadeOnTape]

lol I left in the creepy sounds... could be useful to a young indie horror film maker 🤣

[@robertlancaster8190]

For some reason I started hearing 4 groups of 3 notes going down the scale at the last recording…

[@TheGarageRecordingSC]

Thanks for putting that up, it was really interesting to hear those ghosts from the past. Even though it’s not the greatest quality audio that was ever made, it’s cool to think that people use EQ to this day, when they want to mimic an old timey sound.

[@MadeOnTape]

yes! that telephonic eq curve. The nice thing about a physical object like this is that it has wow and flutter and it's own character, too.

[@TheGarageRecordingSC]

@@MadeOnTape Exactly!! 👍🏻👍🏻

[@skysurfer]

That was quite incredible. The "Tonight You Belong To Me" harmonies were haunting. Those are sticking with me. While the performers are likely not with us, that child singing at 4:45 could very well be. How wild would it be if they reached out to you after watching this video and gave you the backstory?

[@MadeOnTape]

that would be nuts! Thanks for watching!

[@cooldude-jb3gx]

Someone Realy needs to make a Remix of that!

[@TheRealMellowFellow]

a time capsule

[@MadeOnTape]

indeed! If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an old recording is worth 10,000

[@arthurvasey]

The uptempo tune on the piano is I Whistle A Happy Tune from The King & I - when was that made - might help to date the recording!

[@VintageGearMan]

On the right phonograph 78's can sound almost as good as LP's.

[@zooblestyx]

Techmoan has entered the chat.

[@MadeOnTape]

with his theme music 🎼

[@SwingBandHeaven]

I have the exact same machine. It was obviously a popular model! Out of interest did you do a direct line recording through the headphones output or is the sound from the machines speaker? I have a number of interesting reels i really should digitize and upload. One in particular is a reel which was used as a voice letter sent back and forth between two families. You get to hear the original letter and the replies and is a fascinating listen and a real window into another era

[@mandelbro1]

This is freeeaky

[@MadeOnTape]

imagine how disturbed i was the first time hearing it 😬

[@greatadventures7378]

Any idea if wire spools are still available for purchase?

[@MadeOnTape]

only used ones. find them in the usual places like ebay. some Vintage shops may have them too

[@JoshuaPickenpaugh]

Hey Chris, do you know who made the recordings and when? Would be cool to be able to use some as samples. Oh, yeah, and high five to you too.

[@MadeOnTape]

i got the machine used. it’s from Western Michigan, where an employee of Dake Corp. must have taken it home. The other spools have training lectures on them. I don’t see why you couldn’t sample it!

[@JoshuaPickenpaugh]

@@MadeOnTape I love the look of the thing. Looks very 1950's space age. Can you still find wire or is it a specific gauge that is no longer made?

[@MadeOnTape]

there are plenty of old spools for sale on ebay. i might put out more videos like this one

[@Spacekriek]

3:36 ... OK, Grampa

[@MadeOnTape]

😂 👴

[@tangyorange6509]

So weird, so so weird. Makes you wonder if any hipster from 2100 is gonna get a 2 track deck just to listen to my stupid living room recordings

[@MadeOnTape]

💯