Recording family treasures

[andrewalston]

On an old reel to reel tape recorder we have lots of voices from the past.

I am not sure in what condition the tapes are now after sixty plus years.

Viktoria.

There are people around who have the right equipment to play the tapes and make modern digital versions. It's actually the first of these tasks which is more difficult - any old PC or phone can record the sounds.

In any case, PLEASE label the tape boxes or reels to give someone else a chance of figuring out why they are worth keeping!

[Viktoria]

I do have a list but by now I am not sure which tape is which ,however my sons will recognise a lot .
The worry is the drive belt will probably have deteriorated ,but my sons can find almost anything for obsolete things.

Sadly we did not have the recorder when my mother was still alive.
My dad is on it ,he had a tube in his throat after his larynx was removed so a rather weak voice only audible  on out breaths .

Little daughter babbling in a mixture of English and Flemish ,she loved our Flemish neighbours and would have to speak it or at least to understand it when at school.
I said everything to her in both languages and she just mixed them up but was O.K when at school.
Some English children mixed up French,Flemish and English in one sentence but were really trilingual .

Thanks for the useful advice , the recordings go back to 1966.
Cheerio.Viktoria.

[andrewalston]

The worry is the drive belt will probably have deteriorated ,but my sons can find almost anything for obsolete things.

Drive belts seem to available for virtually any tape or cassette device. However gaining access to the right part of the innards can be a problem. Some machines appear to have been designed by people fanatical about logic puzzles, with screws of various sizes and spring clips to be negotiated.
In addition, old rubber tends to end up as a sticky mess, often in the places most difficult to reach. 
YouTube has loads of videos of people struggling with the task on any number of devices.

I suggest looking for someone who already has a working machine!