Aural history

[greatbear]

When I was a wee young'un, one of my prized possessions was my Panasonic cassette recorder. I had actually a few over the years, as I literally wore them out from the use/abuse I subjected them to. I would record music form the radio, or from my record player, often with these homemade direct connection cables for the highest fidelity I could muster. Not bad for an 11 year old I guess. Aside from all the music I was immersed in, I also used to record the world around me, as well as myself. I taped phone conversations with friends. Taped the sounds of company at the house. Took it to school and taped the sounds in the classrooms and concerts and field trips. When I was not playing my music (which even then was not your everyday Top 40 fare), I was inadvertently documenting the world around me. Over the years most of the tapes were used over for some other purpose or trashed after they had worn out. But still, the countless dozens of accumulated cassettes, though they had dwindled in number, remained in my memories as bits of the best parts of my life.

Just shy of exactly 20 years ago, after building this new house and moving things, I was cleaning stuff from my bedroom closet. A vent pipe stood inside this closet as part of the plumbing in the old place. When I had finally cleared out all the crap I noticed something shiny behind the pipe and below the floor of the closet. It was that first Panasonic cassette recorder. I thought I had lost it for good more than a decade prior, blaming it on someone walking off with it while outside in the yard or some such. I was reunited with my buddy, mostly intact and still around after several other tape recorders had taken it's place and fell aside after being worn out or broken.

The recorder found itself mostly in storage again. Occasionally it was dragged out for nostalgia's sake or for Mom to use for playing some of her language tapes in and around the house. But my old friend stayed in storage in these recent years.

Last month I was doing some major cleaning of accumulated cruft and junk, much of which was not touched in years. While clumsily hauling the crap from the basement, I knocked over several boxes, a couple of which spilled their contents on the floor. One of the boxes was full of those ancient tapes. I knew that one day soon, I'd have to try and see if anything was listenable. I did so a little while back. I popped four C-cells into the old Panasonic and started fumbling through the mess.

Those ancient mix tapes sounded pretty bad quality-wise, but it did not matter. To me, it was the same as a pristine first pressing vinyl copy being played for the first time. Memories came flooding in, to those days in my youth, the good and the bad. It made me smile. A tape of me and my friend on the phone talking together, watching the same Peanuts TV special commenting on how Lucy is going to yank that football away as usual. I tried to figure out in my head what the hell made me tape such things way back when. I found more crazy mix tapes, many others which were broken or tangled and not playable. I then popped another one in and heard myself talking, then another voice which I remembered to be one of Mom's co-workers. Then I heard her voice. It was Mom talking. A chill ran down my spine and my heart leapt. I was so not ready for that. It was scary, but welcome. I sat there with the tape running but not really listening. My mind was filled with images and feelings and emotions and I began to shake and cry. I was about to shut off the tape and then it stopped on it's own. The tape was fine, but the belt inside the antique tape deck had broken. I guess it was too much for the both of us.

Comments

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

You and I know all too much the power of sound. Still, this sits on a very personal level, and means so much. It's got more power than you know.

[thetarnishedowl.livejournal.com]

My friends and I did very much the same thing with our cassette recorders. And I, too, have many of the tapes.

My mom still has Dad's greeting on her answering machine. If I call and she's not home, I get his voice asking me to leave a message. I know it freaks some people out, but I think it's nice.

In time, I trust, the sound of your mom's voice will make you smile again.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear I was not the only one who did this sort of thing. Thinking back, it made sense, since we are spoiled by the tech of today. No camcorders or things like that, so we made do with sound. I sincerely hope to find her saying something that makes me smile, and I will transcribe it into a digital format and use it as a greeting or some such.

[progbear.livejournal.com]

Oh God, that photo takes me back! How I recall my cheapie J. C. Penney radio/tape recorder, my favourite toy growing up! I need to find a way to share my “Weird Weird Weirds” with the world. I’d use the remote microphone switch, the pause button and microphone feedback in ways that sort of turned me into the grade school version of John Cage.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

My tape recorders, all the way back to the Craig reel-to-reel before this one, were my prized possessions. I was able to tote along my favorite music, document stuff going on around me, and have fun. It really hasnt changed at all for me, just the technology.

[aadroma.livejournal.com]

Nena. (HUG)

God that would be too much for me too /_\

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

It was a lot, but it was not bad. It was all sorts of things. Embarrassing. Comforting, Nostalgic. Thrilling. Even scary. But not bad. Just a trigger for all sorts of forgotten and surpressed emotions and memories.

*hugs*

[kdotdammit.livejournal.com]

Wow. What a great post. That is so cool that you have those tapes and are able to hear your mom's voice even though it was so emotionally intense. Amazing.

I had one of those too. I used to tape off my favorite radio stations and I taped episodes of Gilligan's Island and the Munsters! Too funny.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

You and I are alike that way. I'd record my favorite shops and cartoon too, and the parts of movies and such that were my favorites. TV without sound. I didnt need the pictures, I could visualize everything.

[redmoonriver.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

*back atcha*

[beastbriskett.livejournal.com]

misty-eyed hugs, bud.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Misty-eyed thanks. :)

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

I had one of those, later of course, a Dixons one, and used to record loads of things.

Be glad you have that treasure trove of recordings, I wish I'd made more and not recorded over a lot of them!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I have not been able to locate some of the tapes I remember as being my favorites. Have no idea what became of them, perhaps they are still somewhere. Still, there is more stuff here that brings me back.

[tinman11201.livejournal.com]

great post! I did almost the exact same thing. I still have many of the tapes I made as a kid with that trusty Panasonic tape deck. That thig filled so many hours and provided so much fun. With the wired hand-held mic we did hundreds of hours of "man-on-the-street" interviews. We taped ourselves reading mad-libs and laughing hysterically, we did skits and taped TV shows and when my best friend moved to Arizona, we would tape a whole one-sided conversation to each other and mail it back and forth each week as our parents woldn't let us make the long-distance phone call. Band concerts, my Mom and Grandmother taping themselves in the same way each month as they couldn't afford the long-distance charges.

Thanks for reminding me!! and sharing such a great story of your own.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

It's so cool to see others having done the same in their youth, and this bringing back those memories for them as well. We must share some common trait to have done the same thing, dontcha think?

[wrascalism.livejournal.com]

I've been having similar experiences when I find some examples of Mom's handwriting.

HUGS!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I've been cleaning the house and going through lots of Mom's paperwork. It can be rough, but I am forcing myself to get through this step. It's not all bad, but it can be overwhelming at times. Small steps, but at the same time try not to get too frustrated with the slow progress.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Wow, such a wonderful post I too had a cassette tape recorder, tried to find an image of the very first one I had, a K-Mart brand from about 1974-75 time period. All beige cabinet w/ a green cassette door and a purple vinyl strap handle. It had one of the first, I believe built in condenser mics up front. Was not successful though at the time.

I abused the hell out of it but it recorded a bunch of things early on.

I went through a couple of others over the years and even had one built into my first stereo, an all in one job from the late 70's.

I still have a tape I made w/ an old childhood friend where we flipped through the dial, catching snippets of songs and playing radio station, it fades in and out really badly but hey, I still have it. The tape itself is over 30 YO.

Thanks for the memories. At one point, I caught Mom mad at us and once where I was recording when a childhood friend kicked a beach ball and accidentally broke the glass shade in my bedroom ceiling light fixture. I even recorded a trip to Ferrall's where my best friend had his birthday and the sirens and such, we drove his mom batty playing it over and over. :-)

One of the best things a child could have back in the day.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I intend to rebuild the old recorder. It has two belts inside, the main drive belt broke after the 36-37 years, but otherwise it's held up well. It's so solidly built compared to anything these days, or even 25 years ago.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

I bet.

[mfpatterson.livejournal.com]

Life has it's way of meandering the past back to us. Maybe Mom was just looking over your shoulder when you knocked the boxes, giving you the needed momentum to venture back a little.

Some people "loose" touch with their departed ones looks, sounds, smells. This is a wonderful way to never loose those sensations, albeit a startling one.

Were behind ya trooper!
Much Aloha from us.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I'm holding onto many things that bring back memories of Mom, and I find new things all the time. It's painful, yes, but it's also comforting.

Mahalo

[bearwad.livejournal.com]

i clearly remember i and my brothers recording farts on that very same machine.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

LOL

[carytown.livejournal.com]

This post stirred up a tornado of memory. I used to do the same thing. I had an old Craig cassette player with the gearshift-style control. My friends and I would love to make over-the-top 'radio dramas' complete with all the music and sound effects we could invent. It was joyously silly, using flushing toilets while the voice-over said, "she had to find a way to dispose of the hacked-up body of her husband". I would play the piano for music. I learned that pressing thumbtacks into the hammers of the piano resulted in a wonderful honky-tonk sound. I thought it was fantastic. Mom, not so much.

It kinda leaves an empty space in my heart to know that those tapes are probably lost. I'm really happy you found yours.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I had the reel-to-reel version of the Craig before this one. Somewhere around the house I think Mom had saved a couple tapes from that because I had done something for her on them. I dont remember what that was, but I hope to stumble across the tapes and find out.

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this. It has a wonderfully old feeling to it, which is something I've noticed a couple times as of late.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I find myself being very nostalgic these days. Not sure why, perhaps it's a continuation of what has been happening with these discoveries, or maybe it's wanting to hang onto the past given all the bad things going on with me in recent years. Nostalgia is a comfort for everyone at one time or another.