Getting Real with Reel-to-Reel

The Revelstoke Museum and Archives has loaned us a Sony Reel-to-Reel Audio Recorder, and Mr. Wilson pulled a cassette player from his basement so we could digitize some of the old audio recordings.

We've been using desktops to record the files using GarageBand or Audacity (an open-source audio program), and the laptops have been used to process the mp3 files that we've generated.

The museum has provided us with several sources for these audio recordings:


  • CD - A digital format, easy to convert and use
  • Cassette Tape - A magnetic tape format that is also fairly easy to digitize because the amplifier on the tape player gives a signal strength that is easily picked up by the software
  • Reel-to-Reel - Low signal strength from the audio tapes makes this harder to record.  We'll explore amplifiying the signal with a second amp to see if that helps preserve these recordings.  It is also possible that the reels have deteriorated over time.











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