<p>In this episode I talk about my new 1969 <a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHsmEcunXZ" target="_blank">Sony TC-222-A</a> portable reel-to-reel tape recorder. I found it about 3 weeks ago at <a href="https://www.handupthrift.com/" target="_blank">Hand-Up Thrift store</a> in Lafayette Louisiana for $5. It was in partially working condition, without a power cord, and in need of some work. I cleaned the contact points, overhauled the fast-forward idler wheel, lubricated both of the tape shafts, replaced the belts, hacked an old electric razor cord to work as a power cord, and tightened up the record linkage. One thing I still can't get working is recording using the microphone.</p>

<p>I spend about half of this episode talking about trying to make a super-long recording fit on a 5-inch reel and playing at 4.8 cm/second. I use Kimiko Ishizaka's wonderful <a href="https://kimiko-piano.com/open-goldberg" target="_blank">Open Goldberg Variations</a> and <a href="https://music.kimiko-piano.com/album/bach-well-tempered-clavier-book-1" target="_blank">Open Well-Tempered Clavier</a> as the music. To do this, I speeded up all of the tracks to play at 4x speed, for which I use the following script to loop through all mp3s in the current directory and subject them to the appropriate <a href="https://linux.die.net/man/1/sox" target="_blank">sox</a> command:</p>

<pre>
#!/bin/bash

for i in *.mp3; do
# speed em up 4x
  infile=$(basename $i)
  stem=$(basename "$i" .mp3)
  outfile="$stem"_4x.mp3
  sox $infile $outfile speed 4.0
  sleep .1
done
</pre>

<p>It worked! Well. The script and <code>sox</code> command worked. Recording the 4x-speed audio at 19 cm/second and then playing back at 4.8 cm/second also mostly worked, I just had a very poor-quality tape so it sounded pretty bad. The speed was just about right, though. In fact when I compared pitch against my piano, it was EXACTLY right. I may try again with a better tape. (BTW I said my tape was "old new stock," but obviously I meant "new old stock.")</p>

<h3>Photo Album (click image)</h3>

<p><a data-flickr-embed="true"  href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/137675441@N05/albums/72157709041025907" title="Sony TC-222-A Portable Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48046250816_552453ece7.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Sony TC-222-A Portable Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder"></a></p>

<h2>Links</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52BbX_aP1sQ" target="_blank">The Sony TC-222-A in action</a></li>
	<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Techmoan" target="_blank">Techmoan</a>: one of my favorite YouTube channels</li>
	<li>Music bumpers are from Kimiko Ishizaka's <em>The Open Goldberg Variations</em>: <a href="https://www.opengoldbergvariations.org/" target="_blank">https://www.opengoldbergvariations.org/</a>, used by permission of their <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" target="_blank">CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication license</a>.</li>
	<li><a href="https://www.vintage-electronics.net/" target="_blank">Vintage Electronics</a>, my source for replacement belts, replacement lamps for my Marantz receiver, etc. </li>
</ul>