Replacing the home-recording dics in the 1940's were wire recordings. Although primitive by today's standards, wires had greatly improved recording time and fidelity compared to disc recording. But the cost of wire recorders ($150 in 1950) meant that most home recordists were reluctant to switch to the new, better medium. Thus, disc recordings are still more prevalent today. But wires have proven themselves over the test of time. There is no more permanent recording medium than wire. The "black box" cockpit flight recorders on modern airliners are wire recorders, a testament to the near-indestructibility of the medium.

The biggest problem with wire recordings is snarls. No doubt, having a half-mile long silver hair turn suddenly into a hopeless tangle of stainless-steel cotton candy gave rise to a whole new generation of cuss words. Even if a spool looks fine on the outside, it may harbor a rat's nest buried deep within. Be advised that we cannot guarantee against snarls. Nobody can. It happens only rarely, but it does happen, usually because a splice made 50 years ago has kinked and broken. If the worst should happen, we will do our utmost to rescue as much of the spool as we possibly can. It is worth noting, however, that the wire travels at two feet per second during playback. So even losing 100 feet of wire would result in the loss of less than a minute of audio!

Very few transfer services will work on wire recordings. If you find one that does, chances are they just record the low-fidelity output of an old wire recorder. That will not do. We've modified our wire machine with modern solid-state electronics to get the very best sound possible from old wires.

After transfer, the audio from the wire will be edited, and the various hums, pops, distortions, whistles and other anomalies peculiar to the medium will be reduced or removed. The very nature of wire requires a great deal of time to prepare for CD, hence the somewhat higher cost than for other mediums.You may elect to just have the "raw" unprocessed audio from the wire put onto CD at lower cost, but the benefit of editing and noise reduction are much more listenable and enjoyable memories.

CAUTION - You may have a spool that has been improperly rewound. The wire should be packed evenly and tightly on the spool. If the windings on the spool are loose and sloppy, it means there was no tension on the takeup reel of the machine on which it was rewound. Such a wire may or may not be able to be played, but we'll do our very best to recover it.

Albums Tapes 78 RPM Wires Samples Prices
Questions Comments Contact Us Ordering Home