EMITAPES
R E P A I R I N G A N D D I G I T A L I S I N G
I was able to purchase an Elizabethan Popular 200, reel to reel tape recorder, from the 1960s, that will allow me to listen to the Emitapes that belonged to Edgar Law. The machine required a thorough clean before using it, upon opening it I found numerous areas in which turning on the machine would result in nothing. The belts and various mechanics needed rearranging to allow the tapes to play smoothly. When turned on, the reel to reel recorder took a while to warm up, I considered it might be the fuse in the plug, replacing it worked, and now I am able to play the tapes. There are three Emitapes belonging to Edgar, and two that came with the machine when I bought it, I will use these as the test tapes so I don't damage Edgars. When turned on, the tapes are hard to hear clearly, the machine itself is louder than the volume can be played, digitalising the tapes will be the best option in getting a clear listen of the subject.
It has taken a few months, but with the help of the IT department I have been able to work out a solution. The machine itself is too old to allow modern AUX or RCA cables, an adapter was included with the purchase of the reel to reel recorder that I found to work. This meant soldering a RCA cable to the adapter, with the AUX side to be plugged into a portable microphone, this allowed me to play and monitor the tapes, while they were recorded onto a SD card. However I will need to edit the recordings to convert the audio from mono to stereo, and reduce the noise, from aged damage.
