The OSU Tapes

I was walking through a hallway at a local university and glanced at a cardboard box on the floor with a sign abouve it labeled "Free." I've seen this before and the box usual contains cast of books, papers, notebooks, etc. but under that clutter I spied a familiar box: a Scotch brand recording tape. I dug into the stash and pulled out 12 reel-to-reel tapes. The handwritten notes on a few of the boxes meant little to me but am always curious about what might be found on castoff tapes so home with me they went.

It took a few days to get around to them but I did digitize the lots and found that they conatined some language training material or something voice printing. Listen to the radio show on Tape 12 to put the rest of the tapes in context. It appears that these tapes orginated at Ohio State University in the early 1970s-1980s. Tapes 1-8 are on 5" reels and 9, 10, 12, and 13 are on 7" reels. Reel 11 is a 5" in a 7" box.

Below I have included the contents of each of the tapes. All were recorded in stereo at 7-1/2 ips (inches per second.) A few, noted in the notes, were assembled from short pieces of tape, spliced together with pieces of tape leaders between them. That must have been quite a bit of work. Many of the tapes were not full so run times vary quite a bit.

Reel 1



Spoken words alternating with garbled words.

Reel:

1

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

unknown

Run time:

00:01:01

File Size:

.5 MB

Play

Reel 2



This tape was blank.

Reel:

2

Side:

both

Recorded Date:

Run time:

File Size:


Reel 3



Spoken words alternating with garbled words.

Reel:

3

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

unknown

Run time:

00:00:21

File Size:

.2 MB

Play

Reel 4



Two women discussing upcoming presentations they will make to the psychology department.

Reel:

4

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

April 6, 1981

Run time:

00:13:33

File Size:

5.4 MB

Play

Reel 5



Voice samples. This tape is made from pieces of recording tape that are spliced to pieces of leader, a process that is repeated for the whole tape.

Reel:

5

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

1980

Run time:

00:07:23

File Size:

2.8 MB

Play

Reel 6



Voice samples. This tape is made from pieces of recording tape that are spliced to pieces of leader, a process that is repeated for the whole tape.

Reel:

6

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

1981

Run time:

00:06:57

File Size:

2.6 MB

Play

Reel 7



Voice samples and word phrases. This tape is made from pieces of recording tape that are spliced to pieces of leader, a process that is repeated for the whole tape.

Reel:

7

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

unknown

Run time:

00:16:03

File Size:

6.3 MB

Play

Reel 8



Voice samples and word phrases. This tape is made from pieces of recording tape that are spliced to pieces of leader, a process that is repeated for the whole tape.

Reel:

8

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

unknown

Run time:

00:12:16

File Size:

5.6 MB

Play

Reel 9



Voice samples (Turkish) and word phrases.

Reel:

9

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

August 28, 1977

Run time:

00:04:31

File Size:

1.8 MB

Play

Reel 10



Voice samples and word phrases.

Reel:

10

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

August 28, 1977

Run time:

00:15:42

File Size:

6.2 MB

Play

Reel 11



Voice samples and word phrases. This tape is made from pieces of recording tape that are spliced to pieces of leader, a process that is repeated for the whole tape.

Reel:

11

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

1980

Run time:

00:07:35

File Size:

2.9 MB

Play

Reel 12



OSU Radio Magazine. Discusses voice printing, zoning, land development, movement therapy, a coal strike. The other tapes in this collection are probably related to testing the idea of voice printing (like finger printing.)

Reel:

12

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

April 1978

Run time:

00:28:49

File Size:

12.3 MB

Play

Reel 13



Vocal enunciations and phrases by different people.

Reel:

13

Side:

1

Recorded Date:

May-July 1977

Run time:

00:31:54

File Size:

13.6 MB

Play

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