Friday, April 11, 2008

A Voice from the Past

I am sort of a nostalgic kind of guy. I am the type of person who values items from the past versus trinkets from the present. Over the time I have been blogging, I have written about items such as laser discs, old computers, old cell phones, my old stamp collection plus many other old things from my past which I have found sentimental value in… including old ratty my hat!

A couple of years ago, due to the problem that it was becoming increasingly difficult to locate Super 8 video players, I transferred all my family videos from that format to DVD in order to preserve the memories of my children. Now when I was a young lad (Hey wait a minute! I still AM a young lad!) we never had the technology to video tape us as children. Back then, we didn’t even have cassette recorders as they didn’t even exist. Fortunately, however, my father did possess a reel to reel audio recorder which he used for who knows what. Despite owning this reel to reel recorder, no one ever really thought of taping little kids for posterity sake as it was seen as an unnecessary cost. For some reason, however, my father decided to tape us on one occasion when we were living in the U.K. while we were having my great aunt over for Christmas. I never knew that he taped us on that occasion until many years later when I found his stash of reel to reel tapes while snooping in places where I probably shouldn’t have been. Upon asking him if I could hear it, I heard, for the first time, my voice in the little boy British accent that people used to say I once had.

That was many years ago. Since then, my father had sold his reel to reel recorder and the tapes seemed to disappear along with it. To this day, I never again saw these tapes and as far as I was concerned, the record my little boy voice disappeared forever.

… Until yesterday.

Since the death of my father, I have spent countless hours scouring through his old possessions deciding what to keep and what to throw away. I have basically gone through everything he had owned while all the time kept a close eye out for those tapes I had seen and heard so many years ago. I basically gave up on the idea of ever finding them until, the other day, when it occurred to me that my parents had a small storage place in the basement of their apartment building. Well, needless to say, I came across a small box with three small reel to reel audio tapes in it including the one with the recording of my voice on it.

So… my next goal is to scour eBay to pick up a reel to reel tape player in hopes that these tapes are still functional after all these years. I will keep you posted and maybe post a snippet of that young British voice of mine.

22 comments:

beachgirl said...

My grandparents took reel to reels of us kids growing up.
When my kids were little my grandparents played some of me growing up. My daughter got so upset because she didn't know who she was playing with.

Watching them will be so much fun.

Carol

Billy said...

I have never seen a reel to reel. I hope you are able to find a player.

geewits said...

Wow! What a great find. When I was 4 or 5 my grand aunt took some movies (I don't know what the format was in the 60's) and I once saw a little bit when I was 10 or 11. I wish I knew what happened to that movie. I would love to see myself moving about as a child. Our kids don't realize how lucky they are.

Akelamalu said...

I didn't know you'd lived in England - where?

What a special find. I do hope you can get them transferred to DVD. We have some tape to tape reels of our kids which MWM is supposed to be transferring to DVD - someday! :)

Mother of Invention said...

That is so cool that you found them and will now find your voice again! We had some taped on reel to reel and I'd give anything to hear those!

monsoon dreams said...

dave,
hope u'll find a way to let us hear your voice.dave,store today's trinkets too,they will be the items of the past after sometime-when the young lad dave grows up:-)

Jo said...

Dave, we would love to hear that little boy British accent!

I had tape recordings of my daughter's voice when she was a little girl, but I lost them. *sigh* You're so fortunate to have those reel to reels. I'm sure there is a way to convert them.

Oman said...

Come to think of it. Old things are more pleasant isn't it? Life was really less complicated then.

Good luck on the hunt.

Chris Eldin said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

I just read your past three posts. You seem to have some funny funeral mishaps in your history.
:-) I hope you find what you're looking for on those reels! What a great opportunity!!

alicesg said...

Wow, you are lucky to find them. The only fond memories of my childhood were some black and white photos...lol.

Sunil said...

Hello Dear,
Thanks for dropping by my blog.
I came here couple of time but I thought you don't remember me. :)

We are very much attached to the initial things in our life...say first bike, first p.c, first love and so on.
That's why Old is gold.

Have a nice time. :)

Stacey said...

Good evening Dave,
Thank you for coming to my blog and for your comments!
What a site you have, I will definately be a regular vistor!
Goodluck with finding a reel to reel tape player, every memory should be held close. :-)

David Kim said...

That would be bloody brilliant if you posted the sound clip of you when you were a little boy with a British accent.

cathouse teri said...

Aw... can't wait to find out what you find!

I have some tapes of my kids singing and talking when they were small. I am just hoping I haven't lost those! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi - thanks for stopping by my blog! I promise, I'm not usually a man-basher. It's just been a bad week. *g*

Anyway, my son is autistic, and I worship at the feet of anyone who works with special needs kids. Kudos to you!

Cheers from the States -
Aerin

Portia said...

What an absolute treasure! I'm sure it works, in part if not in entirety. I can't wait to hear about it. We have some old reels in my mom's basement that I have been meaning to watch forever but keep putting it off. Now I'm inspired all over again.
:)

polona said...

hi dave, thank you for visiting me :)
you have an interesting place here... will make sure to come back.
any luck with finding a reel to reel player?

Jules said...

How wonderful you have found them - it is such a special thing to have!!!! Good luck finding a player.

We have videoed our kids but the tapes have all gone mouldy up here in the tropics. i found them the other day and cleaning them up is now on my list of things to do but to play them I need an old VCR!! Technology - is so annoying when it doesn't stand still!!!!

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Greeneyes said...

That is an awesome find! There are places that can trasfer them to "Updated" technology for you , unless you want to hear them on the old machine? It must be tantalizing to have to wait , to hear your voice from the past and whatever else may be on there,I hope whenever you get to hear it you share a tidbit of the Little accented boy once thought lost forever with us !;)
Good Luck :)


Greeneyes

heiresschild said...

i can't wait to hear you because i'm sure you'll find what you need on eBay. things like this are real treasures.

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