Direct mp3 download or play:  Thanksgiving 1984 Part 1

Direct mp3 download or play:  Thanksgiving 1984 Part 2

Direct mp3 download or play:  Thanksgiving 1984 Part 3

This is the first recording using my Sony TC-D5M cassette recorder. In addition to the family get-together, there are recordings of cats, birds, wind and wind chimes, raccoons chewing cat food, passing cars, part of an LP record, a music box, a toilet flush, sliding closet doors, raking leaves, and telephone sounds. The tapes were played on the same cassette recorder with Dolby “B” set on, and the audio was captured using my VST setup.  Generally speaking, this recording has more of an “atmospheric” sound with more quiet parts than my other family recordings.
My grandmother was quite unhappy with the turkey she purchased from the A & B Market, so I included a picture. This picture in Santa Rosa, California is from the mid 1950s, and I recall the sign “A & B Super” looking quite similar in the 1970s and 80s.

A & B Market, Santa Rosa, California, 1955

Direct mp3 download or play:  Safeway Thanksgiving Specials 1981

This is from a collection of old radio commercials that I think were found at KPFA in Berkeley, California.

Original Tape

Safeway TV graphic from 1981 “Everything you want from a store and a little bit more.”

Direct mp3 download or play

Here is a recording featuring multiple radio receivers. The shortwave sounds were received on my Regency WT-4 multiband tube radio. The Citizens Band (CB) sounds were received on my General Electric 3-5814 CB transceiver. The scanner radio was most likely my Bearcat 300. The AM radio sounds (mostly KGO, San Francisco) were probably from a stereo component tuner, possibly a Marantz Model 23. The ham radio jammers on 146.82 mhz were up to their usual hijinks by playing tape loops “pull your pants down” and “knock that stuff off” etc. and then they start talking about Jesus Christ. The person singing on CB was another highlight. I recorded this onto my Superscope C-104 monaural cassette recorder sometime in the early 1980s at my home in Martinez, California.
I can’t remember how I mixed the audio, but I may have used a passive (potentiometers and resistors) home-brew line level mixer. Capturing the audio was done by playing the cassette on my Sony TC-D5M (Dolby NR off) connected to my Yamaha MG10/2 mixer and then to my  PC running Windows 7 Home Edition with a Creative Audigy 4 Pro soundcard. I used  VST Host (see bottom picture) to create a .wav file and  Adobe Audition to slightly adjust and edit the audio. Then I picked a single (left or right) channel and saved it as a monaural .wav file. Lastly, the monaural .wav file was changed to a monaural mp3 at 128kbps using the LAME encoder and RazorLame.

Regency WT-4 Multiband Tube Receiver

General Electric 3-5814 CB Transceiver

Marantz Model 23 Tuner

Bearcat BC300 Scanner

This is the VST capture setup showing the input on the limiter set to plus 2.8 db, to more closely match the output of the Yamaha mixer and the peak limiter was set to minus .5db. The master levels are all set to plus .1 db only because after moving the level off of zero db they would not set back to zero, using the mouse. As you can see, peak levels of minus .4db were reached, which is exactly .1 db different from the limiter. I doubt if I could have been that precise with any analog setup. I will say that analog sound probably has better fidelity, in the long run. But remember, that is a matter of opinion.

I found this at Saar’s Market Place in Seattle. It was more than a dollar cheaper than other products like Tilex soap scum remover, for example.

Here is my shower stall door after more than a year without being cleaned. The left side of the picture shows the lack of soap scum after just one application of BANG!