Topic: The man who brought you the CD has been ejected

[Clive]

Norio Ohga, former Sony president and chairman, dies.

LINK

[GillE]

Where would all those music publishing houses be without him?  He gave us all a reason to ditch our vinyl records for something more durable and he deserved all the wealth he accrued, in my opinion.

[Simon]

He certainly left a legacy. 

[Clive]

In 1950 and '51, Japan’s first reel-to-reel tape recorders, the "G-Type" (for gov't use) and the "H-1" (for home use) were released by a company named Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo. Music student Norio Ohga was unimpressed by the wobbly sound of "Talking Paper," so he wrote a note complaining to the firm's founders, who hired him. Mr. Ohga never achieved his original dream of becoming a baritone opera singer, but the future President of TTK, (later renamed Sony,) would still make an indelible, global impact on the world of music -- including the development and introduction of the compact disc. Mr. Ohga died on April 24, 2011.

http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=809216

http://blog.discover.sonystyle.com/flashback-friday-1951-sony-h-1-tape-recorder

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/SonyHistory/1-02.html#block5

Oooh the nostalgia! 

[Simon]

One thing I always wanted, but never owned, was a reel to reel. 

[Clive]

Oh I still have mine!  A Fidelity which I was totally in love with as a teenager.  I used to tape all the hits and even edit using a splicer.  It's a valve tape recorder and I still have all my tapes.  Oooh, the nostalgia.  Gives me goosebumps.   

[GillE]

Gives me goosebumps.

That'll be the static...

 

[Simon]

When I was at school, at about 12 years old, I used to play the drums a bit, and with a group of friends, formed a Queen 'tribute' band.  We couldn't find a 'singer' who would actually sing, so we used the school's 4 track reel to reel to record ourselves 'playing' over the top of the original records, the theory being that we could be heard 'playing', along with the records, but the guy pretending to be Freddie Mercury could just mime.  As I'm writing this, it's all coming back to me how terrible it was.  We 'played' Tie Your Mother Down, Seven Seas Of Rhye, and, yes, Bohemian Rhapsody (another use for the tape recorder!), in our one and only 'gig', and that was the first and last time I was on a stage!  

[Clive]

Yet more Ooooh the nostalgia.     But well done Simon.  My stint at treading the boards involved taking part in the school play as Polonius in Hamlet.  I had to wear a bald wig.  Oooh the irony.   

[Simon]

[Clive]

 

[Rik]

I had several reel-to-reel machines, the best of which was a Vortexion, 15"/sec. I also had a Uher portable - I wanted a Nagra but couldn't afford one.