When Stereo came into being and every home in America had to have one, one of the most popular items for every budding hi-fi enthusiast to have in their collection for bragging rights was the Sound Effects Record – the one where either a freight train lumbered from your right ear to your left or a jet took off, guaranteed to shake the room.
And when home taping came into being, every kid with a pair of headphones and a microphone went crazy recording everything – from bird calls to phone conversations, and getting creative reached new heights when the concept of Stereo Microphones became a popular technique.
Suddenly the whole world opened up – one you could only take full advantage of with headphones on – conversations sounded like they were going on right in front of you, it was like turning black and white films into full color.
And that brings us to this recording – one day during the summer of 1977, I was working on a multi-media presentation which called for sounds of a typical day in a city. So I decided it would be great to hook up two microphones, fastened to a makeshift tripod, placed 45 degrees apart and go to downtown L.A. to wander around on a typical Saturday, recording things a typical Saturday in a city did. They called it the “dummy head method” of recording; a process that give everything a three-dimensional feel to it, but only if you wore headphones to truly appreciate it.
On this particular day there was a celebration – almost 50 years later, I forget which one. But it was loud and there was a lot going on. And for the next hour or so you get to take part in that Saturday afternoon in 1977 – walking down streets that have undergone numerous changes, populated by people who are mostly no longer here, hearing things they just don’t make anymore.
And they all sounds like you’re in the middle of them – like it wasn’t almost fifty years ago but earlier today. Probably the true essence of time travel.
Works great if you have headphones – I imagine earbuds might work just as well, even though they weren’t invented in 1977.
In any case, you get to walk around Downtown Los Angeles on a Summer Saturday in 1977 – just like it was twenty minutes ago.
Editors note: Time hasn’t been all that kind to this recording. Due to tape shrinkage and the vagaries of cassette tapes, the stereo imagery is barely noticeable and there’s drop out. But the essence is all there as is the time travel.
