Found Audio as a Hobby
Odd or unusual home audio recordings can be intriguing and entertaining.
Two years ago, I found a cassette tape with some found audio on it. This wasn’t the first bit of found audio I had found over the years, but the first one that I decided to share. If you collect old tapes in any format, you will be surprised what you will find. Maybe they digitized them or, perhaps, they just didn’t seem important. Whatever the reason, these are snippets of people’s lives captured and then somehow discarded, that have found their way into my life.
Luckily, you do not need to be a tape collector to hear or see some of these recordings. People post them online (although not enough). A few years ago, someone tried to get a Subreddit going at /r/foundsounds. Sadly, it didn’t catch on, but I am hopeful that someone might take it over and build it up.
I realize this is not a popular hobby, it is niche at best, but I am hoping to stir up a little more interest. Perhaps some of you have tapes lying around that would be great to share with the world?
We have lots of options for audio entertainment, but these found bits of audio, many of which were never meant to be public, hit very differently. So if you are looking for an interesting way to spend an evening, just head over to YouTube, SoundCloud, or the Internet Archive (when it is back) and search for found audio. It might take you a few clicks to find something good, but it’s worth the effort.
(If you have retro finds you would like for me to share, I want to hear them. What old useful website are still lurking on the web? Some old TV show streaming online? Old tech being brought back? Let me know.)
ONE COOL VIDEO
This interest of mine usually flares up when someone shares a new an exciting bit of found audio. Recently I found this audio of a teenager named Mary who wrote and then recorded a letter to her parents back in the 1950s. Mary proves that teenagers haven’t changed all that much since the term was invented. The logic at the end, is, I think, sort of sophisticated, and I like that she recognizes her contradictions.
I am not sure if her parents got the letter or the tape, but I have a few things I want to say. So Mary’s mom and dad, this is for you.
Just let her wear that t-shirt, let her drive, and let her listen to Rock N Roll. I do agree with you on one thing, Jimmy seems like bad news. With all the smoking and drinking, it ain’t going to end well.
TEN THINGS RETRO
💾 Floppies - The long battle to remove floppy discs continues, with San Francisco paying $212 million to end their transportation system’s reliance on 5.25-inch floppy disks.
🎵 Music - In 1983, San Diego alt-rock radio station 91X held the first X-Fest. The lineup included bands like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Ramones, Bow Wow Wow, Stray Cats and Modern English.
🎥 Movies - Star Wars: The Final Cut aims to remove the remove some of the more controversial changes that we made to the original trilogy over the year, but also maintain some of the better aspects of the altered films. Here is a supercut of every change they made in their mission.
🦗 Hoaxes - Where have all the giant grasshopper gone? The story of how the giant grasshopper postcard and other hoax postcards came to be popular.
🎮 Game Controllers - Before developing their own console, Sony was partnered with Nintendo. Their partnership device, which never made it to market, would have played games on CDs and been aptly called, the PlayStation. While the device is a footnote in history, anything related to it is exceptionally rare, and as you might guess, very valuable.
🔗 Forums - The Retroist used to have a fine forum community. Unfortunately, the software it was on become difficult to manage, and I had to shutter it. While I have not been happy with that decision, I am happy that other forums are still very active (I belong to a few) and that someone is trying to keep a list of some good ones.
📺 Television - If you are watching TV, nothing will get your attention faster than the tones associated with the Emergency Alert System. Using it unofficially can lead to fine, but that hasn’t stopped some companies from working it into ear-catching advertising.
🖥️ Computers - If you are a computer programmer, odds are you got your start playing around with BASIC. Clive Thompson has a written a wonderful article about the entry point to computers that so many of us share.
🛸 Science Fiction - By looking at Science Fiction films from the last seventy years, Alan Chang was able to see how the tone of the genre has changed and has compiled the findings in an interesting format.
🎞️ Documentary - Growing up in New Jersey, the decaying Ellis Island seemed so close and yet impossible to get to. Well, not for two young high school kids who grabbed a 16 mm camera, hopped in a rowboat, and explored the island before it was reclaimed.
SUBSTACK RECOMMENDATION
I am a big fan of physical media for lots of reasons. Top of the list might be ownership of what you are paying for, but second were the incentives included in the product to get you to buy them. On movies, one of my favorite things were commentary tracks. Ryan Kindahl continues the case for physical media, this time focusing on DVD special features.
FROM THE RETROIST ARCHIVE
Let's take a moment to look back at four posts from the Retroist's past. I have been at this a long time.
One Year Ago…
🎈 A History of the Goodyear Blimp
Five Years Ago…
🥫 What is the name of the Pringles Mascot?
Ten Years Ago…
🧁 Do you remember Pillsbury Pudding Pockets?
Fifteen Years Ago…
🧛 Proof that Monster Pops Existed!
Great post! I thought I was the only one that collected in this niche when I found random tapes like this!! Definitely a niche thing, but I enjoy it. I have been considering growing my vhs collection, but I've had a few of these tapes destroy my VCR in the past... Great to see others are into this also!
I have over a hundred cassette tapes from my childhood back in the 1970s. I recorded everything from plays my friends and I made up to secretly recorded phone conversations to TV shows. They would probably the first things I'd grab if my house ever caught on fire!