View developments in recording by year

We decided to include a section of vintage radio catalogs and ads to reflect the development of the audio open reel, or reel to reel tape recorder. The ads and catalog only relate to magnetic sound recording (reel tape recorders, wire recorders). There are links to full catalog scans of Allied Radio and Radio Shack companies.

In our business, the ability for musicians to capture their new songs with reasonable quality, made a tremendous difference to their careers. For that reason, our collection includes analog reel tape recorders that were available to folks in the '40's,'50's, 60's, 70's and some '80's. It was during this period (in our opinion) that the tape recorder really began reflecting the true quality of the music. Often these recorders enabled the artist to develop their material prior to paying for professional studio time. And on rare occasions, their products, using these recorders, moved them forward to receive publishing, touring and record contracts (or at least, a weekend gig).

Our catalog and advertising collection begins around 1900, to provide information on what was available in early recording equipment. We focus primarily on tape recorders, microphones and recording gear that evolved after WWII.  The catalogs have become a helpful reference to us and hopefully to those who visit this site.  Unfortunately, our work does not allow us time to look-up or copy any information from the collection. For any questions regarding the Reel2ReelTexas vintage collection, please contact us.

Information and contributions always welcome!