#microcassettes

Soundwave is physically strong compared to most Transformers. His alternative form - which involves an apparent loss of mass - is that of an Earthly microcassette deck.

This week we’re telling you about one of our favorite subjects: oral history! (We’ve also written about it before). Luckily for our audio/visual department today, our oral history collection was primarily recorded on newer, more versatile audio formats. Occasionally we have worked with interviews on microcassettes, DAT tapes, and various small video tapes, but starting in the mid-2000s all oral histories are recorded on digital audio recorders, or as we phrase it, they are “born digital.” This allows us to copy the files to our servers, make patron-use copies on compact discs, and edit audio files much more easily. Our current recorders save files in .wav format, with a 44.1 kHz sample rate and 16 bit depth (which is compact disc quality). In the upcoming years, we will likely upgrade our equipment with portable recorders capable of 96 kHz/24bit and better quality microphones. It seems the future will bring us higher fidelity digital recordings, but luckily (fingers crossed!) no more unique and proprietary formats.

The commercialization of punk music led to the creation of pop punk, and rock historians classify Blink under this genre. It’s the major record labels wanting more melodic tunes out of punk bands so they could sell the shit out of it.