How was ride music handled years ago?

[woody337]

I know in today’s world it’s super easy to play audio files over and over. But years ago how was ride audio handled? Was a tape constantly rewinded? For example, how was the ride narration done on SSE?

 

[OKW Lover]

Way back there were endless tape loops that did the repeat audio. There was a huge room in the MK under the castle that held the machines for that park.

Do an internet search for Disney DACS for pictures

 

[CastAStone]

.

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

Phonographs. Lots and lots of phonographs

 

[seashoreCM]

Who remembers the "8 track"?

Endless loop tapes were usually in cartridges, some the same shape and size as 8-tracks but almost always of a more robust style than the 8 track cartridge marketed to the public.

I have never seen tape based automation but I have seen pictures of the equipment, set up for radio stations, and using tape cartridges and also open reel tapes.

I have not heard of successful implementations of automation using phonographs or even jukeboxes.

 

[ford91exploder]

The music used to be sourced from the DACS room in the utildors on tape loops.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I do not know if I am allowed to post links, but google "A brief introduction to early WDW Music" and take the first link. They give you a VERY detailed explanation of how Jack Wagner constructed the magnetic tapes

There were different technologies depending on if the music needed to by synched. Ride music that was synched was on single loop 8-track like tapes. Background music like on main street and in the rides queue lines were on self-reversing tapes that played different tracks forward and backward. It's actually a very interesting article.

 

[ford91exploder]

I do not know if I am allowed to post links, but google "A brief introduction to early WDW Music" and take the first link. They give you a VERY detailed explanation of how Jack Wagner constructed the magnetic tapes

There were different technologies depending on if the music needed to by synched. Ride music that was synched was on single loop 8-track like tapes. Background music like on main street and in the rides queue lines were on self-reversing tapes that played different tracks forward and backward. It's actually a very interesting article.

Best and most descriptive answer yet

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

I do not know if I am allowed to post links, but google "A brief introduction to early WDW Music" and take the first link. They give you a VERY detailed explanation of how Jack Wagner constructed the magnetic tapes

There were different technologies depending on if the music needed to by synched. Ride music that was synched was on single loop 8-track like tapes. Background music like on main street and in the rides queue lines were on self-reversing tapes that played different tracks forward and backward. It's actually a very interesting article.

Thank you for this info. So interesting.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Thank you for this info. So interesting.

I have to say, I had not really thought that much about it until this post. But that article was really very fascinating. Particularly that Jack Wagners house was wired directly to the parks so he could make special announcements. That the speakers were donated by RCA.

Most interesting to me is the inventive use of tracks to play different music in different areas of the park all on one tape. I wonder why they did that instead of just having different tapes. I guess the machines were expensive maybe and it was a way to reduce equipment? The article talks about how they did it, but it doesn't really talk about why (probably no one now knows).

 

[seashoreCM]

I recall synchronized music tracks in Splash Mountain, one blending into the next as your boat moved from room to room. Including separate tracks for melodies and countermelodies and characters like birds, frogs, etc. (Not sure whether Splash' debuted after tape had given way to digital sound.)

Back in the day, some multi-track tape machines and mixing boards were within the budget of some amateur musicians