Analogue magnetic

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Basics:  magnetic recording tape  record head and amplifier  playback head and amplifier  tape transport system

 

In the recording process a signal is amplified by the record amplifier and applied to the record head. At the same time the tape transport system moves the magnetic recording tape past the record head which has the effect of recording the signal magnetically on the tape.

The playback process is simply the reverse of the recording process. The tape transport moves the magnetically encoded tape across the playback head which induces a small current in the head which is amplified by the playback amplifier to recreate the signal which was originally applied to the record amplifier.

 

The analog magnetic system takes advantage of several qualities of magnetism, electromagnetism, and magnetic materials.

 

Various metal materials will become magnetized if brought into contact with other magnetized materials. Some materials, such as hard ferrous materials, will remain magnetized after the source of magnetism is removed while others, such as soft iron, will not. The recording tape used in tape recorder systems makes use of microscopic ferrous particles which retain their magnetism and allow the recording and storage of patterns of magnetism on the tape.

An artificial magnet can be created by winding a coil of wire around a bar of metal and passing an electric current through the wire. If the metal is soft iron the bar will not retain any magnetism and will fluctuate magnetically in proportion with fluctuations of the current passed through the coil. This is the basic form of the recording and playback heads of a tape recorder.