Steinbeck tape recorder

The device is part of a set consisting of a 16mm sound editing/control desk and three 16mm (identical) duplication machines, each for a single (sound) reel. The unit was purchased for the country around 1986 and was used for sound editing on films in the sound studio of Kots Kvikmyndagerð hf. With the unit, Kots staff could mix sound and add additional sounds, such as ambient sounds or music. When sound was to be produced for a client, Kot would receive a finished film that had been transferred to a U-matic video tape (the master). The master contained the footage along with a base sound recorded „on set.“ The control panel has a U-matic tape deck and a monitor for viewing the footage. Two 16mm sound reels (perf reels) could be worked on at once on the console itself. If needed, there were three additional playback units, each playing a single reel, allowing five tracks to be worked on simultaneously. Usually, all the sound tracks were used simultaneously and mixed onto a perf strip. The perf strip was then copied onto quarter-inch tape, and finally, the quarter-inch tape was transferred to the master videotape (usually one-inch videotape). It was a great improvement when this equipment arrived at Kot. The equipment that had been used before was old and difficult to use. When video editing came along, it became clear that new methods were needed for the sound editing of footage shot on video. People were trying to utilize the existing technology that was used for sound editing films. Soon, the use of perf tape for video sound recording was discontinued; it was considered impractical, and new technology took over. The equipment setup was used at Koti until the company was shut down around 1990. The system then went into use at Lifandi myndir ehf. and was handed over to the Film Archive in 2004.