Joyland Books

I've got a record at home made by my Mum, Dad and Uncle on one of these machines at Felixstowe.

I've never seen or heard of these before, all I know it was made in the early to mid 60's.

Does anybody have an pics or info on them?

Never heard or seen of them before Paul but its good to see another speedway fan on these boards, though I must admit I'm a slightly disillusioned Rockets fan at present.

This from somewhere in Google Land but alas no pictures of the booths.



Calibre Auto Recordings are homemade acetates, more or less the 50s/60s equivalent of home taping.

Calibre Auto Recordings discs were prduced in seaside amusement arcades. Anyone could enter the booth (rather like the Photo-Me booths) and pay a fee of around 1 shilling for approx. 90 seconds of airtime. The person(s) could then sing, laugh and swear their way to stardom, and have their results cut onto a single 6" disc, which popped out of a hole in the bottom of the machine a few minutes later.

Gary

I played my record last night. In the background you could hear the noise of the rides, so I assume it was either in or near Charlie Mannings.

My dad did a good version of My Old Man's A Dustman!

Now this is going back some years!

Is this device is good for Auto Recording or not.

any one tell me ?

Jak

there was one of these machines at Mannings Felixstowe. I will try and find out what happend to it when i am down the Park next.

marc wrote:there was one of these machines at Mannings Felixstowe. I will try and find out what happend to it when i am down the Park next.

I remember it used to be hidden behind a tarpaulin, in the old penny arcade next to where the old ghost train was.

Hi all

I believe there used to be one of these devices at the former Battersea Fun Fair in the seventies. If anyone caught the fairly recent "Brighton Rock" film remake you would see one there too, although not used to musical effect!

I seem to hazily recall just stepping inside the Battersea kiosk as a child but do not recall ever using the contraption; it probably cost a small fortune or I was still too embarrassed to partake in a precursor to karioke.

Martin

i remember these recording booths they were all over the country in amusement arcades and railroad stations . they were manufactured by c.w.c equipment l.t.d of maidenhead berkshire . cwc equipment operated the booths on the rail stations they leased others to amusement arcades the price to make a record was half a crown but when this coin was withdrawn in 1970 the price was reduced to two bob this was because the booths used a monocoin ramp type coin control mech and was more cost effective than investing in more expensive multicoin mechs as the coin guide could be easily adjusted to accept the smaller two bob coin philbo

more info on the auto recording booths ,these were a bit like the photo booths but had a sliding door which when slid shut reduced out side noise also they had an illuminated sign with the slogan record your own voice which was on top of the booth inside there was a green and red signal lamp the green lamp was above the coin slot and was on all the time when a coin was inserted it went out the red lamp was above the microphone & speaker and came on to indicate recording time it went out when the recording was finished there was a timing device which was a coloured disc red & yellow with a marker attached to it the disc rotated slowly with the marker moving across an arc with markings on it it took 90 seconds to reach the other end of the arc the disc stopped rotating the recording was then played back then the record was delivered via a slit at the bottom of the machine

hi its philbo again ive just seen the brighton rock remake the record booth seen in the film is nothing like the booths on the rail stations or in amusement arcades these were much smaller than the one in the film also the film used jukebox machinery to deliver what looked like a standard 7 inch single these are pressed between 2 negatives called stampers calibre auto recording records are laminated acetates cut with an incisor stylus

hi its philbo again i have found a picture of a calibre auto recording booth i will try to email it if possible i am trying to find out what happened to these booths and the company that manufactured them

porterm wrote:Hi all

I believe there used to be one of these devices at the former Battersea Fun Fair in the seventies. If anyone caught the fairly recent "Brighton Rock" film remake you would see one there too, although not used to musical effect!

I seem to hazily recall just stepping inside the Battersea kiosk as a child but do not recall ever using the contraption; it probably cost a small fortune or I was still too embarrassed to partake in a precursor to karioke.

Martin

the device seen in the brighton rock remake is a prop based on the american mutoscope auto recording booths the calibre booths were more compact than this and had to be sited under cover

CWC EQUIPMENT LTD pulled out of the manufacture and operation of these booths in 1973 when they moved from Maidenhead to south wales. they just concentrated on their main line of business of manufacturing fluorescent light fittings and electrical components for aircraft. As they also manufactured the blank records for the booths these too stopped being produced. another large company also operated these booths on stations in london and the other large cities. these were known as BAC British automatic company, these manufactured platfom ticket machines and other mechanical coin operated machines PHILBO