Jump to content

Nagra Stories Sound-men won’t ever tell


JBond

Recommended Posts

I never had occasion to work with the QRRT system with its auto-pen marking. I was aware of the capability - Nagra promoted it in their literature - but I didn't know of a shop with the necessary hardware.

I did work with a radio slating system on a few occasions. That was a difficult and often frustrating experience. The system actually worked quite well but it demanded discipline. Users had to refrain from doing something dumb or the advantages would be undone. In the field, that proved to be an impossibly high standard.

A radio transmitter attached to the camera would send a signal to a receiver whenever the camera rolled. The 16mm sync cameras of the day were already equipped with a "bloop" system that could turn on an internal lamp to flash the film. The lamp, if the feature were turned on, would be switched on when the camera rolled and stay on until it achieved sync speed, typically about six or eight frames.

A Nagra could be remote-rolled through one of the tuchel connectors (maybe the mixer connector?). One would set the main function switch to one of the roll positions (Record or Record-No Limiter) but the transport would not be activated until a connection was completed at two pins in the tuchel connector. The radio receiver would complete that connection on receipt of a "roll" signal from the camera's radio transmitter. The receiver would also trigger the internal oscillator on the Nagra to make a beep tone on the tape. 

In editing, one would sync up by matching the last frame of fogged film from the camera with the last frame of beep tone. This is essentially how the system worked with a cabled connection and the radio links just improved on built-in capabilities by eliminating the need for a wired link.

It's a pretty clever system and it worked very reliably.

Reliable, that is, until people actually became involved. In editing, it was often difficult to distinguish between "blooped" frames and the frames flashed by checking the gate. And few camera operators could control the urge to bump the run switch for some reason known only to themselves. Whoever was syncing materials often found that the number of camera start flashes and the number and location of start beeps was a mismatch. But, used with discipline and accompanied by occasional clapper slates to establish reference points, the system could be a great enhancement in documentary situations where slating and record keeping were difficult or impossible.

David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was it also possible to suppress the neopilot signal momentarily instead of using the tone generator on the Nagra when the camera turned over using the QRRT system? I have a vague recollection of this being mentioned. Presumably this was so the audio track wouldn't be spoiled if the camera started up late.

The slate numbers, IIRC, went from 00 to 99 and take numbers from 0 to 9. If the information was encoded in flashes of the bloop light in the camera gate and pulses on the 1/4", I wonder how long it took to relay the longest synch signal?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Note:  I am showing these vintage tape recorders as part of my collection only.  They are out of service and no longer used in the manner they were designed, but remain a part of audio recording history.  It should not be considered in any way as endorsing or promoting any activity contrary to applicable laws and regulations.  

 

fAh1WLb.jpg

Photos marked with RJW are copyrighted.  Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many years ago Bill Ruck told me about the "black" version of the Nagra SN, basically that it was an SN with a Mu Metal body to suppress most of the signal leakage that enabled anti-spook equipment of the day to detect that a recording was being made close by.  He said that I could call Nagra and try to order one, but that if I did I would likely get a visit from some men in suits with badges who would want to know why I needed that recorder.   I didn't need the spy SN but the normal SN came in very handy several times, doing talent recording things that would be done with the Zax recording type TX or Tascam DR10 today nearly 40 years ago.

The pilot-suppression slate was a really useful method of conserving film on long doco interviews without interrupting the conversation for a slate or a blooper light etc.  It required the Nagra being cabled to the camera, but that wasn't usually an issue on this kind of shoot.  The shooter really had to be "in the game" though, listening closely and watching through the eyepiece with their finger on the roll button ready for "that moment" to come…and then shut off after to conserve film and keep disruptive mag-changes to a minimum.  Sound rolled on and on, sometimes with two Nagras tag-teaming.

p

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was the problem with the SN as a spy recorder Phillip. It could be detected.   It wasn’t until Nagra developed the JBR for the CIA in 1984. Nagra was under strict orders not to reveal it for many years. The JBR could not be detected at the time and was unknown to anybody that was not in the intelligence business. 

 
This is my Nagra promotional picture of the JBR which was from a convention for the intelligence community. I was lucky to get it on eBay, same with the SN poster below same seller different times. I don’t think anybody knew what the picture of the JBR was.  It shows the tape cartridge with the cartridge taken apart, it can’t be used like that. It was taken apart just for the photo.
I guess Nagra wanted to remind people that it was still a reel to reel in hiding. I display mine like the photo and the reels are always falling off if I hit it. 
 
0k2wrJ5.jpg
 
 
wiRrNDS.jpg
 
The JBR is old now, but compared to all those little recorders in this pictures it was lightyears ahead. 
 
I6zz04u.jpg
All Photos marked RJW are copyrighted. Any use other than private with or without the RJW watermark is strictly forbidden, without written permission from the owner.
 
 
This JBR picture with the newspaper is also what gave me the idea to do the Nixon photo with the SN, I don’t smoke cigarettes so it was a fun experience setting up the shot. I still have not perfected what I was looking for. 
Between the smoke and the whiskey, I felt like I was at the bar. In fact, my house still smells like a bar.
 
Malcolm, you’re right, about the watch, it was my 60th birthday present from my wife and kids a couple of weeks ago. It’s a nice self-winding  Laco still made in Germany. The SN picture is supposed to suggest that the 18 minutes are not missing. So I added the watch. Nixon used an Uher and a Sony as recorders. “Others" used the SN at that time.  Even found a Watergate Hotel ashtray from the early seventies.  The updated picture will be better and have more smoke in it
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Note:  I am showing these vintage tape recorders as part of my collection only.  They are out of service and no longer used in the manner they were designed, but remain a part of audio recording history.  It should not be considered in any way as endorsing or promoting any activity contrary to applicable laws and regulations.  

 

 

At least now you see the smoke.  I also just noticed "AG" on the tape ... hmmm  - Agnew?  It fits with the rest of it.

 AG was on the tape when I bought  the SN

 

fAh1WLb.jpgAll Photos marked RJW are copyrighted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nick, you’re no fun, I guess I can’t pull the wool over you old analog guys. 

That’s all right, the first picture was not that clear and didn't catch the cigarette smoke. So this next set of pictures I figured I'd put this mechanical pencil in it. Yeah, that looks good laying on the newspaper. Guy had to have a pen with him right. All done went through 50 pictures looking for the best one, smoke, no smoke, too much smoke, editing it watermarking it etc. Got it all done my prize picture, looking at it, wow, nice smoke, WHAT !! the headphones were unplugged and realized the pen I had in it was not around till ten years later.

Oh, yah, this is fun, light up those cigarettes again. Sun, where’s the sun? redo all the setting take another 50 shots, smoke different all the time. I ended up putting toy train smoke fluid on the burning cigarettes that worked better.

Some production designer I'm am? Or was...

Hey, at least I don’t have to do those cigarettes again, AG still fits, or AGFA even better now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, JBOND said:

At least now you see the smoke.  I also just noticed "AG" on the tape ... hmmm  - Agnew?  It fits with the rest of it.

 AG was on the tape when I bought  the SN

 

fAh1WLb.jpg

The watch in the photo is a German flight navigators watch from WW2 and a modern version is still available here in the UK.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was shown the JBR by a Nagra rep who came out to NZ the same time that the Nagra D was introduced.

He showed me that the whole mechanism could be lifted out of the milled metal case.

An interesting fact to was that the bias oscillator frequency chosen was that of quartz watches so that

and rf sniffers would not be suspicious of it's proximity!

mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Note:  I am showing these vintage tape recorders as part of my collection only.  They are out of service and no longer used in the manner they were designed, but remain a part of audio recording history.  It should not be considered in any way as endorsing or promoting any activity contrary to applicable laws and regulations.  

 
This updated story of the Nagra JBR has some new information that only a handful of people have known about.
 
 
The Nagra JBR, 1984
written by RJW
 
The Nagra JBR (Junior Body Recorder) was perhaps the most needed covert recorder advancement of the time when it was introduced secretly to the FBI in 1984. It was a joint venture between Nagra and the FBI and 2 other three-letter agencies of the U.S. The aging SNST was still in use at the time and still very popular, but everyone "in the know” knew how to detect someone using the SNST. The SNST was large and cumbersome for one to wear secretly on their person. Not to mention the person on the other end of the conversation most likely was using an advanced tape recorder detector of that time. A smaller-sized harder to detect recorder was needed so Nagra, with the help of (James B. Reames* of the FBI ) developed this smaller, harder to detect covert recorder, possibly the most secret recorder ever contracted. 
 

*James B. Reames 

1958-1990 Federal Bureau of Investigation Washington, D.C. Responsible for the analyses of audio tapes to improve intelligibility, to identify non-voice signals, and to determine authenticity of magnetic tape recordings submitted by Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies. Also involved with the FBI’s Tape Enhancement Laboratory, Tape recording Capability, Research and Development Activities, Technical Security Counter measures programs and Tempest Programs.

 
The project was kept highly secret, even to the people who would eventually be the ones using the new JBR, for reasons to also weed out any bad characters even within the government agencies themselves. The recorder could now be used to expose people that knew how to detect the SNST and other recorders of the time. They certainly would not be suspecting the new hard to detect JBR. 
 
“The design and manufacture of the recorder has been so secret and important to the FBI (and two other unnamed government agencies who are supposedly the sole users of the recorder) that any public availability of information on the recorder would ‘make the machine extinct,'according to an employee of Nagra who refused to provide any details on the recorder in a telephone interview." (1)
 
 
ILTeJUM.jpg
 
SYDHSTR.jpg
 
RhpximM.jpg
 
The complete project was spelled out from the beginning, the JBR recorder along with the advanced universal playback unit called the PU-1. The proposed PU-1 was designated to be a “Playback Universal Unit” to be able to play back the SNST reel tapes and a JBR cassette (a multipurpose unit). The JBR and Playback unit was very advanced technology at the time that was never realized before in a recorder of this size. Since the JBR recorder was easier to develop, the JBR and the playback unit were not ready at the same time. Due to time restraints, the JBR was delivered to the FBI without any means to play back the recording. As the JBR recorder started to be used in the field, the playback unit was still in development. There were many delays as this “new” technology was being developed. 
 
The center control track on the JBR was to speed correct the tape since it didn’t have a pinch wheel. The speed of the tape and motion while worn were not going to be an issue because of the control track. Everything was thoroughly thought out in advance, except for the delays. The customer now had “ evidence tapes” and no way to reproduce them, due to the lack of any available playback device. 
 
A mechanical adapter was developed:
Called the CST to work in conjunction with a common SNST to playback the recorded JBR cassette. This adaptor was one thing that was not in the original plans. But it was a way to play back the recorded JBR tapes while the advanced playback unit was being developed. This was not a cheaply put together adaptor it was made in the same fine quality like any other Nagra product. Its almost as Nagra knew it was going to be awhile before the “PU1” would be ready.  
 
A couple of issues emerged:
The tapes did not have any speed correction since the SNST host machine didn't have the capabilities to read the control track. Because of the speed issues and Wow & Flutter, the customers started questioning the quality of JBR recordings. Of course, it wasn't fair since the whole concept hadn't been realized yet. No PU-1 or PS-1.  
 
A control track filter SCTF, was developed to remove the control track tone from the audio during playback. No one wanted to hear the high-frequency tone mixed in with the audio evidence. If not for that filter, the SNST would otherwise reproduce the constant control track tone. All of these things were stop-gap measures to calm the customer. (FBI) The other main flaw in the mechanical adapter was its hold-back tension. It was so high; it damaged the tapes when used. With a few gear changes, they got it to work, sort of. (2) 
 
The CST adaptor was made utilizing a Nagra SN housing:
The SNST would slide on top of the SN housing and lock securely in place, and the folding arm would swing out and hold the JBR cassette also locked securely. Underneath the cassette was a fold-out rewind crank like on the Nagra SN for manually rewinding the JBR cassette. It was very well built. Nothing speaks vintage Miniature Covert Recorder like this set up in playing back the recorded evidence tape. It just goes to show in this clandestine world, you gotta do what you gotta do.
 
The folded CST unit
 
UYugkV8.jpg
 
paTxPl8.jpg
 
xgQWWMQ.jpg
 
Bottom side with the manual SN rewind crank, this is also used to remove any slack in the tape.
 
O8buYxQ.jpg
 
The JBR cassette mounting plate swings open and locks, the SNST slides and locks into place.
 
LRHVAP6.jpg
 
iqHnlQo.jpg
 
Add the DSP playback amp and this was the first playback setup before the Control track Filter was developed, you can see it was a continuous work in progress to satisfy a growing impatience customer. 
 
UK2JBh8.jpg
 
 
 In year two, 
 I was going to post a scan of the instructions for the control track filter, but because of a schematic on the back side stamped “do not reproduce” I am not going to post any part of the original document at all. The drawing is dated Oct 1985 
 
The Control track Filter is just a small box that fits between the SNST and the DSP playback amp. and the ASN power pack.
So the CST adaptor was used without the Control Track Filter for almost a year before the filter was developed.
 
The “make-do” playback required these five items from the original Nagra document
ASN Power pack, SNST recorder, DSP playback amp, CST mechanical adapter and the SCTF control Track Filter. (3)
 
Together they completed the setup required to play back JBR tapes in its early years. This was the only means available to play back a recorded JBR tape for two years.  The PU-1 dual use playback unit that plans called for an SNST and JBR combination unit was scrapped and never realized. 
 
In 1986, the PS-1 playback unit as we know today was finally delivered to the FBI For the first time since the 1984 delivery of the Junior Body Recorder the full potential of the JBR system was finally realized. The harder to detect recorder was only one part, but the advancements made in the PS-1’s capability in enhancing the playback sound was just amazing. 
Either Nagra or the FBI dropped the planned universal dual playback (PU-1) for whatever unknown reason. The JBR - measuring only 4½” by 2½ - with the PS-1 playback system was the smallest most advanced analog recorder system ever produced.
 
One of the hardest stumbling blocks of using past covert analog recorders, including the SNST, was the ability to capture clear quality evidence recordings consistently. This was now made easier thanks to the adjustable JBR playback system of the mid-eighties. 
It was all so secret and no one could speak about this advancement in reproducing analog recordings. 
Of course, digital soon took over, and another Covert Recorder quietly and without fanfare goes down in history.   
 
 
 
BJ96jgS.jpg
 
 
 
 
Below
An original Nagra JBR advertising poster showing a JBR beauty shot, with the cassette cover removed to show off Nagra’s reel to reel covert recorder roots.
 
This extremely rare poster from 1990 was meant to be used for advertising the JBR at Intelligence trade shows, but its use was short lived as Nagra was informed not to advertise the JBR. 
The reason was stated to me below.
 
As I advised, xxxxx xxxxxx  told me that Nagra New York received a letter from the FBI advising that these recorders were an Interception of Communication (IOC) device and if Nagra continued to advertise these units, there could be legal percussions.  I don’t think Nagra advertised the recorders in the USA again. (4)
 
 
"The Nagra JBR along with the SNST miniature recorders were categorized by the U.S. Department of Justice to be Interception of Communication Devices  (IOC).
The IOC statutes make it illegal to own, use, train and/ or educate non-law enforcement personnel to use this equipment.”  (4)
ThjrwN7.jpg
 
Sources for the Nagra JBR 
1)  From - Full Disclosure Newspaper, Libertyville, Illinois (USA). 1991
2) Anonymous former Nagra employee
3) SCTF instruction manual.
4) Anonymous intelligence source.
 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
An  email from Stefan Kudelski's daughter earlier this year after she put my collection on their Facebook page.
I posted the video earlier but not the email.
 
Dear 
 
Thanks a lot for sharing your "Nagra collection" It looks great!
 
I'm glad to know that these devices developed by my father more than 30 years ago are still alive. My father would have appreciate it.
I share with you a link that one employee of the company shared with us.
 
We see that the Nagra Legend is still alive.
 
Best regards
 
Marguerite Kudelski
 

 

Merci / Thank You

Meilleures salutations / Best regards

 

             Marguerite Kudelski

             Chief Technical Officer

  
Link to comment
Share on other sites

JBOND: Thank you so much for sharing your personal collection of recorders with us. That's amazing information, and I appreciate each post. I'm a big fan of reel to reel and I'm in awe of the JBR. I don't blame you at all for protecting your pictures. They're one of a kind and you go to a lot of trouble to present them in the finest light. It's history not many will ever see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
 
My Nagra source, the story
Just want to share a story, and correct a story I posted earlier on this thread.
 
I was on Youtube watching a Nagra SN video a couple of weeks ago.  The video had 70,000 plus views.  I noticed a couple of comments  from others that didn’t make sense from what I know. So I replied to two of the posts. 
The first comment to the video I replied to.
The poster said the chassis is milled from a solid piece of titanium, and the SN could not be detected.
I said that he was confusing the description of the Nagra SN with the description of the Nagra JBR. 
I said the Nagra SN could be detected and that is why the JBR was developed.  He replied  that I knew nothing about Nagra and ended his post by saying Greeting from Switzerland. I guess because he is from Switzerland he should know.  I replied , I know quite a bit about Nagras and said View my collection on Nagra Audio. Not another post from him who ever he was. 
 
To make it easier to follow, My questions are in red.
The second  comment I replied to
 From someone else that said the SN was short for Small Nagra, Because in the video they called it “Serie Noire”   what SN stood for. 
I replied no it’s not.  SN means  Série Noire”,  in translation it means Series Black (this I know).
He replied he worked for Nagra. 
I said, you may have called it Small Nagra between the workers at the factory but it originally meant “Serie Noire”, this is common knowledge I posted.  
He replied
SN means Small Nagra, SNS means Small Nagra Slow SNN small Nagra Nab etc. and the IS meant Intermediate Size Nagra,
I thought to myself what is this guy crazy?  IS meant Idioten Sicher” translated  Fool-proof, or idiot proof this I also know.
Updating...
 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that it is a bit unfair to view the IS as a badly designed or just ill-thought out recorder, as I actually find it a very nice, handy and even a bit sexy recorder. There is no question that it was not ideal for film use (5" reels, advanced but sensitive mechanics), but for radio use it was a gem: It was small, lightweight and the tape handling (for wind/rewind) was superior to the IV/4.2 machines. Radio Denmark had a large amount of IS recorders, and for many years it was the standard for danish radio work. I have 4 ex-Radio Denmark recorders, and one of them has a label indicating that it has been serviced in January 1992, so the IS had quite a long work life. And I can understand that: As a radio journalist (working alone), it must be quite a drag (literally) to spend all your days hauling a IV/4.2 around, if a recorder of half the weight will be just as good. No matter what sex you are... It seems that in other countries the Nagra E was seen as the perfect recorder for radio, and the IS is often completely omitted from listings of the Nagra recorder line (I actually had to write the Wikipedia Nagra IS description myself, as it was absent in their list). Personally I would rather forget the Nagra E; a recorder whose main quality is that it is a Nagra AND it is red (or blue), but otherwise an awkward product compared to other models. And in the "Poor Sales"-department the Nagra D stands out: Only three of them were sold in Denmark. I used one of them in film post work, and it is a magnificent, but temperamental beast.

I am quite sure that the IS showcased the technology that would have used in a successor to the IV/4.2 chassis, if there would have been a analog recorder after the IV-S. I have enclosed a couple of images showing what appears to be a factory mock up of a hybrid between an IS and a Nagra V. It was for sale on eBay a couple of years ago, I still regret that I didn´t try to buy it...

An information that I really would like to ask JBONDs inside source about, is a label on the back of one of my IS recorders, saying "Only for use with large reel adaptor". It is located behind the battery box, beside a cabinet cut out exposing a row of soldering points on the circuit board beneath it. I have never seen any reference to an IS "QGB" apart from that label, and it would be interesting to know if it ever existed...

 

ProtoNagra 1.jpg

ProtoNagra 12.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...