> > Ok, i am having trouble understanding how a delay system
> > works...can anyone explain it to me?
>
> Well, back in the old days, they used to use two
> reel-to-reel tape decks across the room (or on opposite ends
> of a large equipment rack), and string the tape between the
> two. The tape would reach the second (playback) deck a
> number of seconds after it went through the first (record)
> deck, creating a delay.
>
> As for how modern digital delays work, I couldn't tell
> you...
>
Modern delays work much like buffering in your media player... it loads up a set amount of data and plays it back X many seconds later. Just gotta be there on the switch to grab the output if something goes wrong. If you had a WMP encoder you could try this at home!
The old days of reel to reel was done by having the distance between the record head on the left reel 7 seconds tape distance at whatever the speed was 3 something or 7 something inches per second ( that was the choice in recording speeds)that many seconds play time away from the play head on the right reel.
The reel of tape was loaded on the left reel (supply) of the record deck across the record head over a distance to pass over the playback head of the right machine and then onto the right (playback) machines take up reel. If someone said one of the Pacifica Decision words you had to hit the button to take it out of the air chain.
At WJUL we had the talk shows done on the master control room board and had the output of the play deck up in the air studio where someone was listening to the record side and ready to pull the plug on the playback side.
Back in the old days of talk radio when someone got dumped, the host would come back on live for a second no delay and then they'd play a 7 second station ID or something which gave them time to get new clean sound on the tape.
THe only limit to how long your show was was the size of the reel of tape and how fast you could re thread the machines with fresh reels during a commercial or PSA break.