WARNING !

According to several sources, the discovery of methods of analysis of recorded
speech played backwards ( in reverse ) began as a truth investigative / debriefing
tool in the mid 1970s as a joint venture between British Intelligence and the U.S.
Naval Intelligence at the Moffett NAS / NASA Ames Research Center located in
Mountain View, CA, with most of the technical work carried out at SRI, International
located at nearby Menlo Park, CA, at about the same time period as the D.O.D. was
doing their own research into "remote viewing" at S.R.I. - The three year, ten million
dollar project ended when research was suspended, based on the findings that, as a
new method, that it was too unreliable.

Ham radio operator David Oates re-discovered these methods, and improved on
all of them nearly ten years later, with expansions of the application into the areas of
hypnotherapy, general therapy, and neuro-linguistic programming ... This website
contains excerpts from David Oates describing the process of Reverse Speech.

Very little information has been released about the early research days, however,
Mr. Oates continues, along with others, to this day. It has been estimated that more
than 5,000 people now use reverse speech today, and among them are investigators
scientists, researchers, therapists, and amateurs. While many claims are made today
for the benefits of reverse speech, there is still room for a lot more work to be done ...
My thoughts are currently a reflection of what is going on in current research areas :
Most are divided as to whether a tape-based setup or a computer-based setup is best
for reversals - in this article is testimony to both approaches. It does appear that 'time
shifting' aids in finding reversals, but David Oates cautions that listening to something
more than 5 times in-a-row may cause one to 'project' or imagine results where there
aren't any ... and when more real data is found concerning these methods, we'll bring
you the latest results here at The SPYder Web ...


"Reverse speech is human speech spoken backwards simultaneously when a
person is speaking normally. Generally, what it found by playing a recording of
human speech backwards are snippets of the speaker's thoughts. If the reversals
are congruent with the forward speech, one can assume that the speaker is being
honest. If they are contradictory, one can assume that the speaker is less that truthful.
Also found in speech reversals are metaphors, symbols from the deeper consciousness.
It may be possible using Reverse Speech and a post-hypnotic process called Metaphor
Restructuring to accomplish in ten or so therapy sessions what a conventional psycho-
therapist takes one hundred or more sessions to do. This could put a lot of psycholo-
gists out of work. For a more detailed description of RS, I suggest you get a copy of
David's book "Reverse Speech". Ordering info may be found on the front page of
this web site." ( http://www.reversespeech.com - ed.)

"best regards,"

"Mark Volovar"
"markfive@sure.net"

"My name is David John Oates and I am a forty year old Australian researcher.
I claim to have made a discovery and developed a technology that has the potential
to change the whole face of society. This discovery is so profound, its implications
so vast, that at first glance it may seem to be preposterous, almost too good to be
true, certainly too fantastic to be taken seriously. With these caveats, I ask that you
open your mind as you read this book and remember some of the other great discover-
ies in history. Remember how they at first seemed strange, unbelievable almost. Then
remember how these discoveries changed civilization. Discoveries like electricity,
magical forces transferred across wires. Or radio waves, even more magical, speak-
ing to people across the planet without the use of wires. Then there was the horse-
less carriage, the airplane and now we have technologies that can take us to the
moon and beyond."

introduction by David John Oates - It's Only a Metaphor : c1996

By way of introduction, I will be the first to admit that I am new to doing "reversals"
of audio -- recording & playing-back speech backwards and listening for the content
that it may contain. I am not associated in any way with the production staff of 'Strange
Universe' nor David Oates' ReverseSpeech enterprises ... see : http://207.167.65.4
or http://www.reversespeech.com for main RS web pages ...

The equipment I used was an old Sony "boom box" with modified tape heads to playback
any cassette tape backwards. I chose this for several reasons : First, my only contact with
reversals of audio was as a visitor to the RS website ( http://www.reversespeech.com )
and the web forum - which suggested that one might bravely modify a cassette recorder
for use, and secondly, because of the large wing-speakers, heavy batteries, external
microphone capabilities, and a built in radio receiver ( for recording ) as well as as an
internal graphic equalizer ... it is well known in telephone company employee circles that
over 90% of the speech characteristics are in the audio passband of from around 300 cps
to 3000 cps, with a midrange peak at 1000 cps; so having some way to adjust the bass
while boosting the "speech frequencies" and perhaps also boosting the "high end" as well
for clarity, makes for better understanding, as well as compensating for duped audio from
video tapes, poor brodcasts, old TV sets, and cranky microphones ...

After cutting two traces to the playback head, and solder bridge jumping the reverse
switch to the head, as well as cleaning AND demagnetizing, I was ready to record ...
The boom box now plays back standard stereo, on one tape side, as it did before, as
well as plays in REVERSE by a simple tap of the auto-reverse switch ( or the end of
the tape - which ever occurs first ! )

Being quite interested in the NASA interview reversals ( http://www.reversespeech.com/
nasa.htm ), the first test was a cassette taping off-air of an interview with a N.A.S.A.
astronaut who was currently involved with the Mir Space Station, as aired locally by one
of the PBS affiliate FM stations here :


The astronaut said : " ( regarding safety procedures and accident policy ) ... They may
be blown out of proportions in other people's minds, ( but those of us working in the
program ... ) "

reversed says, "will be put on the shelf ... for now"


Actually NASA reversals are what prompted me initially to get involved in all this, and
yes, I "got" one ( reversal ) as well ... for my second test, I recorded myself with an
external microphone ( with pop screen - wind shield and on/off switch ) being inter-
viewed by a friend ...when asked about what I was going to do with all this new
technology ( reverse speech ) , I replied :


radioman - "I have no idea ..."

the reversal said, "How're you doing?"


I was now convinced there was something to all of this, as I had heard for myself!
Things like "sea boat", to my suprise, did not sound like "Toby's" in reverse ...
I was now ready to tackle the Strange Universe segment ... I did ask on the forum
about why I found it so easy to do ... an a possible explanation came back that all
my radio experience, in hearing conversations out of the noise, and hetrodynes
may have "sharpened" my ears a lot. Perhaps, but a better model might be short-
wave listening. Consider this : if you're sitting in front of a short-wave radio receiver
tuning around, and happen upon a foreign language brodcast - you stop, re-tune
and pay carefull attention. First, you notice, like backwards speech playback, that it
doesn't sound like English, and then - with patience, and careful expectations and hopes
you try to identify who's voice it is, whether it's a newscast, or interview format, etc.
as you begin picking up clues ... and waiting for a single word, perhaps the next word
that's in English ... perhaps a proper name, or a high technology word, in English, or
the awaited station I.D. - in English - which gives the point of origin of the brodcast,
the station name, the country, and even remote transmitter location. It's this patient
expectation state of mind that "heightens" your awareness so that when a phrase,
or complete sentence appears suddenly, it pops right out at you the first time, with
perhaps several re-plays to write it all down correctly ... it's that easy ! Hours of this
type of "focused" listening, waiting for a few words, or phrase, is probably what has
helped me start out so successfully - and to have others listen as well, to verify what
I claim to hear in reverse playback ... I will leave the psychological explanations
as to the subconscious "lie detection" characteristics to the experts, like David
Oates ... I just know that it works ... and others hear what I do too !


"I think radioman meant that it doesn't take 15 hours a week of practice for
a HAM to learn to hear reversals. I have been a HAM for over 35 years and
heard reversals from the first recording I listened to. True, I got better,
and starting hearing even more after some experience, but by the time the
"Hobbyist" course finally arrived I didn't learn anything from it - re: hearing them.
I think my experiences as a "rare" country (VQ9DH Seychelles Islands) back in
the '60s was invaluable - pulling weak signals out of "pile-ups." Even CW (Morse
Code) DX (distant stations) was useful for one learns to focus on a certain tone
of a specific station and ignore the dozens of others that one hears simultaneously."

"Regards,"

"Dave Hunter"
"dave@thegrid.net"


The first test was to reverse the "reversals" on the Strange Universe interviews
to verify all was working well on my end ... the first clip :


NASA employee - said, "share a secret with NASA"

reversed back, says, " ... scientific research ... "


The second clip of audio, from President Clinton :


President Clinton said, "denounce this evil"

when reversed, says " ... will be suspended ... "


Convinced it was working O.K., I then went to the interviews :


David Oates #1 -- " ... no one would take us seriously ... "

reversed said, "real serious ... actually no one, eh?"


David Oates #2 -- " ... eh ... no one would take us seriously ..."

reversed again, said "real serious ... actually no one, eh"


David Oates #3 -- " ... ah ... like chemical ( fire ) ... "

reversed said, "house ... in connected"


David Oates #4 -- " ... ( I've been told by an ) arson investigator ... "

reversed said, "he says it's ... "


David Oates #5 -- " ... ( clearly we ) better get out ... "

reversed said, "I have a ... get it"


David Oates #6 -- " ... ( hidden thoughts ) just by analyzing ( their speech ) ... "

reversed, says "is all my opposites"


David Oates, later said " ... I cannot do this anymore ... "

reversed says, "all I mean - it's a real hurt"


All of David Oates' reversals were confirming of what he said, as were Fire Captain
Edward O. Deane :


Edward O. Deane said " ... the scenario that ( I was given ) ... "

reversed, said "I'm very certain"


Edward O. Deane also said " ... the scenario that, that I was given ... "

reversed, said "I'm very insistant"


and, " ... my investigation ( included that ) ... "

reversed, said "in a few weeks ... right now"


The 911 call : " ... the whole room is on fire ... "

reversed, was "have nothing but wall"


Unfortunately, Emmett Miller's comments were not so supporting. As someone who
hosted a local PBS radio show for three years, I will verify that Mr. Miller has the
utmost sense of professionalism, and objectivity - which is hard to do at times -
especially if the format of the boadcast restricts one to limit ones own personal
opinions ... with reservations, I post the following :


Emmett Miller said, about David Oates, "he says ... "

when reversed, says, "says he !"


Emmett Miller #2, said, " ... but he ( David Oates ) also turned a mic(rophone ... ) "

reversed says, "but from ... how to nurse this audio"


Emmett Miller #3, said, " ... so was Edward O. Deane ... "

reversed revealed, "he later makes a wuss !"


Other Emmett Miller comments included :


Emmett Miller #4, said, " ... David Oates ( expanded ) ... "

reversed, said "swear to Eden"


Emmett Miller #5, said, " ... standing amid the ruins ... "

reversed, said, "living in eggs"


Emmett Miller #6, said, " ... reverse speech seemed revolutionary ... "

reversed, said, "have released it's "sur" group"


Interpretation of the context and meanings of reversals can be debated, as well as
their "hidden meanings", but I contend, that the reversals themselves, cannot be
disputed. They are easily reproducible ...

To those who wouldn't spend a dime on books or software, as I didn't, and who are
skeptical of all this - I offer to you to take the challenge that I took ... try it out for
yourself and see what YOU get in listening to recorded speech backwards ... and you
just may find more than you can imagine !
Mr. Oates said in the interview that it would be a shame for this technology to die-out
even though it's use might be "dangerous" ... real science needs to be replicated
again and again and again ... so hold off on value judgements until you've at least
given it a try !


* AN UPDATE *


There has been a lot of things happening since I wrote this, not to mention
lots of e-mail ... and I've been doing many more reversals since that time ...
My friend Cindy has been interested in finding "backwards masking" examples
in old "rock and roll" albums on cassette - and in particular some old Queen
albums ... we still haven't found those, but a LOT of actual speech reversals
on the tapes. The religious songs, as David Oates suggested, contain some
reversals about God, and Freddie Mercury, in particular, has poetic sense
in his reversals too : "well now, this is my question ..." was one quite clear
reversal; and hints of his state of mind, like "Well, it's time" and the phrase
"one last goodbye", and even an "au revoir" were prevalent in songs of his
when played backwards, and : "God was angry ... oh God was angry", and "In
fact it was terrible ... more than once !", and "be free ... and be free in Him".
"See the Lord" and "Where are you ?" as repeated phrases throughout the song.
Some of the reversals reflect inner thoughts of Freddie Mercury, that we can try
to look at. In the song, 'These Are The Days of Our Lives', there were two short
reversals worth looking at :


Queen : "( These ) are the days of our lives ...",
reversed to, " I love all teenage desires"


Queen : " ... when I find ... ",
reversed to, "you are a faggot"


In the song, 'These Are The Days of Our Lives' , the following reversals were found :
"take a listen" ... "you are a faggot" ... "I love all teenage desires" ... "Oh, I think
I have piss in it" ... "hell yeah, this is my quest" ... "it's a shadow" ... "the source of
the riddle" ... "I should have you" ... "more than once, yeah" - total reversals.


I have included excerpts from David Oates' book at the very end of this webpage
to furthur explain about reversals and their categories, and some recent comments.

Still surprised at the Emmett Miller reversals, I wondered about content - it
seems that some reversals are mirrors of what's said forewards, some reversals
are opposites, and others are "less clear". I am fortunate to find more of these
kinds of reversals, which show the person who's speaking state-of-mind at the
time, as well as related thoughts about how they are "delivering" it as well ...
the following examples, out of many, from Hillary Clinton fits this type :


"Child Care in America" - speech at University of Maryland - by Hillary Clinton


Here are a few excerpts from that speech, one which was given with enthusiam
about a topic that Hillary Clinton cares about - and was read as a prepared speech:


Hillary Clinton - " ... social problems (that for years held us back are receeding) ... "

reversed, was "as I have said, officer ... it's a marvelous choice"


Another reversal was :


Hillary Clinton - " ... (will) demand higher (saleries) ..."

reversed, was "very often I am"


with the occasional comment, "the're right !"


Hillary Clinton - " ... because all sectors of society ... "

reversed, was "the analysis wizzard has all"


Hillary Clinton - " ... from the childcare facility and the caregivers, who ..."

reversed, was "survey great ... and now you know it's a great flash !"


Hillary Clinton - " ... will help us (chart that frontier) ..."

reversed, was "some will help"


Hillary Clinton - " ... we've already discussed (affordability) ..."

reversed, was "start sending all of you"


Hillary Clinton - " ... and I hope that (it's focus on the three key areas) ..."

reversed, was "the people had it"


Hillary Clinton - " ... also made a commitment to childcare ... "

reversed, was "game's under assult"


Hillary Clinton - " ... (so that) the generations (of children to come) ... "

reversed, was "share relationship"


Hillary Clinton - "one of the commanders theres was what happens before good
child care in the military. I heard about a mother and a father ..."

reversed, was "very long ... very long ... but I'd better h(urry) ... there is no one
... that might help. So where is YOUR name ?"


Hillary Clinton - " ... (in a place like a school or library) or some other setting
(that is good for them) ..."

reversed, was "man, it sure is a hostile year"


So far, I have found, in general, that radio brodcasts usually make poor material
for reversals - being nothing more than someone reading news copy ...

I did find a very short audio clip interview with a girl who was asked all about
her fellow classmate who had just returned to school after being in a coma for
three months following an automobile accident. When asked if she was happy
for her friend being named Homecoming Queen, at Newport Harbor High School,
which she was; the homecoming princess said :


Marcilla Pinzue - ( reversed ), said " ... Nay, fly with me ... he's just dancin' in it ...
has to ... the need to go sing it ... send he ... by healer ... goes show, open it up ... "


"I marveled at the way reversals were very short and fast, written into the musical
tones of reversed gibberish or the high frequencies of speech. They were majestic
choruses of total consciousness sometimes sounding like the voices of angels, other
times like demons from the depths of hell." - David Oates



President Clinton Reversals - CSPAN on 11/21/97


On November 21st, 1997 there was a live press conference from the White House
in which several short topics, and presentations were made ... President Clinton was
talking about new legislation concerning the FDA ... the following occured :


Commentator : "We now take you live to the East Room of the White House ..."

reversed, said, "ah, hell with 'em"


President Clinton, said, "Thank You ..."

reversed, said, "beat me up"


President Clinton's phrase, "(the) FDA"

reverses each time to, "yeah, you pay (it)"


President Clinton, said, " ... as everybody knows, (this bill) ..."

reversed to, "I'll be right to say it"


President Clinton, said, " ... higher responcibility not only to the FDA, ..."

reversed, said, "Yeah, you pay you this and I'm going to 'live' this office around"


President Clinton, said, "There are new challenges to food safety ..."

reversed, said, "yes, near to the decision"


President Clinton, said, " ... they had to go down and buy the food (from sombody
else) ..." - reversed, was, "by tonite, I'll get ahead"


President Clinton, said, " ... farm to the city, and makin' a living in factories ... "

reversed, said, " ... so you're half in the middle of the government ... yes it is ...
more often ... "


President Clinton, said, " ... Congressman Dingle for the work ..."

reversed, said, "that girl was awful hidden ... "


President Clinton, said, " let me first of all thank the (vice president) ... "

reversed, said, " ... the alcohol can serve me up"


President Clinton, said, "The FDA has always set the gold standard for consumer
safety ... " reversed, said, " ... Yessir ... your next law ... your best of your laws
... and yeah, you PAY it !"


President Clinton, said, " ... that will serve America well into the 21st century ... "

reversed, said, "Lloyd will hear a reversal in it" - Who's Lloyd ? - ed.

lastly, another strange reversal, which said, "You're right, in it may 'ravine' in all of
this ... Elroy, the thing is ... " - Who's Elroy ? and what's a 'ravine' ? - ed.



The following post by radioman on 11/4/97 -- Re : CIA / KGB Reversals


Hi from radioman :

In a recent CSPAN interview with David Murphy, ex-CIA and Sergei Kondrashev,
ex-KGB ; the new book publisher would have you think that these former adversaries
from over 40 years active service in the "cold war" from it's inception,
are now friends ... think again. True, they sat next to each other for an hour and
a half to promote their co-collaborative effort, a new cold war days book, but the
cooperation may have been more in the mind of the publisher than anyone else !
The book was assembled from recently released doccuments from both sides, with
these two to "tie" it together and fill in the historical blanks ... what did
they really think ?

Reversals from Sergei Kondrashev said things like, reversed, "too lienient"
and "sleezy" ... David Murphy, retired CIA official,said even more : reversed,
like "we are foolish", "not sure whether we have it", and "it
hasn't always ...". One particularly good one, forewards, said, "Well, I think
to some extent, we ..." when reversed, said, "You mustn't get yellow".
It was clear from the reversed bantering, that the cold war tensions still run high, after
40 - 49 years in the respective services, and if you would like to hear these, and the
other reversals, a video tape from CSPAN, concerning the "about books"
segment is available. Keep informed, and keep out of "trouble" - the
"company" is not known for a sense of humor !

73's radioman


You can check out David Oates' explanations for reversals below - one thing is
for sure - a lot of information is contained in audio reversals, and this area does
seem to be calling out for more research, and more investigators ! Might YOU be
one of them ?


The following explanation posted by Margie on 10/23/97 :


"It ( reversals with different meanings from the same words ) happens
because the reverses are made from the totality of the sounds which
make up the speech. The reverses are sometimes more influenced by
the actual words themselves turned backwards, which is where we here
coincedental reversals."

"Parts of words backwards can also join in to make up reverses as part
of the totality of the sound coming through the vocal chords. Non coin-
cedental reversals happen from the chorus of air hitting the vocal chords
in individualized ways which make the reversals."

"This could be why babies don't need control of actual muscles because
the reversals are made up of the CHORUS of sounds. This gives the un-
concious the tools to mold sound into words. This is mostly my opinion,
or the way I understand what DJO says happens."


Margie Chavious :
chavious@alaska.net
An RS Forum Post on 10/23/97



More Strange Universe Reversals :



Hi from radioman :

While banished from the "Art Bell" forum, I'm glad to be still welcome
out here in the company of fine minds like Stephen Hawking ! The following audio
reversal from Dr. Charles Tart, at UNLV, said, forewards : "(Dean Radin) is
one of the leading parapsychologists in the world ... (he has done very high quality
work ...)". When reversed, says, " ... tore open the decision to lock an S.R.I.
meeting, you know what I'm saying ?"

In reference to yesterday's story on that "alien corpse" - we have more :
First, Emmett Miller seemed quite happy with the story, and the exclusive !
"... unsolicited", reversed to, "and listen, listen up !" and the
comments, " no one knew what to make of it", reversed to, "never
again, must know who".

The two video producers said, reversed, " ...I will not view it ... must nourish
... I am in this ... see you mustn't ... you're handed - an alias ... it, you handed ...
you right ... you know it ... is similar ... " As well as reversals, " ... This
year, with us, it "wolf's" out ... none of her from me, but ah ..." and "
There will be a feed method ... will unravel ... this old camera".

In closing, without judging the meanings of their reversals, Emmett Miller in particular
seemed to "want to believe" when he clearly said, reversed, that
"it is alien beings who will". More updates at the link below, and keep
watching Strange Universe !

73's radioman



In another recent Strange Universe story, about Deborah Wolfe, "the Electric Woman",
it is interesting to note that when the commentator mentioned her name, reversed, was
"flow perfect" ... Investigator Hillary Evans said, "We will find an answer", which was,
reversed, "This mind ... I'll follow it !". Deborah herself said, "... sucking out their
energy", when reversed, says, "I'm wearing it". She also said, "it only happens ...",
reversed, says, "with my "He" light" ...

Not just in the Strange Universe segments - reversals are everywhere. In a 2 hour
psychic reading I had, on tape, I said, reversed, that I was "nervous" ... which was
followed by, reversed, "It's O.K." ... although I still can't find the question to which
the answer was, reversed, "Nine is this many" ...



* Edgar Mitchell lying ? - speech reversals ... *


The Strange Universe Forum


Posted by 'radioman' on Wednesday, 26 November 1997, at 11:28 a.m.

Hi from radioman :

Is astronaut Edgar Mitchell lying ? The speech reversals are inconclusive, but he
does know more than he is saying !

Mitchell : "The evidence that I have seen, to date, suggests that we have been
visited ... ( by ETs )",

reversed to, "This is it ... that you, the size of this ... listen all about you !"

Mitchell : on cattle mutilations - "I say this is a clandestine group doing this ... ",

reversed to : "Well I nourish your ... rather know it ... yes, I knew it"

and Mitchell : "It is likely an ET activity ... in these amounts, ( likely not ) ... ",

reversed, was "I believe it ... now visit"

Perhaps if more interviews were conducted on Edgar Mitchell, we might have
more revealed ... he, at least, knows more than he is saying.

73's radioman

http://seasurf.com/~radioman/speech.html






In responce to e-mail questions concerning inexpensive ways to get into trying out
reverse speech for one's self; with the shortage of old "cassette" boom boxes at the
local garage sale haunts, I tried, with good success, to modify a new "walkman"
style cassette player recently purchased at a local department store to "play
backwards" ... the following account is for those do-it yourself types with *NO*
electronics knowledge necessary for the basic conversion !

In the old Sony "boom box" conversion, it was necessary to cut wires and traces
as well as solder switch jumpers to electrically switch playback heads - In this
simple conversion of the "walkman" style portable cassette player, whose total
purchase price, new, retail is $10 , you can make a couple mechanical modifications !

This cassette model is a "Sports" by GPX. ( Gran Prix Electronics, 1 Sandy Lane,
High Hill, MO 63350 USA ) - a new product, readily available, with "auto-reverse".
This clone, made in Hong Kong, appears as a current "waterproof" yellow model ,
which "looks" like a "walkman". Upon opening the unit, one will see three small
screws that need to be removed to expose the interior. Once inside, observe that,
unlike other "auto-reverse" players, this unit has a single stereo playback head
that mechanically "slides" back and forth, on "rails", to opposite ends of the tape
width ! To allow playback, it is not necessary to do ANY internal electronics mods.
but rather, using a single sided razor blade, or X-acto hobby knife, to remove the
plastic end of a pivot shaft to allow tweezer removal of the hairpin spring that "levers"
the head back and forth across the tape travel width ! This same stereo ( 2 coil )
head plays the tape in both directions ... simple ! The hairpin spring is the only one
touching the sliding head, and is connected by a moving cam to "reverse" the head.
All of these parts need remain, including the dual capstan and pinch rollers, etc. to
operate as before - except for the hairpin spring. The moving part still remains in
place in order to help hold in the tape head, and, in fact, this would be the total mod.
necessary, except that in moving the unit, the head can and will change positions ...
Using two drops of "Liquid Nails" plastic glue, or model cement, applied on both
sides of the head to prevent it from moving and stay in the bottom ( flush ) position.
If correctly glued in place ( it takes over an hour to dry, preferably longer ) the head
and rail assembly will be flush with the bottom housing ( held initially by gravity ) on
one side, and be resting on the factory pre-set head alignment screw adjust on
the other side. It's as if the head "never" moved from it's foreward play position
at all ! The "auto-reverse" mode is gone, and it now plays backwards ...

All that does change is now the "auto-reverse" switch lever is a "backwards"
play lever, so to now play the reverse side of the tape, as in any non-reversing
player, you need to remove and "flip over" the cassette ... The unit will work
VERY well with fresh alkaline batteries ( 2 "AA"s ), and a QUALITY pair of new
headphones, such as the top-of-the-line mini-headphones at Radio Shack (such
as the Pro-25 portable headphones at $ 39.95) in case after you've looked around,
and you didn't already find that you had a really good pair of headphones ! The
combination of poor bass responce, typical of small portable cassette players, as
well as not much "high end" ( remember it's $10 not $70 ) makes it IDEAL for the
normal speech frequencies, and it's not too bad on playback of all pre-recorded
music tapes with good headphones plugged in !

If you're feeling like this wasn't enough of a project to satisfy you, and you
really need to get out that soldering iron, you CAN add a pair of wires with an in-
line connector to the unit's battery connection posts - which would give you
something external to connect a 3 VDC power supply to and eliminate the batteries
altogether ! I'm now using a "new" one - a 3 VDC power "cube" adapter with 700 ma.
current rating, and voltage regulated for NO hum - available at Radio Shack. Just in
case you are really the handiman, you might want to continue on, in order to defeat
the "end-of-tape" auto-reverse tension sensor mode as well. On all "reversing" style
cassete recorder/players, there are times when a particular tape is "wound too tight",
and the auto-reverse will trip during the playback of a tape, with the unit thinking it
was the end of that tape ... perhaps this is why so few auto-reverse units are still
manufactured anymore ! Note that the quality of the GPX cassette player has not
been minimized in any way by the changes ... If you want a home "studio quality"
stereo player, it might be best to start with such a unit ...

For the audio purists, it should be noted that with NO electrical mods. done -
that the L/R channels are "swapped". This happens because when "reversing"
a normal cassette, the tracks are reversed too, so the internal DPDT switch needs
to "swap" the L/R head coils as well. You can jump/bypass the head switch, which
is located on the left internally if need be. If this is a problem on mono recordings,
you can fix it by simply switching the headphones around on your head, or better :
use a mic. adapter ( a "Y" cable ) to provide a single microphone signal to BOTH of
the L/R inputs when recording ... and all this assumes that you have another
cassette deck somewhere capable of recording to make the tapes you'll be
listening to BACKWARDS on your new "walkman" style portable player.

I decided to "sacrifice" one of these players to total disassembly - and hopefully to
see its "inner workings" ... the thing that bugs me about ALL auto-reverse units,
regardless of price, is that occasional "reverse" of tape direction when it's really not
called for - and it's never because of the end-of-tape situation ... when doing a lot
of frequent "reversals" to try to catch the exact words, etc. you're really stretching
the tape and winding it tightly - so no wonder that it's changing directions at all of
the places you've spent a lot of time "reversing" before ... with the external power
supply, and along with its solid voltage and even better audio now; my only complaint
of the $10 unit is that darned "tension" sensor that reverses the tape direction - so
much so, that it's even a more important mod. for a lot of use than Kevin's resistor
voltage drop idea to slow down playback speed - and that's to stop the tension
sensor entirely !

After completely taking it apart again by removing three more tiny screws, and taking
out the entire motor/gear assembly partially, to see behind it - the answer was clear :
the large "flywheel" device in the rear middle ( it's the only one with no gear teeth, nor
drive belts ) has a pawl device that "rides the grove" like a phonograph arm on a
record ... or perhaps looks more like one of those small plastic "child proof" medicine
bottle tops, and nearly as menacing ! This lever arm rides in the groved channel in the
flywheel ... simply pull & lift it up slightly, and move it to the left; so that the "arm" now
stayes "outside" of the flywheel - like placing that record arm beyond the outer rim of
the record - so NO contact is made at all. Oddly enough, there are few other ill effects
incurred - the "reverse" ( backwards ) lever still works manually, but the "tension" sensor
is now completely disabled, which was the goal ! The speed "governor" mechanism that
this was part of is also somewhat disabled ( oops ! ) but hardly noticable, since it's only
missing the added "drag" of that arm, and the SLIGHT speed/pitch increase can be fixed
by now adding a 2 watt 10 ohm value series resistor in-line with the positive (red) lead
wire going either to the internal batteries, or the external power "cube" - now the drop
in voltage across the series limiting resistor will reduce the playback speed by 2 or 3
percent - thus fixing the problem ... and as an extra bonus of using the series voltage
dropping resistor on the power supply, instead of just the motor, you now have a very
fine speed adjustment as well - the louder you set the playback volume for the head-
phones, the "slower" ( by a slight fine amount ) the playback ! Remember that the nice
waterproof seal around all of the buttons, is now loose, mainly because they "glued"
all the buttons into it when they assembled it ! Being careful to not fully remove the
mechanics completely should leave the button's seal intact ...

While I don't expect most people to add on external power supplies, nor disassemble the
entire unit to disable the "tension" sensor, I needed to know just how easily that it
could be done, and see how well it can really work so now, I might actually try the series
resistor "variable speed control" idea of Kevin's - why not - it already has a wire harness
hanging outside and "funky" rubber buttons which seem a little loose, but still work well ...
Since it found reversals on previously "exhausted" tapes , I don't care too much what
it looks like, or how many "crazy" mods. I've made to it - it's works, cost $10 new, and
taught me more than I ever wanted to know, and shows that there are MANY ways you
to do this. With all the great results I'm getting so far, it's nearly as much "fun" as
building radio gear from "scratch" - and Grandma might want one for Christmas too !

With frequent e-mail asking about other small "quality" cassette recorders that can
be converted too, I visited the local stores to look around. There are many models of
those "auto-reverse" portables available, though more than $ 10 ! So if you have
some electronics ability, and are wanting a "better" walkman, then I would suggest,
the AIWA TX 456 ! This one would take more knowledge to convert than the $ 10
"walkman"... the new AIWA isn't THE most expensive "auto-reversing" player around,
but lots higher quality in a portable for those not wanting that $ 10 "cheap" version,
perhaps anticipating a LOT more daily use ... as I'm still "field testing" the Sports by GPX
- with the external power supply and tension mods. - we'll see how well it holds up !

David Oates says that it is best to avoid "clipped" or "processed" audio for reversals
since RS is "subtle" and can be lost - it is best to be as "close to the origional" in
recordings, as possible ... with the "highs" containing a lot of the reverse information
especially the "sing song" tonal qualities ... well, I can say for certain that the small
walkman, without the equalizer, amp, and speakers of the "boom box", can provide
nearly four times as many reversals on playback of the same cassette ! I'm sure that
the headphones help, but this is only for recordings I've made - high quality music on
cassette tape works the same on either playback device - so observe high quality
procedures on recordings ! Perhaps some recent claims by others that computer -
based RS can play even more , might actually have some validity ! I was deciding
at this point that it was time for more hobbiest experimentation ! The question of any
RS results varying from person to person was one thing --- but hearing different results
with the same exact cassette tape, and the same pair of "ears" was quite another !

I now have three playback devices, & several sets of headphones. The headphones
vary in cost from a few dollars to those $ 150. pair of Sony Digital Studio Headphones.
If David is correct, and I believe that he is, it would make sense that the best, & most
expensive headphones would work the best ... while the large studio headphones do
sound the best for music, the best headphones out of all of them were the second
best at $ 39.95 from Radio Shack - the "mini" walkman ones, with very high fidelity !
Not that I hear any less reversals with the "best" headphones, they sound the same
to me -- but I find that the 'enhanced' bass is distracting -- in fact you can test this
too by turning off that "bass boost" switch, and hear the difference for yourself !
Next were the standard headphones that come with any walkman, but they had an
extended bass responce as well ! David claims that the reversals are in the "highs"
so those expensive Radio Shack ones with excellent treble, and, like all small 'phones,
with poor bass, were best ... I suppose that's where the need for the "bass boost" add-
itional circuitry came from - small headphones move "less air", but for speech reversals
it's preferable anyway ...

Now with the best headphones determined, I went on to modify my third, and best tape
player, the AIWA 'walkman". Better than the 'boom box', and even higher quality, and
more reversals on the same cassettes than the $ 10. GPX one, the AIWA model number
HS-TX 456 is clearly the best ! I chose to tackle this particular one since it "looks like" a
cassette recorder that David Oates has, modified, over the Internet ( AIWA HS-JS 445 ).
Clearly it's the best player of the three, and what I use now for all reversals. It was only
$ 39.95 at my local Costco store, & modified well with the same cutting traces/ wires
and soldering switch jumpers as the Sony 'boom box' mods - with the active side of the
4-track head being furthist back inside of the walkman, ( like GPX ) so that forewards
play on the buttons actually works right, and the reverse switch actually "reverses" ...

Unfortunately, this was a "don't try this at home" project. The unit, unlike the GPX, is
crammed with surface-mount circuitry, and highly compacted, with the digital radio and
all - very difficult to open up, and nearly impossible to put back together ! Being similar
to the 'approved' RS unit of RS Enterprises, it's really worth whatever they charge for all
the mods. - as I nearly ruined the case, couldn't ever get that cassette door spring back
exactly right, had a 'left over' adhesive-backed copper foil ground strap, two broken
small motor wires, and "variable speed" playback after the first re-assembly when I
either shook the unit, or squeezed the back which doubled the playback speed ! When
prying the case open, there is a lot of pressure on the main circuit board, since the
small earphone jack hangs up, and I ended up 'fixing' the problem by using only the
three plastic clamps to hold in the PC board, and leaving out the small metal screw
since I determined that this screw was 'tweeking' the entire board - and, no more of
those 'variable' speed, or double speed problems - unit repaired ! The mechanical
assembly under the electronics sub-assembly is even harder to get at, and you won't
be able to re-assemble the "play" button at all without 'double-sided' tape to hold it
in place temporarily - and the tape head has to be entirely removed, screw, clamp &
all to even get to it when it's out of the case ! The switch, is where I soldered, but
had to de-magnitize the head before re-assembly, since it's hard to get to when done.
All-in-all, not a fun project, but was the best working player for reverse speech, and
clearly hearing more reversals on the same tapes, where I 'thought' that there might
be some, was like a person with poor vision, suddenly putting on a good pair of the
right perscription glasses ! What an improvement ! While I didn't come up with any of
the "great new discoveries" I might have hoped for, like David Oates, by doing more
and more experimentation, I am finding ways to maximize the results ... and this is only
so far, on the equipment side ... any methods to remove blinders - like skeptics not
wanting to "hear" any reversals; anything you CAN do, including therapy, grounding,
centering, becoming neutral, becoming more 'open-minded', less judgemental, no add-
itional "karma", etc. can only help with hearing reversals, and more of them, as you do
progress - and you will progress ! So I've validated some of David Oates' work by my
independent experiments, and might add that even if he moves back to Australia in
two years, as he says - there's always all those he has trained, all the books, etc.,
as well as the Internet, and I believe, that, all personalities aside, that if no one was
visibly doing any more research, that YOU, with only what I've collected on these web
pages, could probably carry on the work yourself - in that 'hobbiest' spirit, to keep
testing, and re-testing ... for I do believe that this is a real science, and it will progress
as science does, without any of us, as need be ...

An update : The new AIWA HS-TX456 cassette player is working REALLY well ... in
fact with four times as many reversals on the $10 GPX with headphones over the old
Sony 'boom box', the new AIWA "hears" more than twice as many reversals as the GPX
with the same headphones ! With the equipment "peaked" for frequency responce, and
low distortion, I even hear those partials with "non-english" words everyone's arguing
about the meaning of, and can write them out phoenetically - we're past the "hearing"
point now ... The audio frequency responce is so good that when audio dubbing from
video using a microphone ( direct patch cable is recommended ) that the video "whine"
from the horizontal oscillator at 15,575 Hz is heard loudly ! ... The final setup here is to
use these : 1) the AIWA TX 456, modified, and 2) the "best" Radio Shack 'Nova 45'
mini-headphones, and 3) A power adapter 'cube' - 3 VDC @ 700ma -w- regulation, the
# 273-1663 A -with an added series ( 5 ohm ) resistor, & with the appropriate plug-tip set
for polarity at a "negative tip" ( AIWA's choice ) ...
Again, the results on the two 'test' tapes, one an old Queen album, on cassette tape,
and the other the 'dubbed' Hillary Clinton speech, shows many more reversals than ever
before, but not on the other cassette players, and headphones due to the 'quality' and the
frequency responce ... and for music, with the stock AIWA headphones, with more bass
responce, it's only beaten by a full blown stereo system ! Not bad for a tiny portable unit
who's mission in life was to be a radio/cassette player for jogging !

In considering Mr. Oates dismissal of the 456s ( see following ), I've been asked about
the practicality of modifying the 456s for hobbiests over the Internet. While I haven't
as yet reached a decision, and really never wanting to see the inside of one of those
again ... I must admit, that for someone, it could be a good idea. With the $ 39.95 tag
from Costco, plus say $ 10 for packing/mailing costs, and say $ 40 for labor - which
hopefully after the first unit wouldn't take hours, and insure that if under the worst
case, that the $ 40 would pay for an additional "replacement" unit, at no charge, if
the mods. ended up a failure - that it might be worth doing, for someone, for $ 90 in
advance ... got too many projects myself to want to play internet 'capatalist' here ...


"How on earth did you manage to modify the 456s - they are a bugger of a machine
to modify - I rejected them months ago cos we destroyed more machines in the
process than we modified ... " - David ( Oates )

RS Forum Post 11/12/97


More To Come ...

73's ( best wishes )
radioman@seasurf.com

"I had an AIWA walkman style tape player with record and autoreverse that
I modified myself. I haven't added a speed modification as yet but it works
well for me. If I find a clip that I want to slow down for clarification I put it on
my computer and use Cool Edit."

"Some autoreverse players have a single direction head that rotates mechan-
ically. I've not tackled one of those yet, so this does not apply. A two head
( forward and reverse coils ) autoreverse is easy to modify. You need to figure
out which is the forward head with an ohmmeter at the fwd/rev switch or the
side A/B switch whichever applies. Then cut the conductors to the rev/b coil.
Then jumper the switch so that it turns on the forward coil in either position."

"So what you have done is disabled the rev ( or side b ) coil and made it so that
it can only use the fwd ( or side a ) coil regardless of direction."

"This applies only to the type of deck I have tried this on, and does not neces-
sarily apply to all. If you have good electronics knowledge you should be able
to figure it out. If you need help feel free to e-mail me. I am an electronics tech,
and have been successful doing this kind of thing for myself. No guarantees
though. You can save yourself a few bucks or end up with a pile of scrap."

<><><><>

"Bravo, radioman. It was only a matter of time ( until someone did this ).
It would be nice to have record and speed adjustments, but at this price and
skill level required, everyone can try it out for themselves! While not the
perfect reversal machine, it will be more than efficient in blowing your mind.
Then maybe you will justify going for the real deal."

<><><><>

"What I have been meaning to do instead is put in like a three position switch
with a resistor in series of each position to the motor for slow and slowest like
David's format. This may be better than a pot because your ear can get used to
the specific speeds. It would take some calibration. The pot might be fun though,
being able to fine tune it to the most obvious speed. So much to do so little time."

<><><><>

"IMHO, the dangers of projecting are much higher given this method, and
here's why. I'm sure most have heard it before."

"When dealing with the computer you are using short clips, no more than a
minute is practical without a HUGE hardrive, lots of RAM, ect. Given the
typical frequency numbers David has documented if this is a media clip, the
odds are probably fifty-fifty there isn't even a valid reversal there. But when
one sits down and listens to that same clip over and over, looping on shorter
sections, they will eventually project something into it."

"Tape reversal is a whole different ballgame. You don't find reversals, they
find you (thanks buckeye). The more detached you become the more they
leap out at you. The harder you listen the fewer they become. Its just like
discount appliances - volume volume volume.............."

"Once I have found it on tape, the computer is wonderful for verifying
syllables, consants, tempo changes preserving pitch, etc. But until you can
store hours of recording on your computer, it's no good for the necessary
bulk listening."

"This is only my experience."

"Kevin Larson"
"67kevin@foxinternet.net"