Two-part question: (a) How do they record audio or film video backwards? And, (b) how can someone play something backwards at home, whether vinyl recording, audio tape, or whatever. Can the amateur do this? Does the amateur have the means to record/film backwards, or is it outside most people’s finances to buy such equipment?
a) Record it forward, then flip it in post-production and record that, using a more refined version of:
b) Spin the turntable backwards; cut, flip, and splice the tape; or go to Effects | Reverse in the Windows Sound Recorder (sndrec32.exe).
I can tell you it is quite easy to play audio backwards at home. All you need to do is copy your audio file on to your hard drive and use Audacity, which is a free audio editor which can be downloaded from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ All you have to do is open the file in Audacity, select all or a portion of it. There is an effect which will reverse it with one click.
I have used this for fun things such as reversing that portion of Stairway To Heaven which is purported to sound like Robert Plant singing about Satan.
In the digital age you can just use software to reverse a signal. If you are using physical tape then you can change the reel so that it feeds in reverse.
By the way, you can’t record something backwards, all you can do is record it forwards but play it backwards. The closest you can get to recording backwards is having the recording equipment set up with the reversed tape feed so that when the tape feed is played normally the motion/sound is reversed. But you can achieve exactly the same thing by recording normally and reversing the play back equipment.
Back in the day, filming backwards was accomplished by turning the camera upside-down. Flip the film (has to be double-perf), and play it end-to-beginning.
Or you could film normally and run it backwards through an optical printer that is running forward.
I fun little experiment I did once:
Record your whole name or a short sentence with a mic and Windows Sound Recorder. Then play it backwards again and again until you have it memorized phonetically. Then record yourself again saying it that way. Then play that backwards. It will be forwards but with that creepy, spooky, ‘satanic’ sound!
KILL YOUR PARENTS!!!
*don’t highlight above
This doesn’t really directly relate to the subject in hand, but I’m going to mention it, because it’s interesting, and it is sort of about recording things in reverse order…
I used a bit of webcam-monitoring security software (not sure of the name - might have been CatSpy) that could be set to sense motion and record video for a configurable number of seconds before the motion sense event (so that the event would be captured in full).
Of course it didn’t bend the laws of spacetime to do this - it just kept a rolling cache of the last X seconds of video and when a motion event occurred, it committed the cache as the first bit of the captured video.
Some bands have used this on instruments - first record a part forwards. Then play it backwards and learn how to play it that way. Then record the part that way and reverse that.
You get strange sucking, reverse attack sounds on a guitar solo or drum part.
“The music is reversible, but Time is not… Turn back, turn back.”
It’s also fairly easy to fake - either by chopping the music into discrete notes (where possible), and reversing the segments individually, but maintaining the sequence, or by flipping the audio, adding some reverb or sustain to the reversed version, then flipping it back again.
You can also buy effects that can fake a backward sound live by swelling the volume and adding a fake attack/pick sound at the end of the note. Or you can get a similar effect by careful use of the volume knob or a volume pedal. (I’m referring to guitar solos primarily.)
This was easily done when I was using cassette 4 tracks. I would record a rhythm track on, say, track 1, then just flip the tape in the machine. It would be track 4, backwards, and then I’d record the rest of the piece. Much amusement.
The solo on What’s the Frequency Kenneth? by REM used this technique, I believe.
I’ve got good news. That gum you like is going to come back in style.
One of those old “robot” toys (I think it was called 2XL?) was basically just a tape player, that played tapes as four tracks on one side, rather than stereo on each of two sides (you could answer trivia questions on the tape by switching tracks, and one track would have it saying “Correct!” while the others said “wrong”, or some such). So of course if you put one of the tapes that came with it in “on the other side”, all four tracks would be backwards.
I still have mine. You’ve got the name right. The actual tapes were a bit more creative with the restrictions, allowing the robot to “remember” for a short period of time whether you got the questions right or wrong.
BTW: I can still quote the first part of the tape that came with it.
[spoiler]"Hello. I am 2XL, the smartEST toy roBOT in the WORLD. And if you don’t be-leeeeeve me, just come a LITTLE closer, and I will TRY to prove it TO you. In this program, I will do MOST of the WORK. All you have to do is follow my instructions carefully, and only press my buttons after I say the word NOW.
“Before we begin, I’d like to ask you a question. Is this the first time YOU have ever operated ME? See my Yes and No buttons? If this is your first time, press YES. If it is not your first time, press NO. Please press my Yes or No buttons…NOW. [Insert beepy-boop robot noises while you choose]”[/spoiler]
An excellent example is Siouxsie & The Banshees Peek-a-boo.