Mondo Knows Facts
Tape speed wobbles have two names
Slow drift is wow and fast tremble is flutter, both audible as pitch waver Mechanical parts, pinch rollers and reels all affect it, so better decks used heavier assemblies. Digital recording removed the problem entirely. The wobble survives by choice in tape emulation plugins. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
Go further
More facts like this
The San Andreas is a transform faultTwo plates slide past each other sideways, which is why the fault produces quakesEvery analogue tape copy loses qualityHiss and distortion build up with each generation away from the masterTape made editing possibleEngineers cut and rejoined tape with a razor blade to build a takeDolby put hiss reduction in the homeThe system boosted quiet high frequencies on record and cut them on playbackEight track cartridges rolled the tape in one loopThe end of the tape simply joined the start, so it played for everA bow makes sound by sticking and slippingRosin gives the hair enough friction to catch the string and release it
๐ต Musicfact 193 of 200
โ โ to keep reading, or swipe
Tags: tape, faults, physics
Tape speed wobbles have two names: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Slow drift is wow and fast tremble is flutter, both audible as pitch waver. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a music fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.