Summary heading

This series consists of 1/4" location magnetic audio tapes of various lengths, mainly 600 and 900 feet. There is also some support documentation and cassette and digital audio tapes.

Function and purpose

The tapes are mostly unedited sound recordings taken at film locations, recording sounds on site. There are also some pre-recorded sound effects and theme tapes. When this series started, the sound and image components of films were recorded independently. This series is related to Film Australia's film production series (C809), which incorporates the final edited magnetic sound track. The location sound tapes are a production component from which the final sound tracks are partly created. The location tapes were largely created by the Sound Section of Film Australia or the Commonwealth Film Unit. Some earlier tapes were recorded by or in conjunction with other agencies; including the ABC, BBC, United Nations and radio stations 2SM and 2UE.

The earliest tape collected in this series dates from 1960, but previous location sound tapes have been disposed of, destroyed or re-recorded for sound compilation tapes. The series has not been terminated, but the increasing use of video rather than film production at Film Australia has made the use of separate location sound tapes largely redundant. Only a minimal number of film productions are still made annually. The tapes are being retained for possible future re-use by producers for sound compilation tapes or for use as sound library material. Some may be retained permanently for archival research. The 'defence' tapes included in this series are a particularly important collection and some are marked for 'restricted' access only.

Related legislation

Using the series

Language of material

Physical characteristics

System of arrangement and control

Most of the tapes are labelled with a production title and sequence number, although the original order of the tapes has been lost during secondary storage.

Relationships with other records

Finding aids

Access conditions

Series history

Provenance

Immediate source of acquisition

Custodial history

Quantity in agency custody

Disposal history

Publication note

Additional information

End notes

Sources

Controlling series unregistered

?1960- : 'Location tapes for FX' Register (Books 1 and 2)