SoundScriber Recording Media page 2.

Aluminium Pie Tray: This is a messed up sheet of aluminium cut out from a pie tray. The signal to noise ratio is almost as bad as a transparency. The frequency response is about as good as blister pack plastic. It skips like nothing else. When recorded on the disc warps upward and sometimes gets caught in the lathe. You have to tape it down to the turntable in many places. Then you have to flatten it out. An iron does not work for this. It is fun to record test tones in successively higher frequencies and see what is the smallest details that you can see in the groove. This is what a pie tray sounds like.

Laminating Plastic: The hard (not soft) laminating plastic cut into the shape of a SoundScriber Disc sandwiching a computer printed picture makes a recordable picture disc. Low heat with an iron makes the second least warped blanks. I bought a laminating machine in 2004 and it worked much better.. The signal to noise ratio is nothing to write home about, while the frequency response is poor. The recorded sound level is quite lower than the other media so you would need to turn up the volume on your system. The first time I made them I didn't put a photograph between the sheets of plastic and I used high heat, making an unplayable warped clear disc. This is what a laminating plastic disc sounds like.

The best clear recording media I have found so far, GBC ClearView Standard Presentation Covers: These are the clear kind that are smooth. They are normally used for making covers for the many hole spiral (actually helical) binders. The sound quality is almost as good as a hard drive platter, and at a much cheaper cost. $10.99 gets you 125 records. That's less than 9 cents per disc. The only disadvantage is that you can't make picture records. But I haven't found laminating plastic available at a store that allows for the full 15 minutes of recording. This is what a 33-1/3 RPM recording sounds like.

This is what a 78 RPM recording sounds like.

Other media I've tried that didn't work: Paper (recording inaudible because of the noise), Paper wrapped in cloudy tape (still too noisy), Soft Laminating Plastic (it rips from the paper), Mailing Pouch plastic (way too thin), Coke card (too noisy), rough label tape on paper (way too noisy and warped), and aluminium foil (rips). Don't buy the 3 mil laminating plastic as it doesn't work.

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