cue tone

A cue tone is a message consisting of audio tones, used to prompt an action.

Ampex developed its breakthrough Editec system in 1963; by recording cue tones on the tape, the editor could make frame-accurate edits.

The cue track was used either as a second audio track, or for recording cue tones or time code for linear video editing.

This cue tone tells the loader to stop and cut the tape from the pancake and splice it to the other length of leader in the cassette shell (a process called "de-spooling").

Some 2" splicing blocks instead used a read-only tape head connected to an oscilloscope that enabled the editor to electronically view cue tones or the control track pulses on the tape to determine where the tape should be cut.

Cue tones were also used on broadcast carts (cartridge tapes) to cue local equipment to start and stop, particularly to cue the tape player itself, as the tape runs in an endless loop and often contains several segments of content.

In broadcast networks, a DTMF cue tone or subaudible tone is often used to prompt insertion of a local TV commercial or radio advertisement by the broadcast automation equipment at the broadcast station or cable headend.

This clear leader splice is read by an optical sensor (or in the case of a foil splice, coming in contact with electrical contacts in the tape path) in the loop bin duplicator, which triggers a cue tone that is recorded to the reel of 1/8" pancake tape.

The tapes that these machines played were originally produced in the MWF's Madison, Wisconsin production facility by WSJM Chief Engineer Richard E. McLemore (and later in-house at WSJM) with special sub-audible cue tones used to signal the end of a song.