Sound Analysis software would'be blown that old analogue gear away.

If only Travolta had had Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge (now owned by Sony), or Steinberg's Wavelab at his disposal, he could have knocked out that audio program digitally instead of on old analog tapes, and he could have isolated those sounds within seconds of loading up the cool metered screens showing the peaks and drops on colorful graphs. John Travolta's an accomplished computer nut, as well as a pilot, so that technology would be very elementary to someone with his experience. But it's funny watching him play back analog tapes listening to unsynchronized audio, like Watson and Bell. Sound Forge came out in '94 so it's only 13 years difference, but those early nineties were trail blazing pioneer years in computer and digital audio technology. What an exciting time it was, but light years different from 1981, like space exploration was more of an H.G. Wells fantasy than reality to 1950 America, but aeons advanced by post 1970. The technology behind audio mastering software programs is fairly simple for anyone to learn and use, even without more than the most basic computer skills. And it's really fun to use, along with time-stretching samplers, and Midi techniques that expand the capabilities of audio, learning and applying effects like phase-shifting, reverb, digital delay (echo), distortion; all this you can do effortlessly with simple software, and can even be applied to your own personal library of songs you want to custom edit rather than just playback. That's getting the most out of your music computer and digging it for what it can do.