To Celebrate Archive 81 getting a show I put the tapes in order.

 "Always Keep Recording"

In 2016, an audio drama appeared on the scene. It was one of many, (Alice Isn't Dead, Within the Wires, The Black Tapes, Limetown, Small Town Horror, etc), that used a Found Footage style of editing. Archive 81 ran for 3 seasons ending in 2019. On October 26, 2020, Rebecca Sommer was named as the "showrunner" for a 6 episode miniseries of the same name. It was released on Netflix on January 14, 2022. 

Now I could spend sometime absolutely simping for both James Wan and Paul Harris Boardman who have made some of my absolute favorite horror movies. but enough of that. To celebrate the fact that my favorite shit is being made into a tv shows for my enjoyment. I thought I would be a pal and chronologically organize the tapes from the first season. please enjoy. 

NOTES:

While canonically Dan listens to the full tape each time the editing of the podcast either suggests that we are listening to fragments of many different tapes or that Melody Pendras used some unknown system that recorded various entries on the same tape months apart. Regardless each heading is a different audio entry not an individual tape. 

Except for Melody Pendras none of the main characters are listed with the last name in the show notes. The spelling of the characters names are a best estimate along with the spelling of the Boss Corporation. 

Feb 2nd 1994 Unknown Location

(Episode 1) Melody Pendras gives full and complete verbal consent to an undisclosed document. It is implied to be that same boilerplate that Dan signs. 

Unknown Date Unknown Time Unknown Location

(Episode 5) Melody Pendras has a morning conversation with her romantic partner Alexa Keston. Melody has begun work at the Visser by this point. 

Feb 17, 1994 16:32(4:32 PM) Visser Building

(Episode 1) Melody Pendras approaches the Visser Building presuming for the first time. She describes the South Exterior before entering the building. She then proceeds to describe the following rooms:

• Exterior Foyer
• Main Lobby
• Facility Room B1
• Floor 1 Hallway

An undisclosed amount of time later Melody hears the noise from one of the Historical Society's meetings on the Six Floor. When she knocks on the door she is accosted by Jacob Lester who rebukes her for interrupting their meeting.

The batteries in her recorder dies.  

Feb 20, 1994 18:40(6:40 PM) Floor 6

(Episode 2) Melody Pendras interviews Tamara Morns, an acerbic opera writer who makes Avant-Garde music. Morns plays 3 tapes, 

• the first one is of a house party that is slowed down around 200%, the opera features cloaked figures that slowly advance on a victim, the opera ends when the audience leaves
• the second titled "dinner party music" is a recording of one of her operas where the actors kick each other underneath a table with heavy boots, the tape features the sounds of Tamara Morns grunting in pain as she is hit. 
• the last tape is untitled but Morns refers to it as her Magnum Opus. 

Morns mentions the club kids on the eight floor and to avoid the historical society. 

April 3rd 1994 14:40(2:40 PM) Floor 16

(Episode 1) Melody Pendras interviews Jacob Lester, Samael's right hand man and member of the Historical Society. Jacob is defensive and gives her cryptic messages namely that Samuel believes "it is not time for her to understand".

April 12 1994 18:31(6:31 PM) Floor 12

(Episode 3) Melody Pendras Interviews Jesse Lewis. Jesse Lewis is a black teenager who makes money by being a "runner",(i.e a gofer). Unlike the rest of the residents Jesse has lived at Visser his entire life even being born in one of the stairwells. He lives with his mother and younger brother. Jesse briefly discusses some of his weirdest requests, (a cup of water form the Hudson mixed with 3 of his tears, “every purple object on the east side of the bodega.”). Melody then convinces Jesse to spy on the Historical Society. 

Jesse also describes Visser in detail. It is 21 Floors and the roof is inaccessible. Jesse also mentions "The Song", disembodied music that can be heard by the residents on occasion. 

April 1st 1994 01:05(1:05 AM) Floor 14

(Episode 1) Melody Pendras performs an audio check of the Floor 14 Hallway. It is unknown if she was looking for "The Song". 

April 13 1994 05:48(5:48 AM) Floor 6 

(Episode 3) Jesse Lewis spies on the historical society. This is the first time we hear Samuel speak. The Historical Society reads the minutes of their last meeting before Samuel launches into a monologue about the cyclical nature of stories and a brief history of the Visser Building. He also compares it to a hub or node similar to an Axis Mundi. 

Samuel catches Jesse before the recording ends. 

May 5th 11:21(11:21 AM) Floor 1

(Episode 5) Melody Pendras interviews "John Smith" the security guard of the Visser Building. Melody confirms that Jesse has gone missing. Stranger yet no-one remembers Jesse Lewis living in the building. John is incredible cagey with Melody and vaguely threatens her to stop looking. 

May 17th 12:14(12:14 PM) Floor 2

(Episode 7) Melody Pemdras makes a sound check of the Floor 2 Hallway trying to record "The Song".

May 22nd 1994 18:29(6:29 PM) Floor 5

(Episode 6) Melody Pemdras interviews Joshua Martinize, a tenant of the Visser Building. He mentions her search for Jesse Lewis who is still missing. Continuing a previous conversation, Joshua asks if she wants to meet his roommate Victor Rivera who cannot be photographed or otherwise recorded. Melody makes two other time stamps on this tape. 

• February 12th 1994 18:38(6:38 PM) Floor 5
• February 12th  1994 20:14(8:14 PM) Floor 5

While the time matches the chronological events of the evening, Melody Pemdras incorrectly recalls the date as February 12th, a supposed 5 days before her assumed first recording of the Visser Building. There is no known explanation for this discrepancy. 

June 3rd 1994 14:50(2:50 PM) Floor 7

(Episode 7) Melody Pemdras makes an audio check of the Floor 7 Hallway looking for "The Song".

June 11th 1994 02:33(02:33 AM) Unknown Floor

(Episode 1) Melody Pemdras performs an audio check of the Audio Equipment Room. It is unknown if she is looking for "The Song".

June 16th 1994 16:33(4:33 PM) Floor 1

(Episode 7) Melody Pendras does an audio check of the Main Lobby on the first floor. (it is implied she is looking for "The Song"

Unknown Date Unknown Time Assumed Floor 5

(Episode 7) Melody Pemdras approaches loud music from an apartment. Joshua Martinize greats her and lets her know that it most likely won't be possible to record "The Song".

July 23 17:13(5:13 PM) Floor 6

(Episode 7) Melody Pendras interviews Craig Simmons, a man who has an unusual case of face blindness. Craig briefly mentions Melody's attempts to record "The Song". He hums a few notes for her. 

August 19 17:23(5:23 PM) Floor 8

(Episode 8) Melody Pendras interviews Chris one of the club kids that live on the eighth floor. Chris discusses how he meet Frank, a drug dealer, at a club and how he and his friends eventually began helping him create a designer drug that in part is made from the original paint of the Visser Building.

Samuel threatens the group as he sees them taking the paint as scavenging. 

 Sometime before this interview Frank jumped off the building and his death was ruled a suicide. 

Chris begins choking violently and Melody leaves to get help leaving her recorder in the room. Chris expires before she gets back and Samuel is heard in the room before he turns off the recording. 

September 9th 1994 10:05(10:05 AM) Floor 16

(Episode 9) Melody Pendras interviews Samuel. Samuel asks her to recount the last several months and it is revealed that Melody Pendras contacted the police, (presuming after her interview with the security guard). to try to find Jesse Lewis. Samael explains the Visser is not a building but rather a Lovecraftian like entity that feeds on the energy and lives of its tenants. "The Song" is a manifestation of Visser. Samuel than proceeds to paralyze Melody stating that her paralysis will wear off in about three hours and that he will be in the boiler room preparing for a ritualistic sacrifice. 

September 9th 1994 Unknown Time Unknown Floor

 Note: This segment is untitled its placed here by context clues

(Episode 1) Melody Pemdras descends into the boiler room 

September 9th 1994 Approx. 13:30(1:30 PM) Boiler Room

Note: the time is an approximation of how long it would take Melody Pendras to recover from her paralysis and travel down the 16 floors and unknown amount of sub-basements to reach the boiler room. 

(Episode 10) Melody Pendras confronts Samuel who has kidnapped Iris Vox, the owner of the Visser Building and representative of the Boss Corporation. Iris repeatedly urges Melody to stop recording which prompts Samuel to torture Iris by disfiguring her with some form of acid. Melody then calls for Victor Rivera, whose anti-recording ability disrupts the recording and breaks the ritual. 

Unknown Date Unknown Time Unknown Location

Note: It is unclear if this entry is part of the Archive 81 of if it is a separate collection

(episode 8) Mr. Davenport has a lunch meeting with Iris Vos, a representative of the Boss Corporation, the company that owns the Visser Building. The meeting takes place at an undisclosed high end restaurant sometime after September 9th. In the interim, Iris has recovered from her injuries through disfigured, and the Boss Corporation has managed to retrieve Archive 81 along with 34 unidentified bodies. Davenport convinces Iris to relinquish both to his organization. 

Unknown Date 19:12(7:12 PM) Unknown Location

(Episode 11) Alexa Keston, Melody Pendras romantic partner, is interviewed by a member of the Housing Historical Committee of New York State, Melody's Employer. Alexia reveals that Melody disappeared the day of her confrontation with Samael. After being threatened by the organization member, Alexia reveals that she has been in contact with Melody through her dreams. Alexia then begins to sing "The Song" which summons a denizen of the alternate universe who after killing the organization member offers passage to the other side. Both Alexa and Melody are believed to be in this Alternate Universe.