A video and audio signal recorder for recording signals on tracks records signals of each editorial unit (e.g. video or audio signals of a field) on a recording medium so as to form a recording area composed of recorded tracks and a guarding area provided between two recording areas, and erases recorded data from a recording area isolated by the guarding area using two kinds of erase heads consisting of: a first erase head having a track width which is twice as wide as the track width and movable in a track length direction so as to track the full width of the single track forming the audio record area and a half width of the non-recorded track in each of the guarding areas adjacent to the audio record area at opposite sides of the audio record area for erasing the audio samples recorded in the audio record area; and a second erase head having a width which is n times as wide as said specific track width (n is an integer larger than two), and movable in the track length direction so as to trace the full width of each of specific consecutive (n-1) tracks in the video record area and a half width of each of two tracks adjacent to the specific consecutive (n-1) tracks at opposite sides of the specific consecutive (n-1) tracks for erasing the video samples recorded in the video record area.