Technology that brought us recorded sound improvements

[LittleNipper]

Below is a 1927 Victor Orthophonic (Electric) Victrola. The motor running the turntable is electric (a wind-up was still available); however, while the record was recorded electrically by microphone (one take), playback was still acoustic (mechanical). BUT the horn was sealed from the soundbox (pickup) out to the opening and was folded upon itself to amplify the sound and bring out the base tones. Recorded here is the Charleston by the great band conductor of the period Paul Whitman. The cabinet style is William and Mary Revival --- a (traditional) style popular at that time along with the "modern" Art Deco.

 

[LittleNipper]

The first attempt at increased sound volume and enhanced fidelity. The Polyphone attachment with dual pickups (sound boxes) and twin horns tracked the same groove of the cylinder, only a fraction of a second apart. The Polyphone attachment was one of the more unusual inventions in the early days of the phonograph. Patented in 1898 by Leon Douglass (who would later become president of Victor Talking Machine Co.), the Polyphone was marketed by the Talking Machine Company of Chicago, in conjunction with famous phonograph pioneer H.E Babson. Polyphone attachments were made to fit both select Edison and Columbia machines.

 

[LittleNipper]

Another advancement which took about 20 years to become the main mode of recording was the invention of the flat record. It filled 2 areas of advancement. The most obvious was the ease in which recordings could then be transported and stored. And the other was the breakthrough in record duplication which up to that time was only by direct transcription. Now duplicates might be pressed from an original matrax making many recordings from one session. All sessions were still single takes. Any mistakes during the recording process meant a discarded recording!

 

[HaShev]

Dolby Sound

 

[IsaacNewton]

Very interesting to see the advancement through time of things we take for granted. The moment when a recorded human voice became a possibility was epic and mindblowing for most. I saw a documentary on Edison and his inventions. The talking machine was a gigantic hit at the time and of course created an entire industry. Early on though, for people that had never heard a recording, Edisons device and others like it were the marvel of the age.

 

[LittleNipper]

Well, another issue was playing time. A 10 inch 78 Revolutions Per Minute (Victor) or an 80 RPM (Columbia) disc played for approximately 3 minutes on a side. (the very early discs only utilized one side) The 12 inch format played for roughly 4 to 5 minutes. Leave it to the French to push the limit for the sake of fidelity and manufacture a 20 inch 120 RPM disc record --- that STARTED NEAR THE CENTER AND PLAYED OUTWARD TO THE RIM!!!!!!

 

[IsaacNewton]

Well, another issue was playing time. A 10 inch 78 Revolutions Per Minute (Victor) or an 80 RPM (Columbia) disc played for approximately 3 minutes on a side. (the very early discs only utilized one side) The 12 inch format played for roughly 4 to 5 minutes. Leave it to the French to push the limit for the sake of fidelity and manufacture a 20 inch 120 RPM disc record --- that STARTED NEAR THE CENTER AND PLAYED OUTWARD TO THE RIM!!!!!!

Reminds me of the Laser Disc, how it bridged the gap between tape and the CD. I remember Laster Discs from the early 80s, and apparently they were manufactured until 2000 because people still thought the quality of the picture was better than DVD.

 

[LittleNipper]

Another development was the idea of multi track recordings. This one on a 12 inch Victor Record of 1912 was entitled THE CONUNDRUM - WHAT WILL I PLAY NEXT?. This record contains 4 tracks or spiraled concentric grooves on one side of the disc. Depending on which groove the stylus traveled into would seem to magically play a different tune at whim. While not multi channel sound this does seem to be the grandfather of the idea that multi track recordings were possible.

 

[LittleNipper]

Another advancement was segmented or banded recordings this allowed multiple songs to be grouped together on the same side of a disc. This is very very rare on early discs but did occur. Here is an example of a rare Children's record by Elizabeth Wheeler of nursery songs. Side A has 5 individual segments --- side B --- two. Again, this is very rare as most records of the period had one selection per side; however, here is proof that the idea at least had existed since the early days of recording...

Mother Goose No. 1 : Elizabeth Wheeler : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

 

[LittleNipper]

The recording medium ranged from tinfoil to wax to celluloid to shellac and even chocolate (an advertising ploy if ever I heard of one).
Stollwerck and Eureka Chocolate Phonographs

 

[LittleNipper]

Here is a demonstration of an Edison 1878 tinfoil recording phonograph. We've come a long way!

 

[LittleNipper]

A 1900 style cylinder recording session:

 

[LittleNipper]

Heavy Metal as recorded with 100 year old acoustic equipment. It couldn't sound better and it doesn't!
Recording metal on an Edison wax cylinder phonograph

 

[LittleNipper]

Here is a Edison Diamond Disc from 1924 (pre-electric) spoofing the RADIO. This recording is played on an acoustic Edison Diamond Disc machine of the period. They were considered superior in tone and used a diamond stylus to play the hill and dale recording. This means that the "needle" traveled up and down in the groove rather than from side to side. If you note, the Edison machine reproducers lay horizontally --- parallel to the record's surface. The tune/song is entitled RADIO which introduces us to a new sound reproduction medium that was fast becoming a threat to recorded sound ----------- but not yet!

 

[LittleNipper]

Another aspect of recorded sound was how to play multiple recordings. This involved a record changer. Here is a 1907 Multiphone Jukebox. This allows patrons the option of which record their coin would play. This is the grand-daddy of all jukeboxes and a beautiful machine!

 

[LittleNipper]

In 1927 Victor introduced the first Automatic Orthophonic Victrola 10-50 with a record changer. Now one could stack the records and listen to them in the order desired without having to change every record individually... PS> The ejected records slide into a padded drawer to be retrieved later and returned to an index book.

 

[LittleNipper]

One improvement almost overlooked was the development of the 2 sided disc recording. This was no simple feat as it was easier to regard only one side of a disc. But with a two sided recording it became very important to press 2 equal quality pressings at once. Here is a 1910 Columbia Demonstration Record played on modern equipment to protect this rare recording.

 

[HenryBHough]

As late as the 1960s there was some distribution of radio programs on 16 inch discs which tracked from inside to outside. Some variants also used vertical tracking (needle didn't move horizontally; rather up and down). Bogen-Presto made transcription turntables equipped with two tone arms, one with a horizontal tracking; other with a vertical tracking cartridge. Mostly these played at 33-1/3 rpm, typically 15-minutes to a side. Programs were typically meant to run 30-minutes so distribution was on pairs of discs with one program on side 1 of discs 1 & 2; another program on side 2 of both. With two turntables and each mid-point program featuring a lengthy musical bridge it was easy (using two turntables) to blend. One good example was "The Navy Hour" - another featured The U.S. Air Force band

There was limited use of discs cut for 16-2/3 rpm which worked OK for narrative ONLY programs but were no good at all with music.

Meant to be thrown away after use, the pressing quality was not great - prone to skipping.

A (long decease) friend was doing a Sunday morning shift (engineer, not announcer) solo at a regional AM station. He started a religious disc certain he had 15-minutes to take a crap.

Wrong.

Fortunately there was a monitor speaker in the can. Unfortunately the toilet was through a locked door and down a long corridor.

About 3-minutes into the program he was well settled in when the preist (it was a Catholic program) said something enthusiastically about "Our Lord JESUS CHRIST". But nobody knew what else was said 'cause at that point the skip set in and over and over radios screamed "JESUS CHRIST......JESUS CHRIST.........JESUS CHRIST.........".

He claimed, to his dying day, the world record for the 150-yard dash with pants around one's knees and toilet paper streaming from one's ass. A record that has, for some reason, gone without challenge.

 

[LittleNipper]

Here is an all new machine for 1931. This one has the new magnetic pickup, radio, and the ability to play 33 1/3's. Yes they did arrive but unfortunately because of the cost, the depression, sound quality and radio, they were a total flop. It would not be until after World War II that Columbia would reintroduce them and RCA's 45 RPM because of renewed wealth and vinyl (not shellac). However, here is a wonderful rare machine. Please note: The records are now being moved to the top of the stack for replay!

 

[LittleNipper]

As late as the 1960s there was some distribution of radio programs on 16 inch discs which tracked from inside to outside. Some variants also used vertical tracking (needle didn't move horizontally; rather up and down). Bogen-Presto made transcription turntables equipped with two tone arms, one with a horizontal tracking; other with a vertical tracking cartridge. Mostly these played at 33-1/3 rpm, typically 15-minutes to a side. Programs were typically meant to run 30-minutes so distribution was on pairs of discs with one program on side 1 of discs 1 & 2; another program on side 2 of both. With two turntables and each mid-point program featuring a lengthy musical bridge it was easy (using two turntables) to blend. One good example was "The Navy Hour" - another featured The U.S. Air Force band

There was limited use of discs cut for 16-2/3 rpm which worked OK for narrative ONLY programs but were no good at all with music.

Meant to be thrown away after use, the pressing quality was not great - prone to skipping.

A (long decease) friend was doing a Sunday morning shift (engineer, not announcer) solo at a regional AM station. He started a religious disc certain he had 15-minutes to take a crap.

Wrong.

Fortunately there was a monitor speaker in the can. Unfortunately the toilet was through a locked door and down a long corridor.

About 3-minutes into the program he was well settled in when the preist (it was a Catholic program) said something enthusiastically about "Our Lord JESUS CHRIST". But nobody knew what else was said 'cause at that point the skip set in and over and over radios screamed "JESUS CHRIST......JESUS CHRIST.........JESUS CHRIST.........".

He claimed, to his dying day, the world record for the 150-yard dash with pants around one's knees and toilet paper streaming from one's ass. A record that has, for some reason, gone without challenge.

I actually remember records skipping on the air (even the Classical station WFLN AM & FM) and wondering what's taking so long to fix it! And now we know!