Topic: Pre War Recording Techniques

[SitkaMando]

Here are a couple links to photos of early recording studios. Pre war..(WWI)
http://www.mainspringpress.com/studio_photos.html
http://www.tinfoil.com/record.htm
http://www.music.psu.edu/Faculty%20Pages/Ballora/INART55/pre1900.html
Ted

[blueshome]

Thanks, great links.  Here's another to a photo showing multiple mics in the 20's.
http://s117.photobucket.com/albums/o41/lady-kamikaze/?action=view&current=03000_72.jpg

[Prof Scratchy]

via a link from Document records...

[Rivers]

That is so cool. What is that little curtain thingy for, do you suppose? I can't discern if it's in front of the drummer's face or behind. And what is that wild arrangement of, er, 'stuff', stapled to the wall above the logo? Oh wait, maybe that's what the curtain is hanging from(?). I hope they turned off the fans when doing a take.

[banjochris]

I suspect the curtain was to try to block sound out to ensure that only the focused sound coming through the cone made it into the other room. The curtain's hanging from the rod right above the curtain. Judging from this photo:
http://bixography.com/images2/Wolverines.jpg
the stuff at the top was originally some kind of hanging support for the cones, plus judging from the way the musicians look, they definitely turned off the fans.

[Rivers]

Holy crap! The other room? I assume you mean the picket fence railing in the foreground? 

[uncle bud]

Here's another studio shot, showing the Columbians Dance Orchestra, taken at Columbia studios in the Gotham Bank Building, Broadway and 59th Street, New York, in c. October 1921. Got it from this page which has a bunch of great early jazz etc photos: http://www.jazzhound.net/photographs.htm

[banjochris]

Holy crap! The other room? I assume you mean the picket fence railing in the foreground? 

No, I meant wherever the cones are leading to, which is I assume to the disc cutting machine in another room or alcove behind the back wall.

[Prof Scratchy]

Chris - in the Columbians' photo, any idea about the discs suspended from the ceiling? Also, there must've been some science involved in deciding who got to stand on a mini podium, who got to sit on a seat on the floor, and who got to sit on the high-chair! I assume that these guys were playing into one horn, obscured by someone's head? Thanks for the site link, by the way.

[Bald Melon Jefferson]

 David Bennett Cohen!?
Sorry to hijack the thread ...Mr. Cohen doesn't know it but he is currently in the very early stages of attempting to teach me some piano playin. If he does a good enough job...it will be on to dvd #2.
(Then I can be mediocre/good enough on 2 instruments!)

Regards, Gary
I now return you to your regularly-scheduled topic.

[uncle bud]

Another one from the same site. Identified as "Bailey's Lucky Seven in Gennett's New York Studios, February 10, 1923. Probable personnel ( L-R):- Sam Lanin (pretending to blow clarinet), unknown, not Loren McMurray or Benny Krueger), Nick Lucas (not Eddie Lang as has been conjectured), Phil Napoleon (with back to camera), Joe Lanin, Miff Mole, Jules Levy Jr."

Scratchy, in the Columbians shot, those things hanging from the ceiling are explained as music clips hung from lateral wires so they can be repositioned easily.

[Kokomo O]

Those multiple cones bring up an interesting question, which reminds me of the recording display at the Edison Museum in West Orange, NJ, where they have a room with dozens of different sized and shaped cones. I want to speculate that the two cones sticking out of the window of that pic of the Wolverines are there to feed to a single cutter head, and that they are picking up different  instruments with different frequency characteristics--like using different mics with different response curves, or applying different EQ to different mics on the way in.

[blueshome]

Re the Columbians

The various stages and the guitarist's high chair bring all the instruments to the same level, presumably in line with the horn.

[eric]

 Yes, they did all sorts of fiddling about with horn and instrument placement in those days.  There are guys around that still do acoustic recording.  Peter Dilg is one; you can buy newly recorded cylinders from him.  By the way, if you think we're eccentric, try hanging around phonograph and record collectors for a while...

[jelly roll]

This has got nothing to do with the recording techniques but it's great to hear that you can name Big Bill's backing band - is it the same as the state street swingers?
Do you know any more about them?
Were they the same band that backed Washboard Sam>
Do you know of any books / websites which document all this stuff?
Cheers jr