Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 6 (1927-03)

The Phonograph Monthly Review 263 mg* bad track alignment it was inadvisable to alter the needle angle so as to make it less steep because this would have the effect of increasing the wear on the records. Four years ago, having got my track alignment within 3° in each direc- tion, I set myself to find out whether a kinder needle angle of 45° would (1) improve the defini- tion of reproduction and (2) not increase the wear on the record. To my delight I found defini- tion distinctly improved and wear entirely nega- tived, —the records burnishing in use and not wearing at all. I must add I was using fine steel needles then as now on account of their enorm- ously better definition. When electric recording came in with its rather more acute wave form I found I got the best definition at 50°, not 45°. Those who have good track alignment and who may wish to try the effect of a kinder needle angle should set their sound boxes so that the stylus bar looks like the hour hand of the clock when it is at twenty past seven, instead of at seven o'clock angle. Many makers of correctly aligned machines in England have adopted 50° needle angle, but not all of them; however, it is bound to come into use generally before long. Weight on Needle . Using fine steel needles in a grip so as to obtain big tone and get perfect definition, a weight of two ounces on the needle is ample to keep it down to its work. With or- dinary steel needles set at 50°, four ounces is necessary because they only run in the top of the groove and tend to jar. A weight of four ounces on a fine steel needle will not harm a rec- ord so this is the weight I have adopted as a stan- dard; a new record if somewhat rough usually improves rapidly when used under such con- ditions. The National Gramophonic Society . This is an English co-operative movement for producing records of a higher class of music than is gen- erally to be found on the lists of commercial com- panies. Those who may be interested in the idea, either thinking of joining the British So- ciety or of initiating a similar movement in Am- erica should write the Secretary at 58 Frith Street, London W.l, for full particulars. Italian Recording. I do not know if the Fono- tipia acoustic recordings were obtainable in Am- erica; in this country they had a great follow- ing, for their vocal and orchestral records of Italian opera performed by the finest Italian talent in Italy and recorded there very vigorously with great purity. They had the quality of en- abling one to place the performers. I called theni stereophonic. I just have a wonderful elec- trical Italian recording of two numbers from the Ballo in Maschera, Verdi (7/6 Parlophone ) ; it is magnificent and like the Fonotipia records is highly stereophonic. I am delighted to hear there are more to come, for one seems to be able to place the performers on and below the stage far better even than with the Italian recordings in the old acoustic recording days. I hope you may be able to get them in America. Pianoforte Records. I love piano records and grand organ records because my nerves are over- - - ; — ■nisv sensitive and with this type of music there is never a note either out of tune or even acute. In America you are fortunate in getting a plentitude of absolutely perfect recordings on the Bruns- wick list; by the courtesy of Messrs. Chappell, the Brunswick record distributors in this coun- try, I just have another of the matchless record- ings, Marche Militaire , Schubert. On my ma- chine it really plays as if the grand piano were in the room. Organ Records. I just have another beauty that is most likely by now on the Victor list, Old Hundredth, transcription. The tone through- out is sufficient to drown surface noise and the 32 foot tone positively thunders out at one in front of the gramophone. Marie Novello. This lady is my favorite pianist, —she is exceedingly popular in America, but fortunately for us sne is now in England and is recording for Edison-Bell. I have just heard studio pressings of her first electrical recordings; both as a musician and as an engineer they com- pletely satisfy me. American visitors to London should make a point of calling in at the new palatial sales department of Edison-Bell on the middle of the West side of Regent Street to hear some of her work. A Recording Studio. Edison-Bell electric re- cording is done entirely by their own gramo- phonic and wireless staff. Here is a picture of the new studio specially arranged for the new system of working;—a large room about twice as long as wide, has two thirds of its length heavily curtained and carpeted, the remaining third being bare and separable from the curtained portion by a pair of huge sliding doors. At the opposite end to the unfurnished annex starfds the microphone and close beside it projects a horn from the re- cording machine room and through which a per- former may hear his record tried over very soon after it has been taken. There is a new Steinway full concert grand piano against one side of the room and in the opposite back corner stands a seven hundred guinea ($3500) Mustel organ. There are music stands, ash trays, small tables, easy chairs and everything to make the room home like and to put performers completely at their ease. Kettledrums and band litter stand about in the annex, normally closed off from the studio, the great sliding doors only being opened when the production of dance records or records that may be improved by the introduction of a little '‘hall effect" is in progress. Harpsichord Records. American musicians in this country, no less than our own, have always been eager to support the talented Linde family in their Haslemere performances of early class- ical music on the actual antique (rehabilitated) instruments the music was written for. Thanks to the Parlophone Company we are now getting a series of grand electrical recordings of Anna Linde playing a double-clavier hardsichord. One can almost see her sitting al the instrument and see the little quill fingers pulling the strings. Hands and Ears Across the Sea!