Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 3, No. 9 (1929-06)

300 The Phonograph Monthly Review June, 1929 it is possible to make speech and music available to vast audiences of two hundred thousand or more. It was through applying the principles of sound amplification as they have been worked out in Public Address Systems to the phonograph that the new process of electrical recording of sound was developed. The current delivered through the amplifiers to the recorder varies with the sound pressure at the diaphragm of the microphone, and this sound pressure, in turn, depends upon the vibrations set in motion by the musical instruments. The recorder is electromagnetic in action and corresponds roughly to the receiver of a telephone instrument which takes the electrical vibrations and converts them back into sound vibrations. In the case of the phonographic recorder, however, the electrical vibrations are changed not into sound vibrations but into mechanical vibrations, the stylus cutting the grooves in the soft wax disk in response to these mechanical vibrations. It is from this master disk that the phonograph rec- ords are made. In addition to the recorder proper, there is a volume indicator for measuring the power which is being delivered to the recorder and also an aud- ible monitoring system (also used in the Public Address Systems) which consist of an amplifier bridged directly across the recorder. This oper- ates a monitoring loud speaker receiver so that the operator may listen to the record as it is be- ing made, and secure the desired degree of volume simply by manipulating the amplifier system. The recorder through a multi-section electrical filter absorbs the entering sound waves and re- flects and returns them to the entering end in such a way that the large amplitudes which ac- company the low pitched notes and which would cause the stylus to cut from one groove over into the next have been avoided. Electrical recording has thus made it possible to preserve the naturalness of the notes below middle C which in the old system of recording was lost due to the fact that the fundamentals of these low notes failed to record. The harmonics of tones lying above the middle of the upper oc- tave on the piano also are recorded by the new method where before there was reproduced only a muffled tonal quality. The introduction of electrical processes into the Art has brought new life to the phonograph. Above all it has brought naturalness of reproduc- tion through the increased recording of over- tones, through elimination of tinny effects, and through addition of the concomitant atmosphere in which music is customarily heard. And in in- creasing the range of tones and the volume range to a requisite extent, the playing of an entire sym- phony orchestra, or the singing of a lyric soprano, or of a deep-throated bass can be faithfully re- corded without loss of fine nuances of tone or of variations in intensity. Phonographic Echoes TRADER HORN” STAR TAKES COLUMBIA TO AFRICA Just before sailing for Africa, to film “Trader Horn,” Edwina Booth, the only woman in the cast, secured a Columbia Portable No. 163, for entertainment in the jungle. She is a descendant of Edwin Booth, America’s greatest actor. Shown with her is W. S. Van Dyke, director of the film; and the record which she so evidently likes is Paul White- man’s “Makin’ Whoopee.” The Columbia Portable No. 163 is the model which is being featured just now in advertisements in “Liberty.” VICE-PRESIDENT CURTIS THANKS SPECHT Paul Specht, exclusive Columbia recording artist, received after his Inaugural Ball concert at Washington, March 4th, the following unusual letter of tribute from Vice-President Charles Curtis: THE VICE-PRESIDENT’S CHAMBER WASHINGTON March 6th, 1929 My dear Specht: I desire to express to you my appreciation of the splendid work of you and your orchestra, at the Inaugural Ball on the evening of March the 4th. I am sure your presence and personal direction added greatly to the success of the even- ing. Trusting we may have the pleasure of hearing you again in the near future, I am Very truly yours, (Signed) Charles Curti? Paul Specht, Esq. New York City, New York THE COLUMBIA MUSICAL AWARD Another forward step was taken today towards the ad- vancement of music, as an art and a science, when the 150