The Edison phonograph monthly (Dec 1914-Dec 1915)

EDISON PHONOGRAPH MONTHLY, SEPTEMBER, 1915 ation of interpretation — an elegant, wobbling ( !) voice." "Rotten." "I withdraw (the above) and decide shall have the prize." "If anything would make the Germans quit their trenches it would be this." "This is awful ; has intelligence fled from our plant?" "Good violinist." "We want some more of this Hungarian music, weird, strange, original, good." "This woman has a very good voice, but she hasn't flexibility. Would be fine for chorus, duets, etc. — no tremolo, voice clear. It would be difficult to find one so free from defects." There are about thirty large notebooks filled with such comments on thousands of voices. Thus does Mr. Edison save the public from records of "artists" whose only merit is their press notices. Mr. Edison has spent enormous sums searching for good voices for Diamond Disc records. Up to the beginning of the war, a Recording Studio vas maintained in Europe simply to make voice crials, in an attempt to find good voices. In the music room of the Laboratory are a series of drawers containing voice trials from London, Milan, Munich, St. Petersburg, Rome, Boulogne, Florence, Budapest, Vienna, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Paris, Monte Carlo, Nice, Prague, Warsaw, etc. As "the prophet is not without honor, save in his own country," so, curiously, the American public pay the greater attention (and admission) to hear foreign singers than their own American singers. And yet American voices on these trials show up as good, if not better than European voices. After passing the selection and artist, Mr. Edison listens to every record before it is allowed to go to the public. He passes on these, both for technical recording defects and artistic defects of rendition. Many of the records made never get farther than nis stage because of Mr. Edison's comments of "sharp recording," "shows interference," "dull, lifeless," "squeaks," etc., etc. Thus is the public protected from records which contain defects. Even after a record has passed this inspection, Mr. Edison insists on listening to one of the first commercial records of each selection turned out in order to detect any defecrs in the manufacture. Most people believe that to make a phonograph record, the artist simply stands before the recording horn, sings the selection and when finished the master is ready to make a mould from which the finished records are made. It is not so simple at the Edison Recording Studio. Knowing that Mr. Edison passes" on every record and that he is very critical, and that no defect escapes him, those in charge of the record ing are very careful. Many trials and changes are made before they will allow the record to go to Orange for Mr. Edison's inspection. It is not unusual for a singer to make fifteen or twenty trials before the record is made, each involving changes so slight that the majority of people would never detect them. Artists report that the Edison Laboratory is many times more exacting than other recording laboratories. "The Dealers' Convention was a great success, in many ways! While none of us could absorb and digest all the good sales-food provided, each must have carried away a lot of good thought, and many fine suggestions." — W. D. WILMOT, Fall River, Mass. THE EDISON BAND-WAGON HERE is a simple idea that has attracted considerable attention. It is a good window display stunt, easily made. Requires, as you will see, four discs, a good box about size of a soap box, some Blue Amberol cartons, two or three midget imps (procurable at most toy stores) and a New Model 50 (or one of the previous models). A little ingenuity on the part of the dealer, and it is easily done. It can be made to illustrate the strength of the diamond disc. As a combined Blue Amberol and Disc Novelty for window display it is capital. Try it!