The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1913)

THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD. RECORDING A QUARTER OF A CENTURY AGO AND NOW. An Interesting Exhibit of Some of the First Records Made with the Edison "Perfected" Phonograph and the Story Connected with Them — When the Recording of Band Selections Presented a Real Problem — Walter H. Miller, a Veteran of the Business. The it. newspaper story, however, did not tell all In looking over the talking machine field In-day and its tremendous extent, it is hard to believe that only a quarter of a century ago the business was in its infant stages and it was not really out of the hands of the experimenter. That the present year comes close to marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the present-day phonograph was brought to mind by a visit to the office of Walter H. Miller, manager of the recording department of Thomas A. Edison, Inc., who proudly displays a small case containing three records, a reproducer and a recorder. The records made and the recorder and reproducer used on the first "Perfected" phonograph. Despite the lapse of the years, the records of white wax, little harder than ordinary paraffine, still showed distinctly the recording lines, although the paper cards stuck in the end to tell what they represented are yellow with age. One of the records was made by Thomas A. Edison himself in 1888 to test the new phonograph, and is in the nature of "Travel Talk." At the time the record was made, owing to lack of experience on the part of recorders and recording artists and the imperfection of the mechanism, it was impossible to reproduce ordinary conversation so that it would be thoroughly understandable. The result was that in testing records the names of cities were used frequently, as, for instance, the recorder would say : "We will now go from New York to Albany, from Albany to Syracuse, from Syracuse to Buffalo, from Buffalo to Chicago, etc.," the idea being that if the name of the city was spoken twice in succession the listener was bound to hear it and thereby be impressed with the wonders of the machine. The second record, made in 1899, marks one of the first successful attempts to record a band selection for general distribution. The record was played by Issler's Band, at that time one of the leading organizations in Orange the piece being "Fifth Regiment March." The third record was a song by Effie Stewart, recorded in January, 1889, and one of the first successful recordings of the female voice. The length of Mr. Miller's connection with .the recording end of the business can best be imagined by stating that these first records bear cards in his handwriting, describing what has been recorded on them. Despite his personal connection with Mr. Edison in many recording experiments, it was with great difficulty that Mr. Miller persuaded "the Old Man" tr make a record of his own voice as a souvenir, it being Mr. Edison's contention that there was only one worse recording voice in the world than his own, that being Mr. Miller's. However, the desired record was finally obtained, and a number of others of equal historic interest and value, and hold an honored place in Mr. Miller's collection. The early days of the recording game were strenuous ones. The recording artists knew little or nothing of how to play or sing for the machines, what positions to assume or what generally was expected of them, and recording experts for the company were little better informed, because it was all in the nature of an experiment. The records were of much softer material than are the "masters" of the present day, although it it claimed by the old-timers that the soft records reproduced absolutely without a scratch and far more naturally than the modern ones. Nevertheless, the very softness of the record itself proved a drawback, for it was practically useless after a half dozen reproductions. Solos were among the first records attempted, because it was easy for the single artist to stand in front of the horn and secure the desired results. In 1888, however, the first attempt was made to record a selection by a full band. The first band record was that made for Osgood S. Wiley, about to sail for England to look after certain business matters and who desired to take a number of phonograph records along for exhibition, The band was Markwith's Fifth Regiment Band, of Orange, which was more willing than able to record properly. The recording was in charge of Mr. Miller and Prof. Wangemann. In describing the recording of the first band record the Orange, N. J., Journal of that period said in part: " The phonograph was placed upon a table, the funnel turned so as to bear upon the musicians, and while Mr. Wiley bustled about and gave numerous directions young Mr. Miller and Prof. Wangemann, both of the laboratory, arranged the electric battery and wax cylinders for the coming operation. Although the musicians were not attired in regalia and would not even have stunned a London audience with the completeness of their attire, which was designed for work only, they seemed to realize that they were about playing before a foreign audience, though the audience did not happen to be present, and they tuned their in Walter H. Miller. struments accordingly. The phonograph was soon ready, and as Director Markwith waved his wand the room was filled with the harmony of Ripley's andante moderato, 'Best of All.' Even the pictures on the walls seemed to be moved by the music, and, while the phonograph ground away and gathered in every note, Kiralfy's ballet in one corner seemed to be moving in all their gorgeous trappings ; Signor James Dunbar in his lithograph of some great circus seemed to fly faster and faster around his ring on his eight horses; the scene on the bridge in 'Hoodman Blind' looked weirder and sadder than usual ; Magician Herman's smile seemed more sly than before, and all the other pictures on the walls' appeared to be going through their acts, while the phonograph quietly took in the fun. The music ceased, the phonograph was stopped, a small funnel was attached to it, it was started again, when — lo ! — "'Did you play that way?' said Mr. Markwith, Sr., to Mr. Markwith, Jr., as the phonograph reproduced the music. Such flatness was never heard before. The cornetist looked sad. " 'It's the fault of the battery,' said Prof. Wangeman. "This dispelled the cloud from Director Markwith's brow and the cornetist smiled again. The battery was rearranged and a few minutes the selection was rendered perfectly by the machine, to the astonishment of the musicians." Just think of all that fuss over the recording of a single band selection as compared with the mat-' ter-of-fact method of recording to-day. Messrs. Miller and Wangemann had tried out band recording at several rehearsals of the Fifth Regiment Band, and by that means secured a fairly good idea of how the instrument should be arranged. The practice was to record a selection and Ihen.rush back to the laboratory to try it out, often with sad results. All this happened twenty-five years ago, a quarter of a century, yet a few years later we had perfect records, reproducing music as played by the most famous bands of the world, with absolute faithfulness. Together with the inventors of the mechanical processes involved, the recording experts deserve full share of credit for the success of the phonograph and the talking machine, for through their efforts the mechanical perfection of the machine was experimented to practical advantage. Nowadays the recording laboratory appears more like a big workshop than any other line. Musicians know just what is expected of them and do it, and where failure was the rule a quarter of a century ago, it is decidedly the exception to-day. FRENCH SINGERS WIN SUIT. Paris Tribunal Holds That Twenty-Year E> elusive Contracts Are Not Binding. (Special to The Talking Machine World.) Paris, France, October 4. — Four famous opera singers of this city have called upon the courts to annul contracts which they had entered into with a talking machine company. They are Martha Chenal, of the Opera Comique, who is to be Oscar Hammerstein's chief importation in New York this season; Lucien Muratore, the tenor; Mme. Lamare, soprano, and Jean Perier, tenor. An enterprising talking machine company signed each of these singers for a term of twenty years, they agreeing not to sing for any other talking machine firm for that length of time, but the number of records for their voices made were few and consequently the royalties small. On the ground that the contracts were inequitable, they appealed to the Tribunal de Commerce to have the agreements annulled. The plea was granted in the cases of Mile. 'Chenal, Mme. Lamare and M. Muratore, but through some technicality M. Perier lost his case. Some time since a judgment of $300 was entered against Muratore in favor of the talking machine company for his having appeared in "Paola and Francesca" for a moving picture firm. The tenor appealed from that verdict and has just had the judgment reduced to $100. PHONOGRAPHS FOR MITCHELL. Candidate for Mayor of New York on the Fusion Ticket Will Use Them in Campaign. In the municipal campaign for Mayor which has just opened in New York City, one of the innovations . will be the extensive use of phonographsEmpty stores will be hired all over the city for business men's noonday meetings. The phonographs will be installed in these stores and will play popular music until a large enough crowd has been caught. Then the phonograph will give a speech by Mr. Mitchel. There will be a number of these so that the same speech won't have to be repeated. MODERN INVENTION. There was an atmosphere of gayety in the office. "The boss is goin' on a three months' trip," whispered the clerks. Just then the boss himself stepped out of his private holy-of-holies. "Gentlemen," he said, with a smile. "I am about to start on a little trip. I shall be absent about three months. During that time — you have doubtless heard of Edison's latest and most marvelous invention — during that time I have arranged to have talking-moving pictures taken of the interior of this office every working day. The picture machine will work continuously from 9 till 5. I hope to derive a great deal of pleasure and gratification out of the finished films when I get back. That is all, gentlemen." — Advertising,