Don't forget Caedmon Records, started by Barbara Holdridge and Marianne Roney. There's also a
connection to Bartok Records there, because Peter Bartok did a lot of their recording and mastering
in their early years.
Also Estelle Axton of Stax Records
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estelle_Axton
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Aaron Levinson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012 1:49 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Women in the record business
>I hope someone decides to undertake the task of writing a book, building a website or at least
>writing a comprehensive
> article about the contribution that women have made to the history of recording and independent
> record companies. Tom's mother is perhaps the most obvious example of someone with an
> extraordinary career but other like Helen Keane,
> Mae Axton and Florence Greenberg played a pivotal role as well and I think it is high time that
> what they, achieved against enormous odds, be rightfully acknowledged and indeed celebrated.
>
> AA
>
>
> On 1/22/12 1:19 PM, Bob Olhsson wrote:
>> There really is quite an untold story here that I only know little bits and
>> pieces of.
>>
>> The patents on lots of the technology had expired during the 1940s. Tom Dowd
>> told me this was what had really paved the way for there being an
>> independent record industry as we know it. Emory Cook came up with a cutting
>> system that worked around the few remaining patents that would have required
>> equipment leases only large companies could qualify for and royalties paid
>> on each record. Tom told me about weekly conference calls between himself,
>> Cook, Bill Putnam and a number of other well-known figures from the early
>> '50s because the majors still controlled most of the technical information
>> about record mastering and pressing. The only patents on magnetic recording
>> were of somewhat questionable validity and Ampex never tried to patent their
>> early technology.
>>
>> Armed Forces Radio had indeed trained a lot of personnel although this
>> created an almost totally male-dominated world of broadcast production and
>> engineering. I was fortunate to get my early audio production training in
>> Jr. and Sr. high school from two women who had been producers at NBC during
>> the '30s and '40s only to get canned and replaced by veterans after the war!
>>
>>
>> Bob Olhsson
>> 615.562.4346 http://www.bobolhsson.com http://audiomastery.com
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steven Smolian
>> Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012 9:18 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: [ARSCLIST] LP period record business
>>
>> I agree there is a need for works covering the LP to CD era.
>>
>> There have been various articles and books that address pieces of this era.
>> A good bibliography is the logical starting place- what do we already know,
>> what else do se need to research, etc.
>>
>> I've been looking at a subset of the early LP classical record companies as
>> I've become aware of how many were connected through their owners being
>> ex-patriot Hungarians. Period, Vox, Stradavari, etc. Some issued only a
>> record or two and either failed pr morphed. Many of the performers were
>> from the same part of the world and had the cultural and linguistic comfort
>> that enabled them to go back to central Europe with scarce hard currency,
>> negotiate the complexities of the post-war political maze, and built
>> catalogs from Vienna, Stuttgart, Italy (Dario Soria), etc.
>>
>> Except for Soria, miost were Jewish. This must have created some strong
>> personal conflicts when conducting business.
>>
>> Many of the labels of the earl 50s had personnel who arrived after WW II.
>> That included the outfits that cut records as well, and those who imported
>> the equipment used for high-quality recording. Steve Temmer of Gotham was
>> one.
>>
>> These folks made up an important part of the industry that emerged as tape
>> replaced the lacquer disc. This part of the story is still quite
>> incomplete.
>>
>> Another important thread is to trace the effect of the benefits of funding
>> for education and new businesses through various GI benefits. Many
>> servicemen were mustered out with significant nest egg accumulations, war
>> loot, etc.
>>
>> In short, a book drawn from the sources we already have would be a stopgap
>> awaiting further, well researched information. So much of what we now have
>> is history by press release. Cherchez le buck.
>>
>> Steve Smolian
>>
>
|