Whitney studios in Glendale  was a popular recording site for many religious artists, including Sacred Records which was founded in 1944 by Earle Williams,  Later in 1951 Paul Mickelson, organist for Billy Graham crusades, Redd Harper, Haven or Rest Quartet and Lorin Whitney partnered with Sacred Records.
The Whitney studios i was in  included a tape duplication room in the front left part of the studio building on Glenoaks Blvd in Glendale, in later years the tape duplication was moved  to a different building.  As i remember  it had at least  12 ampex 300 1/4" slaves and one master play back.  Can you believe  that  thousands of reels of 7" reslit computer tape  was used for the religious programs  cycled through  Whitney duplicators.  In addition to religious programs  Whitney also did 1/2 hour syndicated secular programs one i remember was "The Big Sound".
Lorin Whitney  recorded some pipe organ bridges  for a religious program i was producing at the time.....  quite  a gentleman. One of his engineers  Frank Kejmar  took a liking to me and was always  giving me hints on recording techniques.
So many memories of the past  with all of the people long since departed, yet im still around  producing music podcasts.
d nelson ward 


 
Beautiful Music you will never forget, at; http://www.americanbeautiful.podbean.com/




________________________________
From: Roderic G Stephens <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 11:29 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Rainbow's Hits

Well, the name of Homer Rodeheaver brought back some memories of my brother, John Stephens, who in the 50's had installed one of his mixing boards in Whitney Studios in Glendale, California.  So, through some sessions that John engineered, I guess he met Mr. Rodeheaver, and I guess this record that I found mentioned in another web site is the one he played for me: 'The track is "Then Jesus Came," cut around 1950 for an International Sacred Recordings 10-inch LP. This Rodeheaver composition opens with a short sermon. The singer is accompanied by organ. Also on the LP is a Billy Sunday sermonette condemning "booze." '  So, I believe the International Sacred Recordings were being done at Whitney during this period.  John became friends with Rodeheaver as a result, and one of the reasons John wanted me to hear that particular record was because during one of the readings, John supplied an off-mike dog bark for atmosphere (my brother was talented in many
ways).
Rod Stephens

--- On Tue, 10/16/12, David Lewis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: David Lewis <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Rainbow's Hits
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 6:15 PM

I appreciate your comment, Don. While Rainbow issued some of the most
mega-obscure discs of the 1920s, some of the Rainbow Records gained great
traction in the marketplace. Most of the
Silvertones were kept in print until 1929, and some of those sold really
well, although Rodeheaver didn't earn any royalties on those because they
were set up through Gennett. The official best-seller
was Rainbow 1001, "Safe in the Arms of Jesus"/"I Walk with the King,"
though its sales may have been inflated, as it was the first Rainbow Record
available and sold at the Winona Lake Bible Conference
in August 1920. Kim and Nyland's "I Will Sing of My Reedeemer"/"Keep Me On
the Firing Line" (Rainbow 1018) was the second-best seller, though their
"No Disappointment in Heaven" (Rainbow 1073,
Gennett 5089, Silvertone 5089) also did well. The first disc was dubbed and
re-released on Okeh, and Kim & Nyland later recorded for Victor.

Asher & Rodeheaver's "Heab'n"/"Standin' in the Need of Prayer" (Rainbow
1005.2, SIlvertone 3823) did really well on Silvertone, as did their
recordings of "Calling Thee" (3813), "In the Garden" (4898) and
naturally "The Old Rugged Cross" (4894). Since the Silvertones were sold
through mail order catalogs to rural audiences, and only cost a quarter,
they appealed directly to Rodeheaver's core constituency.
The problem with Silvertones is that they are cheap records, and even near
mint copies can sound bad, though I've been lucky in a few cases.
Nevertheless, you do see these around still. The Gennetts of
these records also sold well, but not so much as the most common Gennetts.

Among the Victors, his first Victor coupling, "If Your Heart Keeps
Right"/"The Unclouded Day" (Vi 17458) was his biggest selling
record. It sold more than even the Victor "Old Rugged Cross" (Vi 18706,
which you
see everywhere), though for some reason you don't see as many of 17458 now
as you do 18706. But they're both common, as are "Brighten the Corner Where
You Are" (Vi 17763; not a very good record -- almost
any other recording is better, and the Columbia and Rainbows are both very
good), "Jesus Remembered You" (Vi 17713)  and  "Since Jesus Came Into My
Heart" (Vi 17773). The Rodeheaver-Asher "In the Garden"
(Victor 18020) also sold big and you see many copies around still today.
Homer Rodeheaver sold millions of records for Victor, but most of them were
in the acoustic period, which is a pity, because electrical
recording proved a real boon in capturing his singing voice accurately. The
Victor electrics of 1925-1927 represent his personal best, but other
than "The Old Rugged Cross" (Vi 19875) you really don't see those
around a lot and they are outnumbered in the acoustic batwings by the
dozens.
Some of the Asher-Rodeheaver Columbias sold in good numbers, and his later
Deccas, which I find poor, are of course common. The earlier Edison
cylinders and DDs sold well, but the later ones did not, much
as is the case with the Edison company in general. That leaves everything
else; all of the other Rainbows, even the later series, his Emersons,
Brunswicks, Vocalions and one disc he did for BD&M that came out
on Federal, that remain hard to find.

Uncle Dave Lewis
Lebanon, OH
On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 4:24 PM, Donald Tait <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>   Thanks, Uncle Dave! Obviously far more than I knew about Rainbow.
>
>   I've always thought that just about the one thing better than knowing
> something is learning it.
>
>   Don Tait
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Lewis <[log in to unmask]>
> To: ARSCLIST <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tue, Oct 16, 2012 2:42 pm
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Early electrical disk recording
>
>
> Oh, you didn't pre-empt me at all. I wrote to Roger off-list:
>
> Thumbnail sketch on Rainbow: It was a very early indie, begun in 1920 by
> Homer Rodeheaver. He was disappointed in Victor's lack of interest in
> sacred material in more depth and
> wanted to record personalities and performers known to him through his work
> in the Billy Sunday Crusades and the Chautauqua circuit. Nothing is known
> of his equipment except that
> it was acoustic, and at first, somewhat portable; he flew it around in a
> small plane until establishing it, in late 1921, in an office building on
> Wabash Ave. in Chicago.
> About the same time, Rodeheaver developed a working relationship with
> Gennett and used their facilities to help make his Rainbow Records, many of
> which they also released. Through
> Gennett, and possibly other channels, Rainbows also turn up on Paramount,
> Herwin, Puritan and Silvertone. To help keep his operation going, Homer
> also made non-sacred records with
> his system, and took on some work for Marsh Labs, in the office next door
> in the same building as his, when they needed acoustic titles; Marsh had an
> experimental electical system. Some
> of the first electrical records released in this country appeared on
> Rainbow, but were not identified as such. Rodeheaver closed Rainbow in 1926
> shortly after he returned to recording for
> the majors.
> While Rainbow achieved some 150 numbered issues, the number of masters
> issued is closer to 500. That's because Rodeheaver replaced many items in
> his catalogue, sometimes with
> as many as five different masters, to improve his offerings without
> disturbing his established number sequence. Also he ran a second label,
> Special, within Rainbow and Gennett for limited
> run recordings of students, singing groups and other little known artists.
> I have spent the last ten years trying to sort this all out. Just yesterday
> I discovered that Rainbow was also responsible
> for some of the early releases on a label run by Southern Gospel publisher
> James D. Vaughan, called "Vaughan."
> Rodeheaver restarted Rainbow in 1948, but then had closed it down again by
> 1951. In 1952, Don Gabor acquired rights to the name and began issuing
> Rainbow Records out of New York City,
> mainly dance instruction and Latin records. During this time, Rodeheaver
> issued some 45s on plain, blank labels with a rubber stamp, though the very
> last one, RB 1955 "Merry Christmas from
> Homer Rodeheaver" bore a full-on Rainbow label. It was mailed out just days
> before he died on December 18, 1955.
> What I love about Rainbow is the do-it-yourself aspect of the label. Some
> of the records are pretty impressive also, but most of the acoustic ones
> are sub-standard in terms of sound. Nevertheless,
> they deserve to be documented, and access made to what they produced. And I
> have been working on that, as I say, since about 2003. In 2007, I gave a
> presentation on Homer Rodeheaver at
> the ARSC Conference in Seattle.
>
> UD
> On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 2:39 PM, Donald Tait <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> >   Regarding Roger's request: not to pre-empt Dave Lewis, but here is the
> > entry for Rainbow records from "The American Record Label Book From the
> > 19th Century Through 1942" (Brian Rust, Arlington House, 1978):
> >
> >   "This semi-private record bears the obvious label design: a rainbow on
> > in full natural colour on a greyish-blue background. All printing was in
> > black or dark blue. The recording was apparently done by Gennett, or
> > independently. The power behind the label was gospel singer and
> trombonist
> > Homer Rodeheaver, who also recorded for Victor and indeed for most of the
> > labels extant in New York during the 1920s. Rainbow records are
> apparently
> > all acoustically recorded. As far as is known, they consist entirely of
> > gospel songs, hymns and popular sacred music."
> >
> >   There might be more information on-line. I haven't looked.
> >
> >   Don Tait
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Roger Kulp <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: ARSCLIST <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Tue, Oct 16, 2012 1:56 am
> > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Early electrical disk recording
> >
> >
> > Could you tell me more about this label? The only Rainbow label I know is
> > the
> > one from the 40s and 50s.
> >
> > Roger
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >  From: David Lewis <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2012 8:13 PM
> > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Early electrical disk recording
> >
> > I've just examined the first copy I've seen of Rainbow 1028, "The Man of
> > Galilee" and "Christ Returneth" by tenor Loren Jones. It is a Marsh
> > electrical, and while Rainbow 1026, also by Jones, was not listed in
> > Rodeheaver's 1921 catalog, this one was. It must have been recorded very
> > close to the printing of the catalog, which would place it pretty close
> to
> > the date of the "Unknown Black Band." Probably both 1026 and 1028 were
> made
> > together, and perhaps 1026 was simply left out of Catalogue II by
> mistake.
> >
> > https://www.box.com/s/pm3jr9vw9owbg8y1hvqh
> >
> > Unfortunately, the catalog listing is the only way found so far to date
> it.
> > At this point this copy was manufactured, Rodeheaver was stamping out the
> > centers of his master discs and stamping the issue number in the rim,
> > obliterating all traces of the matrix. A different pressing may exist
> > bearing the matrix number.
> >
> > Why do this? My guess is that Rody was having problems with off-center
> > records and this may have been a measure to insure proper centering. If
> so,
> > this record is nevertheless a little off center.
> >
> > David N. Lewis
> > Lebanon, OH
> >
> > On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 3:26 PM, David Lewis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > > Dennis and Donald,
> > >
> > > Thank you for the reference on the Brunswick Light Ray system; I will
> > look
> > > that up.
> > >
> > > About Tri-Ergon, the diagrams on the Swedish site is impressive. While
> it
> > > is similar to DeForest PhonoFilm, their microphone design seems more
> > modern
> > > than his and I find it significant that it had no moving parts,
> > > which of course became a standard feature on microphones afterward.
> > > However, I also note that in the photos of the early Tri-Ergon cameras
> > that
> > > the mike is fixed to the body of the camera which limits it's reach and
> > > mobility and potentially exposes it to the noise of the camera itself.
> > >
> > > From what I understand about Tri-Ergon, despite these photographs, they
> > > did very little in terms of direct sound before 1925, mostly adding
> music
> > > scores to essentially silent films. There had been pictures with
> roughly
> > > synchronized recorded tracks in Europe for about 15 years already, and
> > > perhaps they were merely following established trends. Apparently their
> > > record label only lasted from 1928 to 1932, and it is unclear as to
> > whether
> > > they used the film-on-sound system to record the tracks used on the
> > issued
> > > records, or if these were just regular studio recordings. Perhaps if
> > Rainer
> > > Lotz is reading this thread he may be able to illuminate us in this
> > regard.
> > >
> > > The handful of Tri-Ergon synchronized films I have seen, all made
> around
> > > 1930, are extremely primitive. For example, "Prix de Beauté" is still
> > > practically a silent movie, with a French actress dubbing the voice
> > > of Louise Brooks very, very poorly.
> > >
> > > Uncle Dave Lewis
> > > Lebanon, a.k.a. "Boehnerland," OH
> > >
> > > On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 2:57 PM, Donald Tait <[log in to unmask]
> > >wrote:
> > >
> > >>   The Phonograph Monthly Review article about Brunswick's Light-Ray
> > >> system is in the first issue of the magazine, October 1926, pp. 19-21.
> > By
> > >> Oliver C. Nelson. It explains the system in some detail and includes
> > >> diagrams about how it worked.
> > >>
> > >>   Don Tait
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> -----Original Message-----
> > >> From: Dennis Rooney <[log in to unmask]>
> > >> To: ARSCLIST <[log in to unmask]>
> > >> Sent: Fri, Oct 12, 2012 3:09 pm
> > >> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Early electrical disk recording
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Dear Dave,
> > >>
> > >> It has been more than fifty years since I last looked at some issues,
> > but
> > >> I
> > >> seem to recall an article on the Light Ray process in THE PHONOGRAPH
> > >> MONTHLY REVIEW sometime in 1927. I don't know how accessible they are.
> > The
> > >> Philadelphia Free Library has a set (1926-32).
> > >>
> > >> Ciao,
> > >>
> > >> DDR
> > >>
> > >> On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 9:42 AM, David Lewis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > Dr. B wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> > In late 1922
> > >> > Hewitt had a visit from Charles Hoxie who was doing sound-on-film
> > >> > recording for GE and WGY, and loaned Hewitt some of the equipment.
> > >> > Parts of this system was later the basis of the Brunswick Light Ray
> > >> > Recording process which is not such a mystery as Dave Lewis seems to
> > >> > think!
> > >> > >>>
> > >> >
> > >> > Well, good. Perhaps you can point me to a study on the light ray
> > >> > technology. I'm interested in it, but never encountered much on it
> > save
> > >> > record collector's scuttlebutt.
> > >> >
> > >> > As usual, there is no mention of Orlando Marsh in this thread. And
> to
> > my
> > >> > knowledge Autograph did not issue anything before 1924, though
> > >> > I've never encountered a formal, or even informal, listing of their
> > >> > releases. Nevertheless, Rainbow 1026, "Oh My Soul Bless Thou
> Jehovah"
> > >> > and "Tis the Precious Name of Jesus" by tenor Loren Jones appears to
> > be
> > >> a
> > >> > Marsh electrical. It is difficult to date precisely, and the copy I
> > >> > have seen comes from a period whereby Homer was stamping out the
> > >> centers of
> > >> > his master discs and replacing them for some reason, so
> > >> > that the mx. number is lost. But it was available by his third
> > catalog,
> > >> > published in October 1922. And typically there is no mention on the
> > disc
> > >> > that it is electrical; Rainbow was well past the number 1026 at that
> > >> time,
> > >> > and it appears this disc was used to fill in for an intended issue
> > that
> > >> > didn't come about for some reason.
> > >> >
> > >> > Although it wasn't issued at the time, one very early Marsh disc
> that
> > >> > survives is the "Unknown Black Band" performing "Muscle Shoals
> Blues"
> > >> > from late 1921; it is Marsh mx. "19" and I don't know of an earlier
> > one
> > >> > than that.
> > >> >
> > >> > https://www.box.com/s/dam8frmr96o04pmhsn5h
> > >> >
> > >> > The band is officially "unknown," but unofficially believed to be
> Tim
> > >> > Brymn's Black Devil Orchestra. On their arrival in Chicago from the
> > >> > European
> > >> > theater the Brymn unit, which was still military at that time, set
> up
> > >> at a
> > >> > local Armory and played music in addition to conducting military
> > drills.
> > >> > Some
> > >> > of the drills were filmed by Oscar Micheaux and shown as part
> > >> > of a newsreel exhibited along with one of his features though --
> like
> > so
> > >> > many of his
> > >> > films -- it no longer is known to survive, and we don't even know
> what
> > >> the
> > >> > title of that may have been.
> > >> >
> > >> > I think one of the reasons Orlando Marsh seems to get so little love
> > is
> > >> > that his electricals don't sound like electricals; they sound like
> > >> > somewhat louder
> > >> > acousticals with extra distortion added. Note the blasting on the
> > drums
> > >> > here, which would likely have precluded its release if Marsh had any
> > >> way to
> > >> > issue his records in 1921. While I will certainly not argue against
> > the
> > >> > "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" as the first issued electrical, and
> this
> > >> > track was not
> > >> > issued until the 2000s, I would humbly suggest that this might be
> the
> > >> > earliest surviving electrical recording of music.
> > >> >
> > >> > I also used to have a cardboard flexi from Canada which contained
> > choral
> > >> > music, recorded electrically in 1924. I don't remember the details
> on
> > >> it,
> > >> > but they
> > >> > claimed it was the first electrical recording; it is certainly still
> > >> very
> > >> > early.
> > >> >
> > >> > Uncle Dave Lewis
> > >> > Lebanon, OH
> > >> >
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> Dennis D. Rooney
> > >> 303 W. 66th Street, 9HE
> > >> New York, NY 10023
> > >> 212.874.9626
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>