A Tri-Ergon recording I have of the Mozart Piano and Wind Quintet, K. 452
with August Schmid-Lindner and some Munich players clearly sounds as if the
source is an optical film track.
DDR
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
> >
> >
> >
>
--
Dennis D. Rooney
303 W. 66th Street, 9HE
New York, NY 10023
212.874.9626
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