Hi, Carl,
I believe the first Model 200A machines from Ampex were delivered in
1948, so I'm agreeing with Ted.
Mullin still used his two modified Magnetophon machines (his
electronics, AEG's transport and tape) for the shows in the fall of
1947. The 1947-10-01 season opener was the first show on a U.S. national
network which was recorded to and edited on tape, although it was aired
from ETs because the network did not trust the splices to hold for air.
At some point in this, Crosby gave Ampex $50,000 to build the production
machines, and I think he got the first ten.
Cheers,
Richard
On 2014-07-31 10:18 AM, Ted Kendall wrote:
> Mid-48 sounds much more plausible - the first use of tape at Abbey Road
> was in '48, at Decca mid-'49, for the launch of London LPs. According to
> Pawley (BBC), there were three prototype EMI BTR-1s by February '48. The
> 47-48 season of Crosby shows was done on the Magnetophons with the IG
> Farben stock used over and over again, so the story goes.
>
>
>
>
> On 31/07/2014 12:45, Carl Pultz wrote:
>> The question of Columbia Records' adoption of new technologies came up
>> here
>> recently. By coincidence, I came across a memoir of the development of
>> LP by
>> Edward Wallerstein. According to this, the company had started
>> recording to
>> 33rpm 16" vinyl discs in the late 30s, which later helped them to create
>> quiet masters for LP. But, additionally, they were early into tape:
>>
>>
>> "Columbia also had an advantage in that we were the first people in
>> the U.S.
>> to use tape for master recording. [Adrian] Murphy was one of the first to
>> see a German Magnetophon tape recorder in newly liberated Luxemburg after
>> the war. He quickly packed it up and shipped it back to CBS. Not long
>> thereafter both EMI and Ampex came out with machines, and we immediately
>> placed an order for both. By mid-1947, we were using them and had
>> discontinued direct disc cutting. The Ampex proved to be the better
>> machine,
>> so we sent the EMI machines back. Of the originally issued LPs about 40%
>> were from tape originals."
>>
>>
>> Interesting essay, though how reliable I'm not sure. (For instance,
>> how much
>> mag tape was available in mid-47? I think Mullin was still hording
>> scraps of
>> BASF at that time.) It has probably appeared elsewhere, but I found it
>> here:
>>
>>
>> http://www.musicinthemail.com/audiohistoryLP.html via
>> http://wallyheider.com/wordpress/
>>
>>
>>
>> Carl Pultz
>>
>> Alembic Productions
>>
>
--
Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada 647 479 2800
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
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