OK.... I've tried to send this, with attachments, three times....deleting pictures each time to try to get past the size restriction. Let's try this one last time....
Don't have a lot of details but it was quite common for recording sessions to take place with two or more coupled horns. Larger horns are well suited to capture low frequencies while smaller ones are more suited for more focused midrange and higher areas of the audio spectrum. I've used two horns many times to capture larger groups for cylinder recordings. Lately I've been using a large exponential design that works quite well. (Attached Pictures)
Martin
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From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hood, Mark
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2017 8:41 PM
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Subject: [ARSCLIST] William Jennings Byran at Gennett studios - recording with 2 horns mixed?
There is a photograph of William Jennings Bryan recording "The 23rd Psalm" and other sides with a string quartet at the Gennett Records studio in Richmond, Indiana in the 1920 - 23 period that shows what appears to be a "two horn" acoustic recording: Bryan speaking into a smaller horn and the quartet playing into a larger horn. https://tinyurl.com/yajad2ct
Was this an example of two acoustic horns being "mixed" together via some sort of manifold in front of the cutting diaphragm? Was this a common practice at Gennett or anywhere else in the acoustic era?
Most of the other acoustic studio recording photos I have seen show only one horn. I always assumed that in the Gennett Richmond studio photos, the large horn was the recording horn and the smaller horn was a playback horn for auditioning test cuts for balance, etc.
Does anyone know of other examples of "two horn" recording in the acoustic era? Or is this a misleading publicity photo of some sort?
Thanks in advance for your expertise,
Mark Hood
Associate Professor of Music
Department of Audio Engineering and Sound Production IU Jacobs School of Music
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