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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