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I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Roger Kinkle’s Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz 1900–1950. The original four volumes are usually easy to find, and then there is the update of Volumes 2 and 3. Whenever anybody asks what to use instead of the discredited Whitburn Pop Memories,I tell them Kinkle,and Variety Musical Cavalcade (multiple editions). Mike Biel. Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef> ________________________________ From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Francesco Martinelli <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, April 10, 2021 3:56:00 AM To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Books about the acoustic era I believe this very useful volume has not been mentioned yet Cook, Nicholas et al. The Cambridge Companion to Recorded Music. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. fm Il giorno ven 9 apr 2021 alle ore 20:07 Ron Roscoe <[log in to unmask]> ha scritto: > Great list, thanks to all. > I have a copy of Morton, David. Sound recording: the life story of a > technology. Johns > Hopkins Paperbacks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. > > I could never finish it due to the errors: here is my review of that book > that can be found on Amazon: > > "I have never finished reading this book! Every time I try to read it, I > come across another gross error of fact! Here are some examples: > page 26: Author states that "violins recorded [acoustically] fairly well". > About as far from the truth as you can get. Stringed instruments recorded > very poorly, because there was no focus to the sound as with brass > instruments. That's why the Stroh violin was invented. It had a diaphragm > under the bridge and that drove two horns, a small one pointed at the > player's ear so he could hear what he was playing, and another larger horn > pointed at the recording horn. > > pages 36-37: the proper material for 78 rpm records was shellac, not > "lacquer". And the pumice added to the shellac did not "make up the bulk of > the record". 10-inch lateral 78's did not hold 3-4.5 minutes of sound; 3 > minutes is about right. 12 inch 78's held about 4.5 minutes of music. > > page 40: The diameter of the standard Edison 2 minute cylinders was > 2.1-2.2 inches, not 3 3/4 inches. The speed of the standard shellac lateral > disc was nominally 78.26 rpm, not 80 rpm, which was the speed of the 1912 > Edison Diamond Disc. [However, it is true that many early 78 rpm acoustical > discs were recorded at speeds below 78 rpm.] > > page 60: Author states that "at the end of the [wax recording] session it > was the recordists' responsibility to listen to the recording and decide if > it was good enough." Well, listening to a freshly cut wax master would have > destroyed it, using the crude [heavy!] playback apparatus in use during the > acoustical or early electrical processes. > > page 64: Author states that by 1921 "High-quality music was now available > in most areas via radio for free." Well, it certainly was free, but high > quality? Not in 1921. Radio sound was distinctly inferior to phonograph > sound until about 1928 when the Rice-Kellogg modern dynamic speaker was > introduced. Radios were battery powered until ~1928, and they had low-power > audio tubes driving efficient magnetic speakers that were not suspended at > the edges and which could produce very little bass, compared to an > acoustical disc or especially an Orthophonic disc record, introduced in > 1925. > > page 74: "The new sound technology [electrical or Orthophonic recording] > of the late 1920's...." was actually in the hands of the public in 1924-25! > Also, the 33 1/3 rpm speed did not have to wait until the late 1940's; RCA > Victor introduced 33 1/3 rpm records [program transcriptions] in 1931. They > played for about 10 minutes per 10" side but the 1930's economic depression > did them in. > > page 93: "Columbia also introduced a low-noise record using a central > paper core laminated on each side with a mixture of plastic and very fine > powdered stone." These records were shellac, not plastic, and had the same > noise as other shellac 78's that were impregnated with pumice. The > cardboard core may have strengthened the disc and reduced the amount of > shellac used in each record, but these records were just as noisy as the > non-laminated ones. > > page 98: "Allied was the predecessor of the current Radio Shack." Not > true. Tandy in 1970 owned Radio Shack and then acquired Allied in 1970, not > in 1937. Gross error. > > page 100: The original Wurlitzer Simplex jukebox could not play 24 > standard 10" 78 rpm discs in 1934. The 24 disc mechanism came out in 1937, > original Simplex model only held 12 discs. > > Well, that's about as far as I got in this book. If there are so many > errors that I do know about, I keep wondering about what else is wrong that > I'm reading that I don't know about!!" > > Ron Roscoe > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto: > [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sam Brylawski > Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2021 1:11 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Books about the acoustic era > > Thanks to all the contributors for this enormously useful, and growing, > bibliography. To it, I suggest contemporary and collector-oriented serials > that are now accessible to all in the Internet Archive. The Media History > Project is a useful front-end, but its content is comparatively paltry. > Still, here you'll find complete runs of Talking Machine World and > Phonogram (1890s). > https://mediahistoryproject.org/broadcasting/index.html > <https://mediahistoryproject.org/broadcasting/index.html> > > Through the Internet Archive directly (archive.org), one can access and > download such serials as 78 Quarterly, JEMF Quarterly, The Talking Machine > Review, Victrola and 78 Journal, and The New Amberola Graphic. > > In addition to serials, valuable resources include CD notes that accompany > releases such as those from the Archeophone Records catalog. > > Sam Brylawski > > > On Apr 7, 2021, at 12:20 PM, Sophie Maisonneuve < > [log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Here are a few late additions to the publications already mentioned, some > by members of this list. This bibliography, mainly focused on cultural and > social history, was compiled in the early 2000’s; thus, recent and other > subject-oriented references might be missing: > > > Guiness Book, 1984. > > > Edge, Ruth and Leonard Petts. The collector's guide to "His Master's Voice" > Nipper souvenirs. E.M.I. Groupe Archive Trust, 1997. > > Frith, Simon. « The Making of the British record industry, 1920-1964 » In > Impacts and influences, ed. James Curran, 278-290. London:Methuen, 1987. > > > Gronow, Pekka and Ilpo Saunio. An International History of the Recording > Industry. London: Cassell, 1998. > > > Harvith, John and Susan E. Harvith, ed. Edison, musicians, and the > phonograph. A century in retrospect. New York/Westport, CT/London: > Greenwood Press, 1987. > > > Katz, Mark. « Making America more musical through the phonograph, 1900-1930 > » American Music 16, n° 4 (1998): 448-475. > > > Kenney, William Howland Recorded Music in American Life. The Phonograph and > Popular Memory, 1890-1945. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. > > > Le Mahieu, D. L. « The Gramophone : recorded music and the cultivated mind > in Britain between the wars » Technology and culture 23, n° 3, juillet > (1982). > > > Mackenzie, Compton. My record of music. London: Hutchinson, 1955. > > > Martland, Peter. Since records began : E.M.I., the first 100 years. London: > B.T. Batsford, 1997. > > > Miller, Russel and Roger Boar. The incredible music machine. London: > Quartet, 1982. > > Milner, Greg. Perfecting Sound Forever: The Story of Recorded Music.London: > Granta, 2009. > > Moore, Jerrold Northrop. A voice in time : The gramophone of Fred Gaisberg, > 1873-1951. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1976. > > > Morton, David. Sound recording: the life story of a technology. Johns > Hopkins Paperbacks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. > > Philip, Robert Early recordings and musical style : changing tastes in > instrumental performances : 1900-1950. Cambridge: Cambridge University > Press, 1992. > > > Sterne, Jonathan. The Audible Past. Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction. > Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2003. > > > Taylor, Timothy D., Mark Katz, and Tony Grajeda, ed. Music, Sound, and > Technology in America: A Documentary History of Early Phonograph, Cinema, > and Radio. Durham: Duke University Press, 2012. > > Thompson, Emily. « Machines, music, and the quest for fidelity:Marketing > the Edison phonograph in America, 1877-1925 » Musical Quarterly 79, n° 1 > (1995): 131-171. > > > Best, > > > Sophie MAISONNEUVE > PhD. History & Civilizations > Associate professor in sociology > Université de Paris - Cerlis > -- inviato dal mio pulsatore a bassa cutena Francesco Martinelli Lungarno Mediceo 10 56127 P I S A I T A L Y +39 335 5617207