Amusing acoustic recording reenactment Hollywood style

[barnettrp21122]

I came across this clip and thought I'd share it. In spite of the liberties taken with the recording setup and processing, mostly for comic effect, I thought it was very interesting. Watch it all the way through, and you'll get a good laugh at the end!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cqnATSWX6I

Bob

[EdiBrunsVic]

It is interesting to see the recording process dramatized. Thank you for sharing it.

[Wolfe]

Pretty fanciful, especially the part where they take merely seconds to plate the wax for playback on the gramophone.

[antique1973]

I happen to have that record - that was really cool, thanks!

[estott]

Pretty fanciful, especially the part where they take merely seconds to plate the wax for playback on the gramophone.

Actually they seem to be following the Berliner method of using a coated zinc disc- you could play it back fairly quickly once the acid etched the groves.

[transformingArt]

In the 1952 Mario Lanza film, "The Great Caruso", there's a scene which "Caruso" makes a record of "Because" at the Victor recording studio.

There was a clip on YT that Roberto Alagna makes acoustic recording by using the same recording apparatus used by Fred Gaisberg when he first recorded Caruso in 1902. These Alagna sides were released in 1998 by EMI as 1000 copies of special vinyl pressings, and I have saw & listened one of the copies before. (The video is now gone since the uploader was kicked out from YT.) Also, YT user jozefsterkens2 uploaded a video Villazon making a wax cylinder recording, but this is also deleted from his account for unknown reason.

Here's a photo I found while doing some search on Corbis archive. Dated from January 26th, 1954. From what I know, there was a celebration of 50th Anniversary of Caruso's debut at the MET, and during the highlights of that event, Giovanni Martinelli and Lucrezia Bori recorded 4 sides by using the same recording apparatus Caruso used at his 1904 Victor Carnegie Hall sessions. I know these 1954 Acoustic recordings were released as 50 limited pressings, but I never heard anyone has a copy of it.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

The picture of the Caruso celebration is wonderful. The violinist in this shot was a member of the Metropolitan Orchestra when Caruso made his debut, so I have read. But who is the engineer? Is he one of the Sooy brothers who ran the Victor labs for years and years?
The interesting thing about the Melchior clip is that the movie, Two Sisters from Boston, was made in 1946. In terms of acoustic recording " how soon they forget" The last acoustical session , we are told, resulted in that Harmony issue of 1930, that is to say 16 years previous . Melchior started his recording career in the acoustic recording studio. And Lou Raderman, the excellent violinist on all those acoustic Victor Salon Orchestra sides, was working in Hollywood at this point, I believe. But this does show how quickly the technology changed in the 20th century and likewise the perception of the past. This , for the audience of 1946 would be a nostalgia piece: the movie would have taken place 40 years before . It's like us watching a flick set in 1970, but I doubt if we think of the 70's as being as distant as a 40's audience did of early 00's.
The studio here actually isn't a bad representation of an acoustic studio. The one in the Lanza pic is fantasy.
Jim

[Wolfe]

Here's a photo I found while doing some search on Corbis archive.

Thanks for that. I was unaware that this session took place, and to see the equipment is illuminating.

There's so few pics of actual acoustic recording gear that was used back in the day, and with the Caruso association to boot! Why, I can just see him singing Recondita Armonia into that thing right now.

[Valecnik]

Thanks for posting. That was really cute. Loved the bit at the end but the whole thing was nice.

[Boyle6]

They did seem to have done a rather good job at showing what a recording studio at that time would have looked like. This is a picture from the Edison's New York Studio around 1916. If anything, the studio in the movie was a lot less crowded than the real deal.