Edison Columbia St 121ft Horn Recordings

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Governor Flyball
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Edison Columbia St 121ft Horn Recordings

Post by Governor Flyball »

I have read stories of the 121ft recording horn Thomas Edison had built in the early 20's. George Frow in his book on the Diamond Disc Phonograph said the construction of the horn resulted from a theory of Edison's which suggested sound waves were in a state of confusion at source and the long horn alleviated this to the recording diaphragm.
Frow suggested a number of test recordings were made and a few possibly made commercial issue in about 1923.
I have a recording of the Imperial Marimba Band Diamond Disc number 50906 "In Storm and Sunshine-March" which when listened to closely has the aura of being recorded in an echoed cave environment. There are accompanying saxophones which sound distant and odd. It dates from about 1922-23 and I am curious if it is one of those strange recordings?
I suspect there may have been others commercially released and wonder if anyone knows of any? On the other hand, my observations may be just wishful thinking. Any thoughts?

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OrthoSean
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Re: Edison Columbia St 121ft Horn Recordings

Post by OrthoSean »

I seem to dimly recall that a number of the Frederick Kingsley organ DDs were made at that studio using the long horn, they certainly have a nice sound, at least the few I have. I can't recall seeing any kind of list identifying specific discs that were issued, but that sure would be neat to see if such a thing exists.

Sean

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Governor Flyball
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Re: Edison Columbia St 121ft Horn Recordings

Post by Governor Flyball »

I searched on the web and found this link to the Edison National Historic Site.

https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/photosmu ... rdings.htm

They cite the horn was 125ft. I guess I forgot the distance from the wall to the diaphragm! (I am kidding). There is posted some test recordings which suspiciously similar to the Imperial Marimba Band recording.

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DGPros
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Re: Edison Columbia St 121ft Horn Recordings

Post by DGPros »

Here's a thread I posted awhile back with quite a bit of information on the subject. http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =3&t=30584

Here is a link to Jerry Fabris from 2005 that is a great listen found further down the other link.
https://wfmu.org/archiveplayer/?show=15 ... starttime=
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