newly constructed studio recording head and tests

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edisonphonoworks
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newly constructed studio recording head and tests

Post by edisonphonoworks »

I am going to be building a series of new advance ball studio recording heads, of different configurations. This one does not have stylus tension wires, however I hope to build some of those in the future, and some that have mechanical audio compressors. An acoustical audio compressor is an adjustable spring steel arm that changes the diaphragm sensitivity to be equally sensitive to soft and loud sound with an arm that presses on the center of the diaphragm with spring pressure. The recording stylus sapphire was made by Mel Epstein, it is a cupped point recording stylus, .039" in diameter. I kind of made this one as a joke, totally by hand with the most crude of methods, for instance I used a wood coping saw to cut out the recorder body from brass sheet stock. I did not expect it to work, and work it does, Wow! If you look on other videos you will see me making this recorder. below is a test of it making a recording and the stunningly clear playback.

https://youtu.be/lwzJZwEyTK0
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Top side of new recorder.
Top side of new recorder.
working side of recorder with .0065" glass diaphragm
working side of recorder with .0065" glass diaphragm

VanEpsFan1914
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Re: newly constructed studio recording head and tests

Post by VanEpsFan1914 »

I had no idea it would be so simple to make a phonograph recorder, especially one that sounded so good! This is a very interesting experiment, and I hope you can finish your projects with the "audio compressor."

The Vulcan Record Company and others ought to have you mastering their cylinders.

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edisonphonoworks
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Re: newly constructed studio recording head and tests

Post by edisonphonoworks »

Thank You for the kind words. I did some design improvements. The inlet tube into the recorder is tapered, if you notice it starts wider and the hole to the diaphragm is small, to add more sound pressure, I believe you want the hole to the diaphragm as small as possible to increase sensitivity. I also will be working on an electrical recorder with advance ball, that will fit on this carrier arm using the Fairchild electrical driver as well. I have heard some newer cylinders from Vulcan, that are electrical from reel to reel tape, that sound very very good.
VanEpsFan1914 wrote:I had no idea it would be so simple to make a phonograph recorder, especially one that sounded so good! This is a very interesting experiment, and I hope you can finish your projects with the "audio compressor."

The Vulcan Record Company and others ought to have you mastering their cylinders.

VanEpsFan1914
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Re: newly constructed studio recording head and tests

Post by VanEpsFan1914 »

I'm looking forward to hearing your electrically recorded cylinders. That will be a great step forward. Do you plan to use tube equipment or solid-state for your amplifier?

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Wolfe
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Re: newly constructed studio recording head and tests

Post by Wolfe »

The cylinders will ultimately be played on acoustical cylinder machines by their owners. It matters very little if the cylinders are mastered with tube or solid state equipment.

VanEpsFan1914
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Re: newly constructed studio recording head and tests

Post by VanEpsFan1914 »

True--as much as I'dlike to think I could build a reproducer that good, it's not happening. But it's still cool. The videos of people recording on Mr. Borri's old acoustical Edison equipment are nothing short of impressive already, but I was curious whether some vintage vacuum tubes or some potent solid-state amps would be showing up.

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edisonphonoworks
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Re: newly constructed studio recording head and tests

Post by edisonphonoworks »

I need to rebuild my 25 watt Dukane P.A. amp, which the circuitry is actually Western Electric licensed. That is what I would like to use for cutting electric cylinders. It is nice that this amp has a 20-20,000 cps range, and low Z input and two microphone low Z WE designed pre amps, and two aux level input using 12ax7 and 12aU7 pre amps and two 6l6 output tubes. That unit just needs two resistors replaced, and it will be back online I have to make a balanced, counterweighted brass tone arm to mount the recorder on, it will have an advance ball. Actually cylinders can be made very high fidelity. I have made cylinders before that when played back electrically would sound like a well recorded 45 rpm record, though it is true, that those don't sound good on an acoustical phonograph. I am on the fence of what sounds better for transcribing original cylinders to a new blank, I really like a combination acoustical electrical dubbing method the best.

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Re: newly constructed studio recording head and tests

Post by edisonphonoworks »

https://youtu.be/YZDaJKqzm2Y This video shows how different horns effect articulation. You will notice that the larger horn has presence however is a little muddy, while long, skinny horns give greater clarity. Sometimes in original commercial recordings (especially Columbia) you will hear a slight echo come into the recording at times, not the kind from a worn playback stylus, that can also cause a similar effect. When you adjust the advance ball too deep (microscopes were used at Edison to set the depth of cut) it will cause an echo effect. When you put the groove deep (you need deeper grooves for louder band recordings so that the recording stylus don't lift off the surface) The U of the groove of course is deeper, and on certain louder points, while not breaking through the wall, it will distort the groove wall causing the side walls of the groove to replicate some of the sound of the previous groove, causing echo. If you go really deep it will break through the groove wall into the adjacent one. This was not as big a problem when making masters for moulded records (although it does happen in loud commercial cylinders) because the pitch for masters being 97 ⅓ TPI for two minute masters and 194.6666 for four minute masters cause a wider land between the grooves. If you are making resin cylinders today, you don't need the wider pitch as not as much shrinkage happens with that media as with metallic soap and celluloid.

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Re: newly constructed studio recording head and tests

Post by donniej »

For electric cutting I've had good results with a RadioShack 45 watt PA amp.

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