VE Disks?

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Lah Ca
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VE Disks?

Post by Lah Ca »

What is the significance of the VE label in an oval on some 78 record labels?

Are these wartime non-shellac disks for distribution among the military?

52089
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Re: VE Disks?

Post by 52089 »

It means they are electrically recorded. You'll find this on late "bat wing" labels as well as scroll labels.

OrthoFan
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Re: VE Disks?

Post by OrthoFan »

Electrically recorded Columbia discs of the period also bore a marking. In this case, it was a "W" indicating Western Electric --

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=40775
Also: https://www.stokowski.org/Licensing_Wes ... lumbia.htm
And: viewtopic.php?t=4341

As noted, for Victor records, the VE in the oval stamping was later changed to a VE in a "diamond" shaped mark, indicating that a modified recording process was used.

OrthoFan

VanEpsFan1914
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Re: VE Disks?

Post by VanEpsFan1914 »

The wartime discs made for the military's entertainment are marked on the labels very brightly as V-Discs, and are hard to mistake for a standard Victor 78. I used to wonder why some of the records had that oval VE stamping, but now I look for them--the batwing VE's have a very nice sound to them, and it adds visual interest to the records too.

--Charles

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drh
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Re: VE Disks?

Post by drh »

More specifically, it means electrically recorded with the system licensed (at great expense) from Western Electric. The license terms required a royalty payment for each record sold. On later records you'll see the VE in a diamond. If I understand correctly, those were electric recordings but made with a different (home grown?) system that didn't trigger the Western Electric license. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Lah Ca
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Re: VE Disks?

Post by Lah Ca »

Thank you to everyone.

Lots of info.

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