Question about Tone Test Pressings

[RingsTrue]

Apparently discs made for use in live Tone Tests were pressed in different runs than those sold to the public. Can you guys help me out with some questions?

Is that true?

Is the material different or did Edison simply add more layers of Condensite (or a single thicker one?) to make these?

Have any of you guys heard one of these or seen one? Do you think they are comparable in sound quality to the test pressings?

TIA!

[Lenoirstreetguy]

I've only had a tone test pressing in my hands once, and the machine I played it on had a crummy reproducer, but that said it sounded nice. The records have been described as " beautifully processed" meaning fresh stamper and a better surface than usual, especially during 1916 and 1919 when the regular surfaces were at their worst. I suspect this meant thicker condensite but how they applied it I don't know.
Many of the Tone Test records were listed in the catalogue but how available they REALLY were is moot. And we don't know if that is the version is they used on the platform. They're louder than the usual pressing, I've been told. In the publicity Edison was a bit coy: they laid great emphasis on the MACHINE being a standard Lab Model...often from the local dealer who sold it after the concert...but they don't talk much about the records being whisked from the local dealer's stock room and on to the stage where the Tone Test was given. More on this ,,but I'm late. I'll tell you what a real Edison artist, Edna White, told me about Tone Tests later.

Jim

[RingsTrue]

Hey Jim,

Thanks so much for your help. I agree with you that Edison's emphasis on the machines, not the records (or much else) makes it hard to discover much about just how much better these Tone Test pressings sounded.

So these pressings were offered to the public and not just produced for dealers and Tone Test managers? How many playings do think they could tolerated before requiring replacement for a top-notch show?
I appreciate your note about the poor quality of materials, 1916-1919.

And a stupid question: What changes about the recording groove (or material) that makes a recording louder? I suspect this would have been a key component in the staged events since differing volumes between live and recording would have been a give-away in itself. The Anna Case interview, of course, suggests that Tone Test "artists" made an effort to match recordings, whatever Edison would have us believe!

Very grateful for your expertise on All Things Tone Test,

-Miranda

[Lenoirstreetguy]

If you look at the Edison tone test programmes , they refer to some of the records as " Laboratory Re-Creations" which would would be a way to defuse any criticism that the records weren't quite the same as sold at the dealer's store. If they were louder than the average recording the volume would originate in the recording studio by means of the way the recorder was adjusted or the position of the artist in front of the horn. And volume would be the issue in the comparisons. Edna White said that she did play in comparison with the disc and she did DID modify her volume in order to match that of the machine. I've never seen a transcript of the Anna Case interview and would love to, but I suspect she said she modified her volume in the same way. But it stands to reason that a trumpet which can produce an amazing volume of sound, could drown out the diamond disc.
That said, the best diamond discs played on a Lab Model with a GOOD original diaphragm ..and rare they are these days...can sound uncanny. I've told the story before of my next door neighbour ...who is a professional musician...asking me in all seriousness if I had a violinist visiting because she had heard the music wafting out the windows one summer. It was of course Albert Spalding on the New Edison But the point is that the Edison dead studio technique can be very effective for the right voice or instrument when played back in a situation with a bright acoustic ambience. Theodore Edison spoke at one of the Edison Artist nights at the Edison National Historic Site in 1973 or so and he said " ..as I recall it WAS pretty hard to tell.." the difference between the record and the phonograph.

Jim

[hillndalefan]

My understanding was that there were extra coats of the condensite varnish used on the tone test discs, insulating the sound waves a bit more from the not-so-smooth base material. The varnish was applied by a spray mechanism, then allowed to dry partly before the next coat was applied, so it took a bit longer than the normal production time to make a tone test disc.

[RingsTrue]

Thanks again for the info.

I can't remember the authors of the secondary sources, now but "extra layers of condensite" is the cited information. I don't remember the author citing his sources for that. I also don't think Edison patented his chemical formulae. I could be wrong about that and other patents related to pressing records. In any case, I want to find (or think of) a way to get at this by looking at new primary materials.

And some interesting stuff among the primary materials I have seen related to Tone Tests: Some for the shows first included different artists playing instruments (typically violins) with recordings by others. William Maxwell (the Edison advertising guru who really developed the Tone Test campaign) was forever trying to correct and control distant show managers who had gotten the idea wrong. I don't remember trumpets being used, but I do think it would be hard to match live- and recorded sounds. I think they went to voices very quickly for many reasons.

I think Edison (the aging guy, not the corporation) encouraged the use of the term "Re-Creations." Later in the campaign Maswell was all about introducing rhetorical terms related to the science behind everything. "laboratory Re-Creations" may have been a new twist on the name for records sold to the public. Dealers were told about selling techniques developed at an "Experimental Store" in West Orange.

Yours in All Things Tone Test,

-Miranda

[hillndalefan]

Edison often refused to patent the more sensitive [secret] stages of his manufacturing processes, because that was the way he lost control of several important points [like celluloid cylinder moulding].
Maxwell is also the one introducing Edison on 'Let Us Not Forget'.