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You can find acoustically recorded Harmony (Columbia budget label) discs going all the way to 1929.

Wolfe wrote:You can find acoustically recorded Harmony (Columbia budget label) discs going all the way to 1929.

And they're pretty darn good for acoustics.

Bill

I have 3 or 4 Marconi Velvet Tone discs that I acquired as part of a collection. They are rough, probably v- or g+, but they do play decently. Unfotunately, they have been crudely reamed out to fit a Standard Talking Machine spindle. As to musical content, they appear to have been pressed from stock Columbia masters.

Regarding the Harmony/Diva/Velvetone records of the 1920s, it is correct that most were acoustically recorded, but some were electric, eg. Annette Hanshaw.


Jim

I've had this odd Marconi disc for about 30 years, and always thought I might work it into an article. I might as well add it here.

Apparently, Columbia was going to market these flexible discs as "New Process Records," without the Marconi name, but after issuing some of these samples (both sides pictured), decided to add the glamour of Marconi. This makes a good case for Marconi's lack of input into this record.

George P.

phonojim wrote:I have 3 or 4 Marconi Velvet Tone discs that I acquired as part of a collection. They are rough, probably v- or g+, but they do play decently. Unfotunately, they have been crudely reamed out to fit a Standard Talking Machine spindle. As to musical content, they appear to have been pressed from stock Columbia masters.

Regarding the Harmony/Diva/Velvetone records of the 1920s, it is correct that most were acoustically recorded, but some were electric, eg. Annette Hanshaw.

At least one Hanshaw Harmony is acoustic. And yes, the other occasinal Harmony will be an electric master, I don't think I've seen an electric prior to 1927 though.

Lucius1958 wrote:

Wolfe wrote:You can find acoustically recorded Harmony (Columbia budget label) discs going all the way to 1929.

And they're pretty darn good for acoustics.

Yes. I find Harmony records to be very common out in 'the wild' usually very cheap. I'm inclined to buy them even when the musical fare is to me ho-hum.

Which Annette Hanshaw Harmony is acoustic?

Thanks,
Jim

phonojim wrote:Which Annette Hanshaw Harmony is acoustic?

Thanks,
Jim

Wondering the same thing, I have at least two dozen of her discs on Diva, Harmony, VT and Clarion (I think that's all the associated Columbia discount labels) and not one is electric.

Sean

phonojim wrote:Which Annette Hanshaw Harmony is acoustic?

Thanks,
Jim

I posted it in this thread, this one with Frank Ferera's Trio :

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ra#p191187

I don't know for a fact that it's acoustic, but it sure sounds like it, the horn resonace and all.

I've got a copy of "Was It A Dream" on VT that I cleaned and played admittedly once, but I'd swear it's electric, now I could be wrong, but if it struck me as so, I would've set it aside to do some checking especially since I keep my acoustics separate from the electric stuff. The one posted in that other thread sounds like the poster recorded it from an acoustic machine and a crappy microphone. There are three uploads of this I could find on YT, one has a Columbia portable playing the VT disc and it sounds a bit better, but still not great.

Sean

^ The vid of WIAD played on the portable sways me more in the direction of electric, but I still hear things that make me think acoustic horn. As noted in this thread, those Harmony acoustics can sound pretty good.

I thought I remember reading that Columbia used the acoustic equipment that Okeh used for their late acoustics. But that's a subject for another thread.