Guest wrote:That may be the best categorization...Acoustic - Orthophonic - and Electrical Pickup Eras. Just from my online reading I guess Orthophonic recordings were on the way out by about 1931?? Which leaves me with the same question of are there any ways to discern which records are made for Orthophonic and which were made for electrical pickup in that transition period? I'm sure not every Ortho record stated Electrical Process on it. I don't want to grind up a non-Orthophonic recording on my Victrola when I have a modern turntable with 78rpm/diamond stylus that can handle those. Thanks. John
Easy....acoustic Victors (10" black labels prior to number 19626 generally) will not have a VE symbol in the dead wax, just inside the last groove, on each side. (Early copies of 19427 are acoustically recorded, but this record was remade in 1926. The remake has the oval VE symbol on both sides, and can be found on both batwing and scroll labels.)
There were several restylings of the scroll label through its period of use (1926-1937). All with the exception of the final restylings adopted in 1934/1935 sport 'Orthophonic Recording' on them. On black labels, this coincides with the corporate name change to RCA Manufacturing Co, and the letters VE which appear at the tops and bottoms of the earlier styles were also dropped.
I have seen a photo of a Red Seal from c. 1934 which replaced 'Orthophonic Recording' with 'Red Seal Record', whilst the company name remained RCA Victor Company, Inc. This label also dispensed with the name 'Victrola' which had been used on most all Red Seal records for c. 17 years (per THE PAPER DOG) and returned to the name Victor. The letters VE also remained. In 1935, the Red Seal label changed again, to conform to the new and final styling of the black labels (the 'Red Seal Record' line remained, but the letters VE were removed, and the corporate name was changed to RCA Manufacturing Co).
I guess you could classify the Orthophonic era as in two periods, based on the recording equipment used. The first era, 1925-1931, used exclusively Western Electric equipment, whether with a carbon or a condenser microphone. These records have the VE symbol in an oval in the dead wax.
The second era, beginning in 1931, was the beginning of using technology developed by RCA, including such microphones as the 44 series of ribbons. Many of the 1931-1933 era records made with the RCA technology can sound stunningly good played on modern equipment, as they hadn't learnt how to 'dumb down' the dynamic and frequency range of the recordings so they didn't self-destruct so quickly when played on the prevailing quality of most machines still in use then. These records, and as well for many Victors recorded as late as 1939, will sport the letters VE inside a diamond shape.
Around 1938, with the adoption of the first 'circle' label, there was a subtle change in the shellac composition which made the new records slightly quieter than many earlier Orthophonic era discs, but these discs were beginning to be designed more for the newer record changers then appearing, with pickups that tracked at one ounce, if not lighter. (Earlier Orthophonic discs were made for either electric or acoustic Orthophonic players.) Part of what permitted these newer records to last longer was the adoption of signal processing including compression and limiting, and eliminating virtually everything above 7500 Hz in the audio (the aforementioned 'dumbing down').
Around 1947, there were some changes in the recording apparatus and recording characteristics that gradually allowed frequencies above 7500 Hz to return to their records. (There was also a series of 'Red Seal Deluxe' records pressed on translucent red vinyl.) These post-war records were pressed from a much finer shellac powder that gave new pressings a bright glossy appearance, and quieter surfaces than ever before. They were also more brittle and fragile than earlier records, and were intended only for post-war changers and high fidelity equipment. This quality of shellac was used into the 1950s, into the 'New Orthophonic High Fidelity' era, and on to the end of 78s in the US in 1958.
