The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I've got a number of these Columbia blues. Early sound (little sense of space) but wonderfully quiet surfaces. Can anyone tell me more about them? material? why blue? Etc.

For the record (so to speak) Baumer is pretty wonderful, with a big, beautiful top to her voice; Kirchhoff is of what I believe Shaw described as the "coalheaver" school, and Goebel, to quite Shaw again, is "so dreadful as to be exempt from criticism."

But great sound. Any info?

Nat wrote:I've got a number of these Columbia blues. Early sound (little sense of space) Any info?

What do you mean? "Little sense of space?" There's probably ten threads on this list talking about these records.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ydtA8uSDE[/youtube]

Interesting sales promo record. I have read that these were only produced in 1932-'33

Wolfe wrote:

Nat wrote:I've got a number of these Columbia blues. Early sound (little sense of space) Any info?

What do you mean? "Little sense of space?" There's probably ten threads on this list talking about these records.

Little "room" around the voices. Thanks for the information and helpful response.

VV-IX - Thanks! That was interesting!

Nat wrote:

Wolfe wrote:

Nat wrote:I've got a number of these Columbia blues. Early sound (little sense of space) Any info?

What do you mean? "Little sense of space?" There's probably ten threads on this list talking about these records.

Little "room" around the voices. Thanks for the information and helpful response.

Actually I dislike a "sense of space" on my records - big, empty auditoriums full of ECHO add nothing but noise & muddy-up the sounds of the performers. The most realistic recording are up-close & echo-free. I prefer to feel as if the band is right here in my room, playing just for me. Acoustic records may be lacking frequency response, but many are very adequate in reproducing the "feel" of a live performance. Edison understood this, so padded the walls of his recording rooms; this also weakened the force of an orchestra's sound, which couldn't be corrected until the Electrical era.

An interesting point of view, and the reason I often favor opera recordings from the 50's - more singer, less echo. But in the case of this record, it sounds as if they're in the same room where Toscanini recorded the NBC orchestra. By contrast, the Columbia recordings of Eva Turner singing "in questa regia" have just enough "bloom" around the voice that you feel you can actually judge its size as it reaches out into what sounds like a large auditorium with great acoustics. I guess to a degree, it's a question of the music: a big voice needs room, jazz doesn't, nor does a string quartet.

When I watched the video, it was mentioned about a factory in in Bridgeport, CT and Hollywood CA. I know about the factory in CT, but did not know of a factory in CA. Can anyone shine any light on the factory in CA?
Harvey Kravitz

Because at that time Columbia was owned by the American Record corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolodated Film Industries, Which had a plant in Los Angeles. ARC had recording facilities at the Colsolodated plant for a time.