A fine MOCAPS Moment (Recording on a Brown Wax Cylinder)

[solophoneman]

In case you never saw it. Here is Mocaps (Massachusetts Old Colony Antique Phonograph Society) Secretary, Ron L'Herault at a Banjo Festival in Mansfield Massahchusetts recording a fantastic Banjo Duet using a Brown Wax Cylinder Blank.
Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmLlgc3784w

[gramophoneshane]

It would have been nice to hear the recording played back too, otherwise it's just 2 guys playing the banjo

[solophoneman]

Understand, this was at a Banjo Festival recording session. Attendees of the festival signed up for the recording session and there were appointment times scheduled, so there were other Banjoists waiting to be recorded. So the video was not made specifically for the entertainment of Phonograph Collector enthusiasts who would no doubt love to hear the results. I would like to hear it as well, but it is still a great thing to see that the historic practice of recording on cylinder is still being done to the enjoyment and fascination of modern day Musicians. I would disagree with you, there are not just two gentlemen here playing banjos, it is a modern day revival of an Historic time in the early history of recorded sound when musicians recorded their music on brown wax cylinders using early Edison Phonographs & Columbia Graphophones. I really thought that phonograph Collectors would be pleased to see that members of the Massachusetts old colony antique Phonograph Society are doing their best to keep alive the history of these wonderful early phonographs and the earliest of recording techniques in such a positive way.At the same festival We also put on a special 1 hour presentation featuring the early banjo stars of late 19th and early 20th century, using the original 78rpm and cylinder recordings, played on the original cylinder and disc phonographs, gramophones, and graphophones of that era, with historic commentary against a backdrop of historic digital photos of the performers.

[Schmaltz]

I'd be interested in knowing how the MOCAPS guy got the blanks (shaved originals? brand new?), and how many they made in one day. That's a great gig to have, being the acoustic recording engineer, even if it's just the one day.

Incidentally, what Steve Martin said years ago seems to hold true, that it's not possible to be sad when you're playing the banjo.

[gramophoneshane]

it is a modern day revival of an Historic time in the early history of recorded sound

That's true, although the same could be said about many of us who do our own home recordings.
Those guys sure can play though

[MordEth]

solophoneman,

I remember hearing about this from John—thanks for sharing one of the videos from it. From his accounts, it sounded like everyone had a great time, and from the video, the banjo players appeared to be enjoying themselves.

Are they still planning on doing this festival again this year?

— MordEth

[solophoneman]

thanks for you positive comment. These were new recording blanks purchased in bulk especially for the recording session that day. If you would like the name of the individual they were obtained from I would be happy to contact Ron, the recording engineer that day and MOCAPS member and report back with the information. I will also let you know how many we recorded over the two days of the festival.

[gramophoneshane]

My comments weren't intended to be negative. But to someone no familiar with edison machines & recording, they'd be left wondering what the results were compaired to the original performance.
To a lot of people, the video would simply show 2 men playing the banjo in front of a strange looking machine. It is good to see that MOCAPS is educating people about the old recording technics.

Did they offer any of the recordings for sale?
It seems to me that it would be an ideal way to raise some money for either MOCAPS or some worthy charity. There probably wouldn't be a great profit in it, but every little bit helps.

[MordEth]

If you would like the name of the individual they were obtained from I would be happy to contact Ron, the recording engineer that day and MOCAPS member and report back with the information.

solophoneman,

While this information is not currently of concern to me personally, I think it might be a great thing to have contact information for the source of the blanks here, as I can imagine that it may prove very useful to some of our members.

I think it would be very interesting to know how many recordings were made, also—I think John may have told me (after the festival), but it’s been long enough ago that I don’t remember.

— MordEth

[solophoneman]

My comments weren't intended to be negative. But to someone no familiar with edison machines & recording, they'd be left wondering what the results were compaired to the original performance.
To a lot of people, the video would simply show 2 men playing the banjo in front of a strange looking machine. It is good to see that MOCAPS is educating people about the old recording technics.

Did they offer any of the recordings for sale?
It seems to me that it would be an ideal way to raise some money for either MOCAPS or some worthy charity. There probably wouldn't be a great profit in it, but every little bit helps.

A Fee was charged to each of the participants which included the recording session and the completed cylinder recording. The Mocaps members volunteered their time for the event and any profit that was made after the cost of the cylinders etc. went to the banjo association which I believe has members from all over the USA and other countries. Again, I posted the video on here so you could see some of the activities of the MOCAPS group, the Youtube video was posted by someone from the Banjo Association who attended that day. MOCAPS is not responsible for the content of the you tube video, and again it was not specifically posted there for the exclusive enjoyment of Phonograph Collectors. So to over analyze the video strictly from the viewpoint of a phonograph collector who also makes his own recordings from time to time is somewhat non-productive and superfluous at this point. In any event, thank you for your positive comment about MOCAPS participation in this worthwhile event.