Thanks for sharing these. In the Columbia video (at 16:40) they show the operator feeding sheets of material into the grinder. I've never seen a process like this in 78 manufacturing videos, does anyone have any idea as to what the material is?
Re: Making Records
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 11:44 am
by recordmaker
Columbia laminates have blended filler with mica flakes and a paper disc called a spot coated on one surface with the record material.
this can be seen coating the spot late in the film.
The surface coating is blended in a heated mixer ( roller mixes normally at this time) and made into the thin slabs and then reground and sieved to a fine powder which the girl in the film rubs off one of the spot with her hand later on hence the blackened hand held up to the camera.
the spots are heated to bond the powder coating to the paper.
The material is, shellac, abrasive and mineral filler and carbon black but finer and more resin rich than Victor solid stock.
The extra processes made the production more expensive and the difficulty in recycling scrap records meant that in many places the process shown was dropped when record sales fell off a cliff in 1930.
notice the labels spots filler setup on the press also as opposed to the labels biscuit puck process for Victor.
Re: Making Records
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 1:20 pm
by Wolfe
Yo, yo, yo, word up :
(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)
Re: Making Records
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 2:37 pm
by melvind
Wolfe wrote:Yo, yo, yo, word up :
This is awesome! Thanks for posting it. Seeing both Rosa Ponselle and Enrico Caruso on film is a treat.
That last shot in the Columbia film, with the ecstatically dancing flappers:
"Francesca, darling! I've just got the new hit from the Savoy Orpheans: do let's put it on , and we'll Charleston ourselves into oblivion!"
- Bill
Re: Making Records
Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 2:09 am
by Governor Flyball
Curt A wrote:How Our Records Were Made -
History Of Vinyl Records - RCA Victor Command Performance
It is odd the YouTube title the history of vinyl records. This is incorrect and is indeed the history of shellac records!! I remember well narrator Milton Cross who from 1931 to his death in 1974 hosted the weekly Saturday matinee broadcast performances of the Metropolitan Opera sponsored by Texaco from 1940.
The Columbia film appears to center around their studio along Petty France in Westminster London. The studio was across from St. James Park and just a short walk from Westminster Abbey. Conductor composer Igor Stravinsky is depicted recording most probably his Petrushka Suite at Petty France in 1928.
Lastly, the Pathé film shows a rare glimpse of the great soprano Claudia Muzio before the recording horn in about 1919. She later made records for Edison in the 20s and shortly before her death for Columbia in 1935. Note in the scene immediately following Muzio the portrait of Woodrow Wilson on the wall! Remember Warren G Harding was elected US President in November 1920 which places the making of the film to 1919.
