A Short Course on the Music Recording Industry
1900-1930 Acoustical/mechanical apparatus
Had Edison merely invented the talking machine, it would have just been one more technological curiosity, akin to the Pogostick, 3-D motion pictures and DIVX; and people would still be learning to play the piano so as to enjoy music in the home. Certainly, hearing a familiar sound come out of an iron horn can be quite startle-ing, exemplified by Little Nipper listening to "His Master's Voice" as seen in the classic RCA Victrola logo.
In order to make a cylinder recording, a horn which tapered down to a point converted the acoustic energy into a mechanical scratching, thus cutting a groove into the otherwise smooth surface. The same apparatus also worked for playback. Which led to flaw #1, if Little Nipper should bark into the horn while his master is "speaking", that sound would also scratch itself into the groove, to be heard from that time forward. The system had no "write protect" tabs. Any material "soft" enough to allow a groove to be scratched would quickly wear itself out on replays, this being flaw #2. Unless the orchestra was going to sit and play a song everytime a recording was ordered, some means of mechanical (orchestra-less) replication was needed. For cylinders, a playback contraption could have its horn pointed into the horn of a record contraption, and thus make a one-off dub. However, because of flaw #1 and #2, the master would be very quickly destroyed, so even for limited commercial distribution, an elaborate system of mothers and daughters was required. The number of regenerations was such that a "pre-recorded" cylinder of a popular song was usually close to unlistenable by the time it reached the consumer. No record company ever issued a "golden" cylinder.
At first blush, it was obvious that the disc also suffered from both these flaws, plus it had a more complex spiral motion that required the heavy horn mechanism to pivot in order to be able to track the groove. But the disc offered some superior advantages. First, it had two usable sides, so the record store could now sell 2 songs for the price of one. Not an insignificant factor as it is very hard to guess what song will be a hit, the odds at least were improved by 50%. The real breakthrough was in the manufacturing process because it was no longer necessary to make real time dubs. An impression (mold) could be made of the master disc. This could then be used in a stamping machine that pressed the discs out of a lump of clay as part of an assembly line process. After stamping, the clay disc was fired and a stone hard ceramic-like finish was produced that could stand up to hard abuse and unlimited plays. Of course stamping molds would eventually wear out, so the mother-daughter system continued, but now instead of a few dozen, records could be quickly produced in the millions from just a single master.
With a disc, the consumer had a product that was durable, reproduced with recognizable sound quality, and could be manufactured and distributed cheaply. Sales of players and discs were quite brisk, and remarkably strong in rural areas not noted for early adoption of technology. But the system was fully mechanical with its spring wound motor and acoustic horn, and did not need that new-fangled electricity found only in larger cities.
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Edison's ability to sell music by the millions did not go un-noticed by song composers. Edison claimed his disc was a patent, thus he was the sole arbitrator of its use and profits, and not subject to copyright office oversight. Congress legislated differently, and in 1909 the manufacture of phonograph records was declared to be publication, so that copyright rules could be applied to protect music composers. One of the biggest hits distributed on Edison records was Gene Austin singing My Blue Heaven written by Whiting and Donaldson in 1927; that one recording sold more than 12 million copies!!
Try this sample of acoustic recording from 1904, as Nellie Melba sings. (requires Windows Media Player)
1930 -1940 Electricity and vacuum tubes.
The government's REA project brought electricity to towns and rural areas during the depression era. Recorded music entered a new era as well because vacuum tube amplification changed everything. The new 78 rpm record format eliminated the exclusive monopoly of the Edison patents and soon "anyone" could be a record label producer.
Because the tone-arm needle only had to move a delicate magnetic or crystal transducer instead of a gigantic iron horn, the stylus pressure needed to freely track the groove was reduced dramatically. Shellac or laquer became the surface material as it was more pliable to the hot pressing process yet cooled to a brittle hardness sufficient for the lighter tone-arm mechanisms. So light in fact that it was no longer required to use a diamond needle, and a thumbscrew on the cartridge facilitated the occasional replacement of steel-osmium or sythentic saphire tipped shanks. The records were also about 4 times thinner and lighter, making them easier to store and ship, an important consideration now that they were stocked thousands at a time.
Far and away the factor that really sold this new technology was equalization, a process that can only be done through electrical amplification. Under this system, high-frequencies were recorded much louder than natural. On playback amplification, the high response was rolled-off which had the effect of greatly reducing scratchy noises, yet restored the original high spectrum. And a shaded pole induction motor running the turntable was much quieter than its spring wound counterpart. For the first time, the term High Fidelity was applied to recordings.
Recording could now be done with microphones. Previously it took a singer with an operatic strength voice to literally chisel it into the acoustic master. Sharp percussive instruments like the xylophone could overbalance a symphony orchestra, if it were possible to fit so large a group into the factory's studio. Microphones allowed for recording the symphony in the symphony hall for the first time. Using multiple microphones allowed the singer and various sections of the orchestra to have relative loudness levels adjusted at an electronic mixing board prior to recording.
In this sample of electrical mastering, a total of eleven master discs were required in 1938 to capture the complete (and uninterupted?) performance of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Wilhelm Furtwangler playing Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony. All disc recording was strictly mono.
The Hollywood motion picture industry discovered that an optical soundtrack could be added to make "talking films". This technology progressed rapidly and soon became recognized as the best available audio high-fidelity recording system of this era. Multiple tracks were possible and this was the technique used in 1939 to create sound for the Disney animated film classic Fantasia. The soundtrack used for feature films has a center dialog, right/left stereo music with occasional dialog (entrance/exit lines) and a rear-of-theater surround effects channels.
1950 - 1980 Vinyl and magnetic tape.
During World War II, American scientists were greatly afraid that the Germans were building an atomic bomb. As it turns out, what the Germans had in fact developed in highest secrecy was high-fidelity magnetic audiotape recording. Ampex, a company that made bombsights for the war, needed a new peacetime occupation. Returning GI's had aquired a few of the tape recorders (magnetofones) as war spoils and Ampex soon cloned exact copies to sell to American radio producers and record companies. (The story of how Ampex "invented" videotape recording has a similar ring to it as well).
Previously, record masters originated as direct-to-disc recordings, requiring Herr Furtwangler to stop the Berlin orchestra 11 times during the symphony so technicians could change platters. The tape not only provided longer recording times but also allowed for 'cut and paste' editing and ultimately this produced a much better quality stamping master.
Another feature of audiotape is that it can also be used to record simultaneous multiple tracks. The early decks were usually 3 track, and this allowed for mixing to be done after-the-fact of recording. For symphonic pieces, it allowed a conductor to supervise the final record mastering process; Leopold Stokowski was famous as a tinkerer of the knobs. In pop music, not only was the instrument 'bed', backup singers and feature singer recorded on seperate tracks, but it even allow them to be recorded at different times or locations.
Both the fat 1/4" thick Edison records and thin 78 rpm records shattered when dropped. Enter the "un-breakable" vinyl record. This semi-flexible material proved to be so tough that slower speed recording could still retain full high frequency response, even with the aggressive RIAA equalization curve. In fact, tracking by the tone arm was so greatly enhanced by slower rotation speed that stylus pressure once measured in ounces was down to grams. This toughness also was the key to stereo LPs where the needle had to follow gymnastic-like moves. The other big plus concerning LPs was they could hold twelve (12) songs, so that finding a winner was much less risky.
The record industry also tried selling music on tape-based media. Audiophiles shunned any tape offerings, as direct-to-disc recorded mono LPs were considered the ultimate listening experience. Both open reels and their decks were much too expensive and cumbersome to ever appeal to consumers. A number of cartridge systems were offered, but the killer application proved to be automobile players. Only the Compact Cassette offered both portability and home recording for stealing music off of favorite LPs. Home recording became so much a concern that in 1972 Congress instituted phonorecord copyright to protect LP manufactures. The primary effect of this law has been to give record companies an absolute lock on the music video and MTV production business.
1990 - Digital
Optical media is back, this time it is digital. Many CDs have been made from 1950's era magnetic tape recordings, which goes to show how good those masters actually were compared to the phonograph records originally made from them. Direct-to-disc was a lot of bunk. Movie sound tracks are now Dolby/THX. In 1997 copyright laws were reversed again and phonorecords are no longer considered publications. And if you want to make a home recording CD-R of your kids learning to play real music on the piano, you have to pay a royalty to Frank Sinatra. Congress says so, go figure.
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