My observations on a record from the Third Man Record Booth

A friend of mine took his children on a road trip a few weeks ago and one of their stops was Third Man Records in Nashville. His daughter recorded a song in the Third Man Record Booth and when they got back I borrowed the record to transfer it to a computer (they don't actually own a turntable). I figured since people around here love vinyl that some info on this retro oddity would be appreciated.

The record itself is the size of a 45 single; however, the spindle hole is small and the record actually runs at 33 1/3, not 45 or 78 (which was the original speed of the machine). The record is on some kind of clear plastic that is a little more rigid than typical vinyl, and of course only one side is pressed (etched?). There's just enough space to make a 2-minute recording.

There is no lead-in or run-out groove which makes playing the record rather awkward. The first few attempts to play it led to the needle either just continuing to drag along the empty space where the lead-in groove would be or sliding off the record onto the mat (yikes!). The best way I found to play it was to set the needle down slowly onto the empty outer ridge and gently nudge it into the groove to get it going. Once the record stopped playing the first time, the needle ended up sliding into the label itself and actually cut a little sliver of it off. Another time when I played it the needle stayed in the last groove as if it were a locked groove. I also noticed that there was residue on the stylus after each play. I'm not sure if this was gunk in the groove from the etching process or if the stylus was actually stripping the groove.

Finally some words about the sound quality. It sounds pretty much like you would expect a low-fi recording from the 30's or 40's to sound. There's some swooshing noise in the background and the frequency range is rather narrow. Still it sounds really cool, like a ghost from the past is all that's left on the record after the recording process. This particular recording was just a vocal performance so there wasn't much distortion, but I have heard recordings that included an acoustic guitar that started to distort as the performance got loud. There are video and samples on Third Man's web site, so you can go check those out if you want to hear what the final result sounds like.

The whole thing costs just $15 and you get to take the record home with you (they'll optionally ship it to an address of your choice if you want to deliver it as an audio message to a friend or lover like the record booth users did back in the 40's). If I found myself up that way I would certainly stop in and record a song.

Here's a photo of the record and its sleeve if you're curious as to how it looks.

 

Hey, that's pretty cool!

 

Nice article. Did you know that Neil Young's last album* has been recorded in that booth and sold as a pack of 6 records exactly like the one you show.
Actually they're not the size of a 45 single, they're smaller.



*"A letter home" (2014): available as a regular Lp or CD or as a boxset with the original booth records.

 

Yeah, I saw Neil Young and Jack White on The Tonight Show talking about it. And you're right about it being smaller than 7". I guess I should have actually compared it before posting that

 

As far as the sound quality, I think that booth cutter is a restored original unit from way way back, I think I read it hasnt been upgraded to a cutting head that would sound better. Jack might have wanted to keep it like this to keep retro.

 

I am looking forward to the day when I can go to the local Walmart and go in a booth and make my own duet records with Frank Sinatra