SH Spotlight How records are made; shows the making of the lacquer, etc. Youtube. New. Must see!

Meaning, that's just the reel that recording came on, i.e. a reel that once had 206 on it, as it were, but this master tape wasn't on 206?

BTW, how accurate is the remainder of my guess?

 

Is it normal practice now, using leadered master tapes, to make the spirals manually (as in hitting the MARKER button at the right times)? I remember seeing a cutting system using a Neumann AM 32 lathe (upgraded to VMS 70 specs, I was told) that had an Ampex 354 (the one I own now) as the master tape machine. Ahead of the left hand idler and head stack was a 'wing' with rollers, guides and a quarter-track repro head (!) as the preview head, and on the right hand side of the transport, another 'wing' was mounted, this one with rollers, guides and a lamp and photocell arrangement whereby when light went through the paper leader tape, this 'told' the lathe control computer to make a spiral. (Only worked with paper leader as I recall.) There was also a panel in the rack having two rows of push button switches to permit programming the lathe computer for how many spirals to make before cutting the leadout groove after the last track on a side. So this system is no longer in use?

 

Thanks for sharing this Steve!

 

I'm sure you are correct about the tape on the deck in the photo - but that photo wasn't necessarily taken the day the power went down.

I guess Steve just posted it to show us that the deck only has a preview and and a playback head.

My guess is that the tape on the deck during the outage must have been ********** - am I right?

 

Cool. Gotta keep ya on yer toes....(ha ha ha)

BTW, there is also on Youtube a 5 minute short from 1937 showing Duke Ellington and his orchestra making a record.

 

[QUOTE
BTW, there is also on Youtube a 5 minute short from 1937 showing Duke Ellington and his orchestra making a record.[/QUOTE]

Go on then, give us the link!

 

that is the coolest thing I have seen!

to think a cool record can come from something that looks so crude. cool indeed!!!

 

Right....here's the link:
keepswinging.blogspot.com/2006/06/record-making-with-duke.html

 

Thanks for posting a better link than the one I knew of, Steve. I understand the short is included in the DVD bonus disc with the BMG CD, DUKE ELLINGTON CENTENNIAL COLLECTION.

 

An interesting note about that film is that by the time the film came out the Variety label was no more, and the record was eventually issued on Brunswick.

 

I have no idea who manufactured the lacquer discs they were using--must have been Presto as Audio Devices (maker of the famous Audiodiscs) didn't begin operations until 1938.

Interesting recording chain--just two Western Electric 618 dynamic mikes, a 4 in, one out mixer....but what a recording lathe! Notice that the cutting head mount is stationary, and the turntable moves laterally underneath it. (Early Scully, or something homebrew?) My guess is this is a throwback to early acoustic disc recording apparatus. And no explanation for there being two turntables on it, both moving laterally at the same time.

They didn't say what studio they were recording at. It could have been World Transcription Service, or it could have been ARC's facility at 1776 Broadway (which had begun recording masters on acetates, originally called 'Instant-o-plates', in very late 1936). I'm betting the latter, just based on how the room sounded. Great film anyway.

 

pretty amazing stuff steve.... cool 1937 take.

 

Besides, I don't think ARC / Columbia used World Transcription Service for recording until early 1939.

 

How much does (or did) the vinyl-record-making process usually cost (to get the machines, platters, etc.)? A CD can be made with just $50 (burner + disc), but I wonder how independent musicians managed to afford making their records back in the day.

 

But how did bands like the Residents - who started their own Ralph Records - get their records pressed? Were there places the average Joe could go and request that a few thousand discs be made?

 

The machine in the video...that machine is sensitive enough to apply within one gram the correct amount vinyl for the 180 gram stuff? Or is the 180 Grams just a name for a heavier lp and it varies by grams?

 

Now here's a guy that should have no problem finding the stud by tapping on the wall with his knuckle.