[78-L] That Early 20s Okeh sound

[SUPRBATONE at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/25/2008 4:06:28 AM, doctordisc at truesoundtransfers.de 
writes:

<<Not quite - Victor continued occasionally recording acoustically until July 
25 IIRC, and Columbia made many acoustic sides for its budget "Harmony" label 
during several years afterwards. Remember that OKeh recorded in several 
locations, probably with portable equipment, which might have made it more 
difficult to switch to electric at short notice. Certainly other 
internationally-operating companies, like HMV and DGA/Polydor, were still using acoustic in remote 
locations (Balcan countries, East Asia) in 1927, two years after their main 
studios had gone electric.>>

Thanks for your response, Chris.  I'm familiar with the VJM article, having 
helped Steven Lasker with his research for it!  It whetted my appetite for 
further information.  To clarify a bit:  When Victor and Columbia went electric, 
the transition in their SOUND was abrupt.  It was a sudden jump from the usual 
acoustic horn results to the already robust and excellent Western Electric 
sound.  As you say, it took a while for all the recording rooms to convert, but 
upon each conversion the change in fidelity was decisive.  At OKeh, by contrast 
- and I mean only OKeh in New York - there was a VERY gradual change in sound 
quality that stretched over several months (4/26 - 1/27). It went from the 
already advanced Hibbard acoustic, to a slowly improving early electrical sound, 
to the same Western Electric sound as on Columbia.  If you examine a 
succession of OKeh popular records, from about 40500 to 40750, there is also a gradual 
transition of the physical format of the records - the groove, the info in 
the wax, the runout, the label, the pressing, one tiny feature at a time.   OKeh 
records from this period are quite scarce compared to earlier and later 
issues, but I've accumulated enough of them to note this odd nine-month 
metamorphosis.  I just wondered if anybody had any insights or info about that.  -Brad 
Kay   -  P.S. - About the ODJB:  I was referring ONLY to Victor 18255, the 
initial date supervised by Hibbard.  He went to OKeh not long after, and basically 
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