[78-L] Lighten my darkness [FWD]/

[Mike Harkin]

Didn't Gramophon/Polydor in Germany use this system for a time, not wanting to pay royalties for WE?  Isnt this the reason that very early Richard Strauss, Klemperer, Pfitzner and such sound so excremental?

 Possilby also Lindstrom -- I have heard that Mengelberg and the ACO,   were recorded by L in Amsterdam and licensed to Columbia in the UK and USA, so as to have access to WE? 

Mike in Plovdiv


--- On Wed, 2/25/09, Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com> wrote:

> From: Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com>
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Lighten my darkness
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 6:39 PM
> John G. wrote:
> > Can any kind person tell me when Brunswick stopped
> using the "light ray"
> > method of recording ?
> >   
> 
> It was used only in 1925 and maybe a little into 1926.  The
> only place 
> light was used was in the microphone.  It was a cone-shaped
> ddiaphragm 
> with a tiny mirror at the back tip.  A light shined on the
> mirror and 
> the vibrating reflection was read by a photo-electric cell.
> 
> 
> 
> It was part of an entire system developed in 1922 by GE
> engineer Charles 
> Hoxie, the Pallophotophone.  This was a system which
> recorded sound on 
> film, and in 1922 he recorded VP Coolidge, Jackie Coogan,
> David Sarnoff, 
> Marconi, and several other celebs for a Christmas program
> on WGY.   (A 
> number of reels of WGY broadcast airchecks from 1928 and 29
> were 
> discovered a couple of years ago, and just last night I
> received a 
> report on the successful  development of a machine to play
> the films.  I 
> am panting in anticipation of hearing these -- I know
> basically what is 
> on them and with one exception, they are totally unique.) 
> 
> > And can someone also explain to me how  it worked ?  I
> understand how
> > light ray recording was done for film soundtracks; but
> how was it
> > applied to produce a master disc ? And are the results
> really much
> > better than the traditional needle-in-a-groove  method
> ?
> 
> 
> In addition to the microphone, film recorder, and film
> playback unit, 
> Hoxie also developed and patented amplifiers, and a phono
> record 
> recording head.  Brunswick got left out of the Western
> Electric 
> licensing, and since they had contacts with RCA -- they had
> started 
> broadcasting on RCA's WJZ in December 1924 -- they went
> to RCA which 
> gave them access to the microphone, amps, and cutter head
> for "Light Ray 
> Recording", and the amps and playback head for their
> Panatrope 
> electrical phonograph. 
> 
> 
> > I have some early (British) Brunswick paper sleeves :
> the first  reads
> > "Electrical light ray process records"  in
> bold type, and over on the right,
> > under two small graphs,   "Electrical light ray
> recording"  and  "Electrical
> > light ray reproduction."   However, instead of
> the last-named, another cover
> > now reads  "Electrical Panatrope
> reproduction". 
> 
> Hoxie never used light and mirrors in disc playback so they
> probably 
> were told to stop using the phrase.  I think the disc
> pick-up head they 
> did use was based on a head Paul Fortin cobbled out of a
> modified Victor 
> acoustical reproducer in 1916 by adding coils.  That same
> phono pick-up 
> was also used as a contact microphone for pianos at WGY in
> 1922 by 
> digging the needle into the piano soundboard.  In the early
> 70s I 
> inspected the head and Fortin's papers at the
> Smithsonian a couple of 
> weeks after he dropped them off, and  I briefly
> corresponded with him.
> 
> >  Finally,  another, more
> > common,  cover simply refers to "electrical"
>  records with no mention of
> > light rays at all.
> > I am guessing therefore that it didn't last long.
> > Regards  John  Goslin
> 
> They started using normal microphones, probably carbon and
> condenser, 
> but probably continued using RCA Hoxie amps and cutter
> heads.  As the 
> Western Electric Vitaphone sound-on-disc system started
> popularizing 
> talkies, RCA utilized the film recording part of the system
> for their 
> RCA Photophone system, using condenser microphones and then
> ribbon and 
> dynamic mics instead of the light-ray mic. 
> 
> Eventually in the late 30s, Philco used light in a phono
> pick-up.  Again 
> it had a tiny mirror connected to the needle, and a light
> shining on it 
> with a photoelectric cell picking up the variation in
> light.  The head 
> is triangular, but that same outer casing is used for
> standard 
> pick-ups,  so not all Philcos with the triangular head on
> the tone arm 
> are light ray pickups.  And lastly, at about the same time
> RCA 
> advertised their Magic Brain changer using the word
> "light" to describe 
> the pick-ups.  Light in this case referred to the tracking
> pressure.  
> They are crystal pick-ups.
> 
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com 
>  
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l