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

[davdieh at aol.com]

The Western Electric system was only available through American companies and only Victor and Columbia could afford the royalty payments. Okeh was Lindstrom's connection in the US but there were delays until its acquisition by Columbia so during the interim Okeh made some dreadful electrical recordings using what sounds like a Photoelectric setup, this may have been true in Europe as well. Tri-ergon in Germany used the photoelectric process for its recordings. Plaza/ARC probably used it judging by their wretched sound quality. 

I was surprised to hear that Brunswick only used used this in 1925 as the clipping so characteristic of the photoelectric mic is evident throughout Warner's Brunswick catalog. Let's not forget Gennett's Electrodreck system. either.
David Diehl


 

-----Original Message-----
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 
>  
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