[78-L] Early portable electric recording?

[Royal Pemberton]

The 'Magnemite' recorders made by Amplifier Corporation of America in the
early 1950s used a wind-up transport, and battery-operated tube
electronics.  5" reel capacity, and there was a 'binaural' (staggered heads
no doubt) version in addition to the mono.

On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 7:24 PM, Bud Black <banjobud at cfl.rr.com> wrote:

> Anybody ever hear of a wind-up tape recorder?  In 1959 I was interviewed by
> a gentleman of the press who used a small tape recorder in which the
> sound/record system was battery operated, but the drive capstan and the 7"
> reels were spring driven.  I don't recall the manufacturer.
>
> Bud
>
>
>
>
> -------Original Message-------
>
> From: David Lennick
> Date: 12/18/2009 6:32:04 PM
> To: 78-L Mail List
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Early portable electric recording?
>
> I remember hearing (third-hand) that Decca's field recordings couldn't run
> longer than three minutes because that's all the spring would give them.
>
> What kind of equipment was used to make those varispeeding Andy Kirk
> Brunswicks
> in Kansas City in 1929? Boy, they're fun.
>
> dl
>
> Doug Pomeroy wrote:
> > Hi Dave,
> >
> > Whether they were "Orthophonic" would depend on the
> > curve imposed by the cutting amp they used.
> >
> > As I understand it, the term Orthophonic refers to
> > the Victor's curve with the 500 Hz turnover, but the
> > early Victor 78s used other frequencies at various
> > times during the early years, so they were not properly
> > Orthophonic IMHO.
> >
> > There are no simple answers?
> >
> > Doug
> >
> >> Message: 12
> >> Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:24:01 -0800
> >> From: Dave Murray <dave at spectacularopticals.com>
> >> Subject: [78-L]  Early portable electric recording?
> >> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> >> Message-ID:
> >> <BBF48D13-80B7-42F3-A7FF-0D9D6677797E at spectacularopticals.com>
> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
> >>
> >> Thanks for the info Doug!
> >> The recording expedition I'm researching was in Asia in 1927....it's
> >> hard to believe they could have hauled something as large as the
> >> setup Peer used.
> >> The smaller, spring driven set up sounds more likely...but would
> >> recordings still be "orthophonic"?
> >>
> >>
> >> Dave
> >>
> >>
> >> ...................................................
> >>
> >> I don't know of any photos of the whole rig, but it was
> >> big and quite heavy according to producer Ralph Peer
> >> who took it on his field trips for Okeh and Victor.
> >> It consisted of a turntable connected by belt to a
> >> gravity-driven motor, which required a tall structure
> >> to support the falling weight. It required AC power
> >> for the amplifiers from a power company. The condenser
> >> microphone required 200 Volts DC, which was supplied
> >> by five 22.5 Volt batteries in series, plus a 6 Volt storage
> >> battery for the tube filament. These batteries were extremely
> >> heavy.  Also needed was an oven with which to
> >> pre-heat the wax. Peer complained that he could
> >> barely get all  this in his car!
> >>
> >> This info is from a tape recording Peer made some years
> >> before his death, and I believe it can also be found in
> >> the book THE BRISTOL SESSIONS, by Charles K Wolfe
> >> and Ted Olson (McFarland & Co., 2005, paperback).
> >>
> >> Alan Lomax also wrote about the recording gear he
> >> used on his trips through the South - I don't believe he
> >> ever used Western Electric equipment.
> >>
> >> So, for recordings in the field, where there was no
> >> AC power, and no place to set up the huge gravity-driven
> >> motor, other recorders would have been used, for
> >> sure. Peer mentions that it would have been far
> >> simpler for him to use a much smaller spring-driven
> >> cutter, but he declined because the speed stability
> >> was poor.
> >>
> >> I believe Presto made small battery powered
> >> recorders which cut lacquer discs, but that had
> >> to await development of lacquer discs, which
> >> wasn't until late 1934.
> >>
> >> Doug
> >>
>
>
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