[78-L] earliest use of multiple mic mixing

[Michael Biel]

Thatcher Graham wrote:
> I can't name a recording but I know that in 1881 Clement Ader installed 
> pairs of carbon mics on a Paris opera stage for telephone subscribers to 
> listen in.

Actually there was a row of telephone transmitters across the whole 
stage front, and each listener would have a pair of receivers connected 
to a pair of transmitters, one on the left side and one on the right 
side.  The thought was that if they only had one they would miss what 
was on the other side of the stage. 

 >  It was esperimental, btu I'd expect a 2-mic recording to either 
immediately preceed ro follow that date.-Thatcher

Since electrical recording wasn't used until the 1920s it was a long 
wait.  But there was no mixing involved in the Paris demo, there is no 
connection to what the question was about.  Art was asking about 
multiple mics being mixed into a mono recording, and the Paris demo was 
essentially stereo with one transmitter per channel and no mixing.  
Mixing two inputs together requires certain network circuitry to combine 
the signals only in the forward direction.  Art also specified that it 
be in a studio setting, so my earliest example won't count either 
because it was a multiple mic set-up in Westminster Abbey by Guest & 
Merriman to record the Unknown Soldier service on Armistace Day 1920 
which was issued on a special charity record by Columbia.  Multiple mics 
were used by radio stations even in the 20s, so I think there would be 
examples in early electrical recording.  Since there are technical specs 
in the Victor ledgers, they might yield examples, but I can't come up 
with any specifics. 

The question implies how solo vocals were handled with the backing of a 
large orchestra.  How soon did they put the vocalist on a separate mic. 
Or solo instruments.  I am thinking that a good example might be The 
Peerless Reprodicers which has Graham McNamee announcing with an 
orchestra that displays various selections with certain different 
instruments close up and a special emphasis on low notes on some and 
high notes on others.  There would be a lot of running in the studio if 
there was only one mic.  It was a Victor demo recording around 1928 (my 
VMBII is buried somewhere.)

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com 

>  
>
>
> zimrec at juno.com wrote:
>   
>> I was asked by a friend if I knew the earliest instance, in a studio setting, of using multiple microphones mixed to a single monaural signal.  I have no idea, but thought someone on this list might.  I know of instances where two microphones were used in recording, but each outputting a signal to separate turntables.
>>
>> Art
>>