[78-L] How a Columbia Record is Made (silently)

[David Lennick]

I've seen one Columbia pressing that was beginning to delaminate..a picture 
transcription from (I think) 1930. Famous Artists Of The Air. The grooves were 
in a thin plastic coating and as I recall (it was 30 years ago) the disc had a 
big Magic Notes logo under the grooves. Brian Boyd had this disc and asked me 
to transfer it before he sold it, so I have no idea where it went. This came 
from the same batch of "saved from the fire" transcriptions that included 
several Bulova 15 Minute Men programs. (Saved from the fire because the station 
manager had taken the discs home the night before the station burned to the 
ground. Jewish lightning? You didn't hear me say that.)

dl

On 10/7/2010 1:20 PM, Michael Biel wrote:
> From: Michael Shoshani<mshoshani at sbcglobal.net>
>
>> Speaking of record manufacture, watch part 2a. It shows a surprisingly
>> candid look at how the laminated records were pressed: the actual
>> surface material is in pre-cut sheets, but the record core is the same
>> old macadam biscuit, heated up and scrape-folded just like everyone else did.
>
> I discussed exactly this method several times in the past few years,
> mentioning that it is exactly the opposite of how I always thought these
> records were made. Several years ago I had seen a quick clip of the
> laminated pressing process in a film that I have been trying to locate.
> I am not sure if this is the source of the quick clip I had seen, but it
> could be.  This is, of course, much longer and more detailed.
>
> Did you notice what was missing?  PAPER!  Is there still a paper layer
> in these late 20s English Columbias?  I'm sure there is.  This would
> mean that the top shellac layer is pressed to the paper, which would
> explain why it is so easily handled without cracking.  It would probably
> be like a Durium.  But I have never seen a Columbia laminated record
> de-laminate from the core.  But I have seen this in OTHER types of
> laminated records, such as the 16-inch Byers and Gennett pressings which
> have clear shellac over paper which is then attached to what seems to be
> a pre-pressed center blank.
>
> For the first couple of years, Edison records were pressed with a
> pre-formed "powder blank" that has the top surface of celluloid laid on
> it as a sheet.  These are the ones which also de-laminate and have
> surface cracks. In the later teens the celluloid sheets were replaced
> with condensite brushed onto the powder blank as a liquid.  They also
> changed the wood flour core with one made of china clay which does not
> absorb moisture like the earlier ones do.
>
>
>> (I'm only kidding about the biscuit being macadam. Everyone
>> knows that only US Decca pressed their records in that.)
>
> Well, when you look at the core of a broken Columbia laminated record
> you see all kinds of grit that would make even a Grey Gull blush.
>
> By the way, there should also be a Victor film just like this from the
> summer of 1914.  Here is a description of it from the diary of Harry O.
> Sooy that has been posted by the Sarnoff Library (and is MUST READING
> for everyone).  Anybody know where this film is?
>
> http://www.davidsarnoff.org/sooyh-maintext1909.html
>
> "During the summer of 1914 the Talking Machine Jobbers’ Convention was
> held in Atlantic City. This body consisted of dealers from all parts of
> the country. The Victor Company, of course, naturally felt it was up to
> them to entertain the dealers during their stay in Atlantic City, so
> they conceived the idea of having motion pictures made of the entire
> plant and its working departments, that the Company might show the
> dealers on the screen the exact procedure of manufacturing Victor
> machines and records. The motion pictures were made by Lubin and Company
> of Philadelphia.
>
> "After many days of photographing throughout the plant, I was notified
> the photographer would do the Laboratory photographing June 19, 1914,
> and that I should be prepared to have a picture made of the artists
> while singing the “Sextet from Lucia” for a record. I had (p. 57)
> the recording paraphernalia all in readiness the morning of June 19th,
> and we met the artists at the ferry, bringing them to the laboratory in
> automobiles. They were photographed on their arrival at the Laboratory
> Building, then we proceeded to the Recording Rooms, seventh floor,
> Building No. 15, where the picture was made of the artists rendering the
> “Sextet from Lucia” for a record. The artists were Olive Kline,
> Marguerite Dunlap, Harry Macdonough, Lambert Murphy, Reinald Werrenrath
> and Wilfred Glenn. After making a picture of the artists rendering the
> “Sextet,” the photographer came in the operating room and made a
> picture of what he and many others thought was the actual procedure of
> recording a record, but this mechanical work was arranged specially for
> the motion pictures, with Yours Truly at the machine.
>
> "After the photographing was finished in the Laboratory, the talent,
> with the Victor Orchestra, were taken to Front and Cooper Streets, where
> the Victor Company had a concert platform constructed on the southwest
> corner, and. all the employees, representing about 10,500 in number,
> were marched out with their respective departments, pictures being
> continuously taken of the march. The employees were then assigned to
> their respective positions, taking up the larger part of Johnson Park,
> and making formations both east and west from Front Street on Cooper
> Street, and north and south on Front Street from Cooper Street, after
> which the artists rendered a few selections while pictures were being
> taken of the whole massed group of Victor employees.
>
> "This moving picture proved to be quite a surprise, as well as
> educational and interesting to the multitude of dealers."
>
>
>
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________