Saber and Spurs March by NY Military Band

[DjangoMozart]

Yes, all recording then was acoustic, but not to employ electric motors to more accurately track a constant speed.I find surprising. I guess the falling weights WERE better than the motors of their day .

[DjangoMozart]

Wow, primitive dubbing done in the factory ! Thanks for all your input. Are you on FB ?

[phonophilo]

It wasn't primitive at the time. We're talking state-of-th-art for the 1910s. Everything was done acoustically. Even the best dubs are simply recordings of recordings. Yes, I am on FB. I think we belong to the same Antique Phonograph Enthusiasts group.

[DjangoMozart]

That would explain varying degrees of sound QUALITY, but what about tracking RPMs accurately ? Wouldn't all of this dubbing been done electrically ( assuming that it's in the factory ) , or are these dubs chiefly done by the general public ?

[phonophilo]

Dubbing means that the cylinder master was made by re-recording it from a Diamond Disc playing on another phonograph. They would literally stick the horn from the recording lathe into the horn of the disc phonograph. I am not sure, but I think the cylinder recording lathe was powered by a falling weight during the dubbing process. Dubbing was done in an Edison studio by Edison employees.

[DjangoMozart]

OK. Know anyone that has made one ? I don't even have any cylinders, just I figure one day , I'll get there. One of my beefs with the cylinder machines I've heard ( on radio ) are that they don't seem to play back very smoothly ( in terms of speed/ tempo ).

[phonophilo]

If the phonograph is adequately powered, in good repair, and adjusted properly, there should be no trouble. The only trouble with Edison cylinders themselves are Blue Amberols that were dubbed from Diamond Discs between 1915 and 1929. The quality of sound varies from excellent to horrible with most somewhere in between. My theory is that this was due to incosistency in the dubbing process by recording engineers and lack of good quality control procedures.

[DjangoMozart]

Great ! So there is one. Good placement for the YT rec. Do you have any electric edisons ? I'm not buying, just curious.

[phonophilo]

DM: Thank you. I only have a few 5000 series cylinders, but they are not electrics. I think most of those are in the vaults of wealthy collectors. :-)

[bsbncandey]

I wonder how do you use it? I know you have to crank it up but is there a record in there? I know that they invented Victrolas that have the records in them I definitely want to get one of these.

[phonophilo]

The records are not discs, they are hollow cylinders. You slide the record on to a mandrel. It stays on by friction fit. Then, you wind the spring with the crank. Start the spring motor and the cylinder starts revolving. Then you set the reproducer down on the record groove. The reproducer has a saphire stylus that rides in the groove to vibrate a diaphragm in the reproducer via linkages. The diaphragm vibrates and creates sound waves. The sound is amplified by the horn.

[EnerG15]

I always love marches played by the New York Military band! Nice Edison Standard model D!

[xoxballerinagirl]

I'm playing this in band!!! I love it.

[phonophilo]

Great marching music, especially as played by the NY Military Band. One can just imagine hundreds of soldiers marching in lock-step to this on the parade grounds during WWI.

[berserk539]

Which band?

[bogartsauto]

me too

[fuzzbear6240]

Phil, Just wonderful! Great BA! I see also you have copy of one of my favorite Edison adverts on the wall there.

YF, J.

[phonophilo]

John, I got that from Dave Jolley. He reprints old phono advertisements for grins.

[fuzzbear6240]

Phil, I gotta get me one of those!

YF, J.

[EdisonSquirrel]

Good strong sound coming from that horn!

[phonophilo]

Yes, Rocky, this machine pumps out the volume! The horn is about a third larger than an Edison Standard horn. I once passed on an opportunity to buy a 6-foot long brass horn. It needed work and did not include a floor crane, so I didn't want to mess with it. I often wonder what the volume would be like with that one!