78rpm-record production in the U.S.A. (1937)

[Disques13Swing]

Ivie Anderson Forever!!!

[mauser1898k]

Thanks for your tip with the oven. I just got a 30 cm shellac, it had oval shave (like a wok pan), and now it is flat like hell.

Thanks from Hungary!

[jampop77]

no "lets record that again" or audio editing in those days!

[CoolDudeClem]

It's strange how little has changed when it comes to making records, sure the technology has improved, but from the point of recording onto the laquer disc onwards it's virtually the same.

[cdadave83814]

Wow...no doubletracking in those days!

[lrh1966]

Great educational video on history of record making...Lloyd.

[MisterEvasion]

They were pretty clever! For the equipment they had, what ingenious methods!

When you think about it, today's digital recordings aren't really the recorded sounds at all, but merely a close representation of actual sounds converted to information. Going a step further, you can say that the electrical impulses of analog recordings are not as 'real' as acoustic. I guess with each advance made in recording, we trade off a part of the actual essence for what we 'experience' as higher quality.

[lrd9999]

@MisterEvasion I remember getting a refund on an early CD player because it sounded so fake; oversampling (in which the samples from the CD are convolved with a sync-pulse to produce the "missing" samples between them) eventually got rid of the worst flaws in digital recording technology. Now, the biggest curse in recording technology is competition to make each track sound louder than the ones played before and after it (See the wikipedia page on "loudness war").

[eoj2495]

Wonderful film!!! Interesting discussion on taking out warps -- I destroyed some LPs trying that a long, long time ago.

[esroberto1]

Actually, 150 is the hottest you want the oven to get. I use a sheet of glass for the heating and another one to cool. You have to be careful with the glass, obviously, but you have to be careful already when doing any of this kind of thing.

[2agray]

Make sure the pan is big enough that the 78 does not hang off the sides. Everything should be clean, clean, clean. The shellac actually gets plyable again. When you go to slide it off the pan it almost pours off. So don't touch it. The cool surface of the counter or marble will cool it down pretty quickly and the record will become hard and brittle again. This does not work if the record is cracked. The crack will just buckle up. LP's and 45's don't work with this method. It will ruin them.

[2agray]

With the oven light on, sit on the floor and constantly watch. Place the warp toward the window of the oven so you can see it. After a few minutes the shellac will "relax". You will see the warp slowly flatten out. The MINUTE you see it flat, pull the pan out of the oven and gently tilt and slide the 78 only a cool flat surface like a counter top. It will recool flat and the warp will be gone. If you over bake, it will rewarp or distort the grooves and make them wavy.

DO NOT TRY WITH VINYL

[2agray]

Preheat oven to 250. You don't want the elements actually on when you bake it. Make sure the record is completely clean. Give it a good washing and make sure it is completely dry - air dry. Any imperfections or dust or mold or whatevere will embossed the grooves when it's heated.

Use a cookie sheet or back side of a baking pan - 100% clean - new preferrably.  Put the 78 on the pan and put on the center rack of the oven.

[2agray]

I love how in most of the 78 making videos they just slam and bang them around. No wonder they had surface noise when they were new. LOL!

Yes, heat and pressure is how the shellac was embossed with the grooves. Hence, being able to "bake" a 78 in the oven to get rid of warping. Done it hundreds of times. For those that want to know how I'll explain.

[peugteobike]

I have a whole bunch of these records like this.

[tubesandvinyl]

Brilliant. Thanks for loading.

[dkmckinney1]

Fantastic video. Thanks for sharing.

[jsteeber]

Fabulous time capsule: "This is an express train, not a freight train!"

The material - 'plastic' seems different than the RCA Victor material described in a related film.

[queenbee345622]

Pretty much, it's like pressing a ball of clay with grooved stamper, but instead of clay they use Vinyl or shellac. And tons of pressure and heat. But making the master and stampers (negatives) takes a lot of work and processes.

[BrooklynMouse]

Back then, there was no LP's until vinyl came along. Disneyland Records also does other pressings as well.

[fglueckstein]

There was a video available of Ellington and Ivie Anderson in Bundle of Blues. What happened to it?

[fraangelico1]

It's worth the wait for the last 30 seconds of the fabulous Ivy Anderson.

[debiani3866]

Similar process as to how records are made today. there is a video which describes how vinyl records are made. I dont recall the search terms, but its a very similar process