Under Construction

I scrapped the old page, and I'm just getting started revising this page to include albums and/or music sources that I've been enjoying, which spans the eras of the recording arts: the acoustic era (1877 to 1925), the electric era (1925 to 1945), the magnetic era (1945 to 1975), and the digital era (1975 to the present). 

My intent is to include musical performances from streaming sources, optical media, and vinyl records that I think you'll enjoy knowing about and having in your music library.  

The idea is to make you aware of some great musical performances that you might not otherwise come across, as well as provide some fun history lessons about the eras of the recording arts. 

The Acoustic Era of the Recording Arts (1877 to 1925)

The history of sound recording begins in the acoustic era. In the acoustic era musical performances were recorded mechanically direct to recording media with no electrical devices in the signal path.

"HMV publicity photograph, showing the cellist Beatrice Harrison and the composer Edward Elgar recording his Cello Concerto at HMV's studios, using the acoustic recording process." Public domain photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Here’s how acoustic-era recording was done: Musicians would position themselves in front of large recording horns and commence playing. The sound waves generated during the musical performance funneled down the horn, causing a thin diaphragm attached at the horn’s small end to vibrate. A stylus connected to the vibrating diaphragm would etch these musical vibrations into a spiral groove of on a wax disc (or cylinder) that was rotated at approximately 78 revolutions per minute (RPM).  

The wax “master” that captured the sound of the musical performance in its grooves was brushed with electrically conducting graphite particles so it could serve as a cathode, and was then immersed into a solution of metal salts. When an electrical current was passed through the solution the metal ions deposited onto the surface of the wax disc. 

The metal-coated wax disc was then removed from the solution, and the metal matrix was peeled away. The grooves in the wax disc were now ridges on the metal disc, which could be used to stamp records. 

The metal stamper was then put into a record press that pressed the ridges into a shellac resin, creating a “78” record that could be played on a gramophone.

My 100 year old gramophone.

10 inch shellac records could hold about 3 minutes of music, and 12 inch records about 4 to 5 minutes of music. 

The frequency range that humans can hear spans about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Acoustic-era recording captured an audio spectrum of about 250 Hz up to about 2,500 Hz, which covered the low midrange (250 to 500 Hz), the midrange (500 to 2,000 Hz), and a portion of the upper midrange (2,000 to 4,000 Hz). 

That means that acoustic era recordings captured the low-order harmonics (bass presence range) of most musical instruments, the full midrange of musical instruments and voices, and a portion of the upper midrange, where the attack on percussive and rhythm instruments live, which taken together provided a very satisfying music listening experience.  

Today, pristine examples of those 78 records are transferred to digital by specialists like Ward Marston, for example, so today’s listeners can enjoy the great musical performances from the acoustic era of the recording arts on an easily accessible medium of optical discs.

I suspect those listeners of 78 records on old gramophones would be shocked to hear how good, and incredibly musically involving, those acoustic era performances can be over a contemporary high-fidelity audio system. 

Acoustic era recordings of Enrico Caruso transferred to digital by Ward Marston for Naxos.

A great place to start your acoustic era listening adventures is the Enrico Caruso Complete Recordings 12 CD box set from Naxos Historical, which covers the known Caruso recordings on 78 records from 1902 to 1920.  

The Complete Caruso 12 CD box set of acoustic era recordings of Enrico Caruso on the Naxos Historical label.

Many more acoustic era recommendations to come! 

The Electrical Era of the Recording Arts (1925 to 1945) 

If you haven't yet experienced the award-winning The American Epic Sessions, I really encourage you to get the Blu-ray 2-disc box set and give it a watch-listen.

It’s the best introduction to the electric era of recording in North America that I'm aware of, and it’s chock-full of great music. Available from Amazon for $35 USD. 

Of special interest to us audio enthusiasts is the restored 1925 Western Electric vacuum tube direct-to-disc recording system, which was used to record all the music on this Blu-ray Disc set.

You get to hear the unedited live feed from the direct-to-disc recording system during the recording sessions. I think you'll be amazed at how good electrical era recordings can sound.

You'll see-hear recording sessions with musicians Nas, Alabama Shakes, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Jack White, Taj Mahal, Ana Gabriel, Pokey LaFarge, Beck, Ashley Monroe, Los Lobos, The Avett Brothers, Bettye LaVette, Rhiannon Giddens, Raphael Saadiq, Edie Brickell, Steve Martin, and others, while they perform a song from the electrical era of recording, and some of their own songs, and with at least one composition done in real time during the recording session. Guaranteed to blow your mind! 

The Magnetic Era of the Recording Arts (1945 to 1975)

Coming soon.

The Digital Era of the Recording Arts (1975 to today)

Coming soon.

Much more to come!

Thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!