NOW, THE WAY I HEARD IT....
I go back to Gramophone days.
Everything.
Thick, black disks were the heart and soul of the sound system. They measured about twelve or fourteen inches across. They were made of a dried-tar substance we called "wax". A thick coating of soother stuff was baked on the top side of each disk which was slick looking. You could see circles of round scratches like little Grand Canyons of sounds pocked into the tiny ditch. In some way record makers caused a needle to vibrate to sounds and ridges and valleys were cut in each crevice. We ran another needle over those ruts and ridges and heard sounds when it was run through amplifiers and speakers.
We didn't worry much about how speech and music was so preserved. We seldom became involved in development. As long as it came to us mounted in a nice cabinet -a piece of furniture with the large horn-like speakers concealed inside the box. Owning a Gramophone was a social thing. It marked ours as a modern, wide-awake family.
The early recordings had announcers to tell listeners who was going to read, recite or sing but that didn't last long. Neater, smaller, more dependable as "Victrolas" replaced the old "Gramophone machines". We started calling them "phonographs" and for many years the word was tagged with the name of the maker. Until 1925 records were expensive because only one record could be made at a time. One loud military band and one super-powerful tenor who had proved they could make three record at the same time. Materials used to make records had changed before too long a number of records could “cut” at the same time. The materials were more durable with proper care and the term “quality”came to have more meaning in the industry and among “record fans.”
The advent of radio made the record change rapidly. The makers name gradually faded away and phonographs became simply “record players.” It took a good many years to work our way through three favorite record speeds – 78's. 33-1/3 and 45 r.p.m. In addition, radio's demands caused distinctions to be made with applications.
The records are still with us but tape recorder and other electronic system have taken us even closer to perfections we still seek.
A..L.M. September 22, 2005 [c402wds]
