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The birth of Jazz
New, folk-rooted styles of music
Electrical technology
New era of copyright and entertainment law
Unit 2: Jazz & The Electrical Era
Increasing monetary value in public performance and mechanical reproduction
Need to control who profits off the exploitation of musical property
Technological advancements obscure the tangibility of a piece of property
Big business oligopoly prevails in U.S.
A few business control the market
Patents used to stifle competition
Property – “everything which has exchangeable value” – Justice Noah H. Swayne 1873
Music Industry, 20th
Century
Intellectual property - a work or invention that is the result of creativity, such as a manuscript or a design, to which one has rights and for which one may apply for a patent, copyright, trademark, etc
In U.S. Constitutional Copyright clause: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by
securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. Article I, section 8
Copyright Act of 1831 – sheet music
Copyright Act of 1891 – international protection
1897 addendum; public performances are protected, but difficult to enforce
Copyright Law
Player piano and phonograph businesses grow, publishers recognize manufacturers’ benefit from copyrighted material
New venues for music, ballrooms and dance halls. Greater employment for performers, thus greater need for copyrighted music
69% increase in publishing business value between 1899 and 1904
Sheet music sales were on the rise, much in part due to mechanical reproductions
Publishers want to capitalize on un-tapped revenue
Growing Business
Is a phonograph record a copy or a performance instrument? A piano scroll is not decipherable by a human,
therefore is not a copy
Use vs. copy Music demanded new definition of copyright to
cover the intangible
Copyright does not protect ideas, but rather expression of ideas.
If a piece of music was legally purchased, it could be recorded
Arguments
Publishers take a firm stand against the phonograph
John Philip Sousa – “The Menace of Mechanical Music,” a statement against the negative cultural effects of the phonograph
Isidore Witmark appeals to song writers his firm turned down
Arguments
December 1906, March 1908: joint congressional patent hearings Publishing representation
Copyright League of America
American Federation of Musicians
Music Publisher’s Association
Demanded that royalties be paid by phonograph companies
Columbia takes firm stand opposing, Victor offers expanded property right deal
1908 High court determines piano rolls do not constitute infringement
Publishers’ demands
Supreme Court rules in favor of publishers
Mechanical right – right reserved by holder to authorize mechanical reproduction; a royalty paid per copy*
Compulsory license – Once permission is granted for mechanical reproduction, any firm can pay the royalty and make copies
Performing right – right to perform a piece in a public place
Copyright Act of 1909
Work is protected for a 28 year period, renewable for another 28 years.
28 years was standard, although second term length extended several times throughout 20th century
When a work’s copyright expires, it enters into public domain
For recordings, a printed copy must be submitted for a work to be copyrighted; record seen to be analogous to print, but will not hold its own copyright. This remains the case until 1971
1917 Shanley Decision – the performance of copyrighted material in a public place where a charge of admission is not collected is still protected under C. Act of 1909
Copyright Act of 1909
SACEM Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs, et Editeurs de Musique – Established in France 1851, opened U.S. office in 1991 to collect for French copyright holders.
ASCAP American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Established in 1914 by Victor Herbert.
PRS Performing Rights Society English organization set up in 1914 after England’s 1911 copyright act, which mirrors the 1909 of U.S.
New Organizations in U.S.
Represented American publishers, including those prominent in Tin Pan Alley, as well as prominent song writers/composers; Jerome Kern, John Philip Sousa, Irving Berlin, Otto Harbach, many others
Unlike SACEM, ASCAP deals in subscriptions with music venues, rather than seeking individual royalty payments. Members ranked from AA to D seniority,
catalogue size, and number of hits
Organization pays out members accordingly
ASCAP
ASCAP
George W. Johnson
“Whistling Coon” and “Laughing Song”
Bert Williams
“Nobody” 1905 song Columbia Records 1906
Fisk Jubilee Singers
“Swing Low Sweet Chariot” 1909 Victor Records
First commercially recorded African American music outside of minstrel/vaudeville aesthetic
African Americans on Record
Irving Berlin “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” 1911
Popular recording: Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan
Frequently performed by Al Jolson
Banjo ragtime recordings
Ragtime recordings by military bands
“Stomp Dance” – Victor Military Band 1912
The Beginnings of the Jazz Age
Credited to have originated in New Orleans, blend of ragtime and blues styles
Improvisatory in nature, played on cornets, banjos, trombones, drums, piano
Earliest form of jazz never recorded
Jazz Style
Original Dixieland JassBand
New Orleans band of white musicians who sought to recreate the jazz sounds of the south
Recorded in 1917 for Victor Records
First example of records under the label of “jazz”
“Livery Stable Blues” and “Dixie Jazz Band One-Step”
“Tiger Rag” 1918 – most popular
Original Dixieland JassBand
Of great contrast to authentic jazz, but brought the genre to huge popularity Recording limitations hindered
improvisation/instrumentation
Musicians unable to do justice to rhythmic influences
Inspired followers in the “Dixieland” style New Orleans Rhythm Kings
Similar ensemble, added acoustic bass and saxophone
Recorded in 1922 for Gennett Records, some songs being covers of ODJB songs
“Livery Stable Blues” “Maple Leaf Rag” “Tiger Rag”
Original Dixieland JassBand
Irving Berlin “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” 1911
Popular recording: Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan
Frequently performed by Al Jolson
Banjo ragtime recordings
Ragtime recordings by military bands
“Stomp Dance” – Victor Military Band 1912
The Beginnings of the Jazz Age
Credited to have originated in New Orleans, blend of ragtime and blues styles
Improvisatory in nature, played on cornets, banjos, trombones, drums, piano
Earliest form of jazz never recorded
Jazz Style
Original Dixieland JassBand
New Orleans band of white musicians who sought to recreate the jazz sounds of the south
Recorded in 1917 for Victor Records
First example of records under the label of “jazz”
“Livery Stable Blues” and “Dixie Jazz Band One-Step”
“Tiger Rag” 1918 – most popular
Original Dixieland JassBand
Of great contrast to authentic jazz, but brought the genre to huge popularity Recording limitations hindered
improvisation/instrumentation
Musicians unable to do justice to rhythmic influences
Inspired followers in the “Dixieland” style New Orleans Rhythm Kings
Similar ensemble, added acoustic bass and saxophone
Recorded in 1922 for Gennett Records, some songs being covers of ODJB songs
“Livery Stable Blues” “Maple Leaf Rag” “Tiger Rag”“She’s Crying for Me Blues” 1922 Gennett Records
Original Dixieland JassBand
1918 – phonograph is 158 million dollar industry Basic patents for gramophone and phonograph
machines have expired by 1917 166 record companies, up from 18 in 1914 Prices of records, machines plummet. 25-cent
records and 10-dollar machines By 1920, many phonograph companies bankrupt Big 3 sales down dramatically
Edison sells 140,000 machines in 1920, just over 30,000 in 1921
Victor Machine sales fall from 560,000 to 320,000 Columbia bankrupt in 1923, goes into receivership
and is bought out by English Columbia Graphophone Co. in 1925
Into the 20’s
Millions of African Americans moved from southern to northern cities throughout the early 20th century
WWI; In the north and south, blacks fill high-paying factory jobs left by soldiers
Boom in agriculture during the war brought greater income to rural southern communities
As black culture spread through the northeast and minority incomes increased, record prices fell, greater demand for products for minorities
Great Migration
Founded in Harlem 1921, Harry Pace African American owned and operated, intended to
offer “the only genuine colored records; others are only passing for colored.”
From modest beginnings, found great success with Ethel Waters in 1921, first two records sold 500,000 in first 6 months “Down Home Blues” “Oh Daddy”
Trixie Smith records in 1922, sells second to Waters “Desperate Blues” “Trixie’s Blues”
Paramount Record founded in 1915, bought Black Swan after their bankruptcy in 1923 Severe quality issues with discs Blind Lemon Jefferson
Black Swan Records
Founded in 1916 by Otto K. E. Heinemann (1877-1965) Manager for the German-based Odeon records
Started his own American-based company during World War I, Otto Heinemann Phonograph Company
Produced recordings of popular music of the era, while seeking to provide records to unrepresented groups
“Race Records” first marketed by OKeh as black music for a black audience
Bought by Columbia records 1926
OKeh Records
American talent scout and recording engineer
Recording director for OKeh records 1920 “Crazy Blues” Mamie Smith – first blues
recording marketed towards a black audience
“Crazy Blues” immediately sells over 70,000 copies that year, sparks the blues craze
Like jazz, recorded form is a refined version of a folk music
1923 Peer pioneers field recording in the U.S.* Travelled to Atlanta to find a rival to Columbia’s
Bessie Smith, ends up recording Fiddlin’ John Carson
Carson’s records very successful, mark the beginning of popular “hillbilly” music.
Ralph Peer
Fiddlin’ John Carson
“The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane”
“The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster’s Going to Crow”
1926, Peer leaves OKeh, goes to work for Victor as a producer
Negotiates for all copyrights to the records he organizes, in lieu of a salary
Makes millions, sets up several publishing companies to cover his income; these become multi-million dollar businesses
Successful artists include the Carter Family, Jimmy Rodgers
Ralph Peer
Ma Rainey “Mother of the Blues” early blues recording artist
Recorded exclusively for Paramount Records
1923 “Bo-weevil Blues,” “Moonshine Blues”
Bessie Smith Blues singer, born in Chattanooga, TN
Signed by Columbia in 1923 “Downhearted Blues” sells over 800,000 copies in
the first 6 months
Bessie’s success carries Columbia through economic downturn
Blues Singers
“The King of Jazz,” a very successful band leader, organized a San Fransisco dance band in 1919*
“Whispering” #1 hit record for 11 weeks in 1920, Victor Records
Commissioned George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” 1924
Recorded a version in 1924 with Victor, again in 1927 on electrical technology
Paul Whiteman (1890 –1967)
Vacuum tube amplifier Developed from Lee De Forest’s 1906 Audion
Used a three-element triode design to amplify electrical signals
Practical amplifier developed by Western Electric
Condenser microphone “capacitor” or “electrostatic” transducer, E. C.
Wente 1917 at Bell Labs
Used a charged plate adjacent to diaphragm to maintain charge – movements in diaphragm alter plate voltage
Electrical Technologies
Developed from experiments in developing wireless telegraphy Bell, Edison, Berliner work to develop wireless
telephone transmission Lee De Forest pioneers music transmission over
radio waves. Successful broadcast of the Metropolitan opera in
NYC 1910 In its infancy, radio technology was scattered among
individual companies General Electric American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) Westinghouse
Radio
Radio Corporation of America, formed 1919 Result of government pooling of radio patents
during WWI. Radio business booms, phonograph companies take
a hit 1921 over 250,000 radio sets sold, 400,000 in 1922
with over 200 broadcasting stations. 1924 – “radio Christmas” Music is available for free, phonograph companies
oppose radio. Although sound quality is inferior to phonograph,
electrical technology enables better volume and bass response – “radio sound”
Radio
Radio Music Box
Cabinet design, electrically powered.
Originally utilized listening tubes, later loudspeakers incorporated along with improved design
Radio
Big Three resistant to acquiring electrical technology
Henry C. Harrison and Joseph P. Maxfield develop electrical recording system for Western Electric
Telephone companies refining use of amplification
Need for technology for recording test transmissions
Big Three do not adopt this technology immediately
Eventually, threat of radio is too great, Columbia and Victor are first to adopt electrical recording
1925 Bessie Smith “Cake Walking Babies” Columbia Records
Electrical Recording
Developed from experiments in developing wireless telegraphy Bell, Edison, Berliner work to develop wireless
telephone transmission Lee De Forest pioneers music transmission over
radio waves. Successful broadcast of the Metropolitan opera in
NYC 1910 In its infancy, radio technology was scattered among
individual companies General Electric American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) Westinghouse
Radio
Radio Corporation of America, formed 1919 Result of government pooling of radio patents
during WWI. Radio business booms, phonograph companies take
a hit 1921 over 250,000 radio sets sold, 400,000 in 1922
with over 200 broadcasting stations. 1924 – “radio Christmas” Music is available for free, phonograph companies
oppose radio. Although sound quality is inferior to phonograph,
electrical technology enables better volume and bass response – “radio sound”
Radio
Radio Music Box
Cabinet design, electrically powered.
Originally utilized listening tubes, later loudspeakers incorporated along with improved design
Radio
Big Three resistant to acquiring electrical technology
Henry C. Harrison and Joseph P. Maxfield develop electrical recording system for Western Electric
Telephone companies refining use of amplification
Need for technology for recording test transmissions
Big Three do not adopt this technology immediately
Eventually, threat of radio is too great, Columbia and Victor are first to adopt electrical recording
1925 Bessie Smith “Cake Walking Babies” Columbia Records
Electrical Recording
Electrical technology saves phonograph industry Agreement between RCA and Victor, radio units
installed in some Victor machines Electrical reproduction competes with “radio
sound” New machines needed to accurately reproduce
electrically recorded records Orthophonic Victrola – 1925 All-electric record player, Columbia and Brunswick.
Utilize magnetic pickup, tube amplifier, and loudspeaker
By 1928, radio/record player double machines common
Consumers value improved sound and control
Radio and Phonograph
Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Hot Seven
50 – 60 records between 1925 and 1928
“Heebie Jeebies” 1926 OKeh
“Struttin’ With Some Barbeque” 1927 OKeh
“West End Blues” 1928 Brunswick
Bix Beiderbecke
“Singing the Blues” 1927 OKeh
“In a Mist (Bixology)” 1927 OKeh
Select Jazz Recordings
Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra
“Nobody’s Sweetheart” 1929 Columbia
“Concerto in F” Allegro (Gershwin) 1928 Columbia
“New Tiger Rag” (orig ODJB) Columbia
Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra
“St. Louis Blues” 1929 Okeh
Ted Lewis and His Orchestra
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band” 1927 Columbia
Select Jazz Recordings
Croon v. to bellow, like a bull or cow. In music, to hum or sing softly
Vaughn de Leath (1900-1943)
Pioneer of crooning effect
“My Blue Heaven” 1928
“Whispering Jack” Smith (1898/1950)
“Me and My Shaddow” 1927
Crooning
1920s, film companies develop methods for syncing sound to picture
Warner Bros. develops 33 1/3 rpm sound on disc system, “vitaphone” 16-inch disk, writes inside to out, at least 10
minutes
1922 - Lee De Forest develops optical format, “phonofilm” Electrical impulses modulate a spectral lamp,
imprint into film, light pattern recreated upon playback and picked up by photoelectric cell.
Talking Pictures
Don Juan – 1926 first film with recorded music
Used Vitaphone system
Successful, but a novelty
The Jazz Singer – 1927 staring Al Jolson
Also Vitaphone system
Synchronized song and dialogue
The Singing Fool – 1928 Al Jolson
Most successful film until 40’s
“Sonny Boy” “Rainbow Around My Shoulder” Brunswick Records
Talking Pictures
The King of Jazz – 1930 Paul Whiteman and his Band
Early example of technicolor
Use of pre-recorded sound track
1930 Warner Bros abandons sound-on-disc and moves to optical format
Broadway in decline early 1930’s
Mp industry buys rights to music and acquires publishing companies
WB buys M. Witmark & Sons, Brunswick Records
MGM buys Leo Feist, others
Talking Pictures
Late 1920’s
Electrical technology - acoustics
Acoustic isolation, artist rooms
Separate control room with loudspeakers for monitoring
Recording engineer, musical director, producer professions
Rise of the studio musician, (ie hot seven, hot five)
1931 first three-way speaker introduced
The Recording Studio
NBC studios 1927 New York
Multi-microphone technique Use of the mixing console
Began in radio drama, adopted in film
Improved cameras in film (soundproof)
Boom-microphone in film Actors recorded on-sight for synchronous sound
Need for lighter design – dynamics used
Moviola, 1931 – film editing machine, Hollywood
New Technology
Moviola helps SOF prevail Sound and picture edited simultaneously
Reverberation used to achieve spatial effect Pioneered in radio
Mix of close and distant microphones
Citizen Kane
Dubbing and Mixing
Sound effects
Signal-processing; equalization and compression Langavin Model EQ-251A
RCA 96A limiter, 1936
New Techniques
c. 1924 Western Electric 1B – double button carbon microphone
1928 Western Electric 394 – condenser capsule, type 47A amplifier
1931 Western Electric 618 – dynamic moving coil
New Microphones
Brunswick Records Est 1916. produced phonographs and records, US and
UK
Acquired Vocalion in 1923
Bluebird Records 1932 – bargain price records, blues and jazz
Pathé Records French record producer dating from 1890s
Perfect Records began as a subsidiary, cheap records
Decca Records English label, established 1929 Edward Lewis
U.S. branch established in 1934
Bought out the UK Brunswick branch 1932, as well as Meltone and Edison Bell
Other Record Companies
Phonograph industry slow growth 1925-1929
Radio industry booming, Ford releases Model-T
“Blue Skies” 1926 Irving Berlin Betsy
Josephine Baker 1927
Featured in The Jazz Singer
October 29, 1929 “Black Tuesday”
End of the Roaring 20’s
Phonograph industry falls by 40% immediately
1929 $75 million; 1930 $46 million; 1931 $16.9 million
Edison collapses immediately, Victor releases no catalogue in 1931
Small record companies bought up
Herbert Yates – American Record Company
England – English Columbia and English Gramophone (HMV) become Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI) in 1931
Industry in the Great Depression
Radio sees gradual increase in sales 1930-1935 after initial plummet. Advertisers use commercial space
Radio companies buy up record companies
Recording in Radio Policy against “canned” music on stations
Radio companies use old 16” Vitaphone format for mastering of transcription or “acetate” discs. 10 – 15 minutes in length per side
By 1939, 57 percent of all broadcasting music, 75 percent of music popular
Industry in the Great Depression
Radio dominated home life entertainment
Free music, sense of community in hard times
Rise if cheap, poorly constructed records
Waxed paper and metal records, as cheap as 25 cents
Popularity of hillbilly music
The Carter Family
Gene Autry
Music in Great Depression
Utilized the automatic record changer, patented 1921
Repeal of prohibition 1933 brings bar life back
Coin-slot machines in virtually every bar and dance club, industry grows to over 500,000 units
Required changing of discs every week
The Juke Box
Rudy Vallee (1901 – 1986) Bandleader for Connecticut Yankees
Performed with a megaphone for projection
1929 “My Time is Your Time”
Bing Crosby (1904 – 1977) Kraft Music Hall radio show, 1936-1946, after Paul
Whiteman
“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” 1932
“Home on the Range” 1933
Kansas Joe McCoy (1905 – 1950) “When the Levee Breaks” 1929
Performers
1931 RCA type PB 31
1932 RCA type 44 – Ribbon
1933 RCA type 77 – cardioid ribbon
1935 Western Electric 630 – dynamic moving coil
1936 Western Electric 639 – dual element, cardioid
New Microphones
Alan Blumlein (1903-1942)
English electronics engineer
Begins experiments with stereophonic sound, early 1930’s
Harvey Fletcher (1884 – 1981)
American physicist “father of stereo”
Fletcher-Munson curve
Worked with Bell labs to develop 3-channel playback
Experiments in Multi-Channel Sound
1932 Promethius: Poem of Fire Scriabin
1933 Bell Labs begins three-channel recording
1940 Demonstration of 3-channel sound, Carnegie Hall
Each track recorded optically on film, played back separately
3 spaced microphones, 3 tracks, 4th control track
Early Stereo
System of multitrack optical recording and playback
Disney’s Fantasia 1941
Soundtrack recorded 1939, Philadelphia Orchestra, Stokowski 33 microphones used, RCA
Recorded onto eight tracks on film
Mixed down to three audio tracks LCR and one control track
TOGAD system – 3 VCA’s at 250, 630, and 1600 Hz
Fantasound
Alan Blumlein (1903-1942)
English electronics engineer
Begins experiments with stereophonic sound, early 1930’s
Harvey Fletcher (1884 – 1981)
American physicist “father of stereo”
Fletcher-Munson curve
Worked with Bell labs to develop 3-channel playback
Experiments in Multi-Channel Sound
1932 Promethius: Poem of Fire Scriabin
1933 Bell Labs begins three-channel recording
1940 Demonstration of 3-channel sound, Carnegie Hall
Each track recorded optically on film, played back separately
3 spaced microphones, 3 tracks, 4th control track
Early Stereo
System of multitrack optical recording and playback
Disney’s Fantasia 1941
Soundtrack recorded 1939, Philadelphia Orchestra, Stokowski 33 microphones used, RCA
Recorded onto eight tracks on film
Mixed down to three audio tracks LCR and one control track
TOGAD system – 3 VCA’s at 250, 630, and 1600 Hz
Fantasound
John Lomax, professor and folklorist
Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads 1933 song-hunting expedition with Alan
Set out to record “secular negro songs” for the Library of Congress
Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter Recorded for Lomax’s LoC recordings 1933,
released from prison 1934
Later recordings 1941-1947 with Moses Asch, Folkways Records 1948
“Irene” “The Bourgeois Blues” “The Gallis Pole”
John and Alan Lomax
“Cotton Club”
Harlem night club
1927 – 1929 Duke Ellington is house band
1930 – 1934 Cab Callaway is house band
Wire installed overhead, radio broadcasts bring bandleaders fame
“Reno Club” Kansas city
Count Basie house band, 1935
Discovered by John Hammond 1936
Radio broadcast
Radio Exposure
Yale music-major dropout 1932, starts as DJ for WEVD, Greenwich Village
Played records of black jazz artists (Art Tatum, Fletcher Henderson)
Recorded for Columbia 1934 Fletcher Henderson EXAMPLE: “Sugarfoot Stomp”
Producer for Benny Goodman Integrated black and white races in jazz
“Spirituals to Swing” concert 1938, 1939 “Café Society” integrated nightclub
Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton
John Hammond (1910-1987)
Count Basie
“One O’Clock Jump” 1937 Decca Records
“Honeysuckle Rose” 1937 Decca Records
Duke Ellington
“Three Little Words” 1930 RCA Victor (with Bing Crosby and the Rhythm Boys)
“Mood Indigo” 1930 Brunswick
“In a Sentimental Mood” 1935 Brunswick
“Take the A Train” 1941 RCA Victor
Swing Era Recordings
Cab Calloway Orchestra
“Minnie The Moocher (The Ho De Ho Song)” / “Doin’ the Rhumba” Brunswick Records 1931
Glenn Miller Orchestra
“In the Mood” / “I Want You to be Happy” Bluebird Records (RCA Victor subsidiary) 1939
“Chattanooga Choo Choo” / “I Know Why” Bluebird Records 1941
1939 – total record sales 50 million, 85 percent swing records
Swing Era Recordings
Clarinetist and band leader
Featured on NBC’s Let’s Dance radio show Landed Goodman’s band a contract with RCA
Victor
1938 live at Carnegie Hall Jazz finally reaches cultivated audience
Broadcast recorded and released by Columbia in 1950
RCA type 44 flown in the hall, WE 618 on stage
Recorded on two 78 turntables for 28 12” discs
Remote recording done at another studio via a broadcast-remote transition line
Benny Goodman (1909-1986)
“plug-in” turntables hooked up to radio sets
Columbia radiograph
RCA Victor Duo Jr.
Return of Record Industry
Big bands lose key players to war
Economy thrives from war effort, wages up, unemployment down
Limit of shellac supply in US, trade cut off
Changes in Radio
Radio broadcasts regularly include records
Disc jockey
“Make Believe Ballroom” Martin Block
Into WW II
Propaganda messages and patriotic records in U.S.
“Remember Pearl Harbor”
“God Bless America” Kate Smith 1939
“This is Your Enemy,” “You Can’t Do Business With Hitler” broadcast over P.A. systems
Troop morale maintained with records
Records in WWII
Alan Blumlein, British Columbia; Arthur Keller, Bell Labs
Lighter, moving-coil disc cutter – Blumlein
Similar design, playback component – Keller
Stereophonic disc – multiplex cutting
Horizontal/lateral versus 45/45
Technological basis for microgroove long-play records
Frequency response/amplitude compromise
Late 30’s FM radio
Improved Technology
FFRR – Arthur Haddy 1940 Up to 15,000 Hz
Wire recorder revisited
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Corporation (3M) Ferro-magnetic powder-coated tapes
Germans develop modern magnetic tape AEG corporation – brown iron oxide
Magnetophon, 30 ips
AC bias utilized 40-150 kHz, later up to 400kHz
Ampex founded 1944
Wartime Technology
Record sale rise through 40’s, take a hit in 48 Swing in decline
1948 Columbia releases LP records commercially Vinyl construction
Vinyl previously used in transcription
Shipped overseas for soldiers in WWII
Old acetate discs transferred to LP
224 to 260 thread count, 55 to 60 dB signal-noise ratio
1948 - AES
Post-War Music Scene
Rise of the audiophile
Talking machines can be customized, built
Hi-fi long-play for classical music
Novelty, production of desires, personal fulfillment
Consumers are resistant to change, unless adequately incentivized
Consumerism, 1950
Columbia: 33 1/3 rpm 12” LP 1948
Based on the earlier RCA design
Over 20 minutes per side
Victor: 45 rpm 7” record
Victor refuses to license 33
8-minute play
78 rpm continues to be produced through 50’s
Tape machines grow in popularity
Sold as home-recording devices
¼ stereo or mono pre-recorded tape marketed by RCA and Columbia
Format Wars II
Record Industry Association of America
Standardized “RIAA” EQ curve 1945
Compensation on either side of recording process
High-frequency response increased as arm moves inward
1957 Stereo disc adopted by
Record Technology
Alan Blumlein, British Columbia; Arthur Keller, Bell Labs
Lighter, moving-coil disc cutter – Blumlein
Similar design, playback component – Keller
Stereophonic disc – multiplex cutting
Horizontal/lateral versus 45/45
Technological basis for microgroove long-play records
Frequency response/amplitude compromise
Late 30’s FM radio
Improved Technology
FFRR – Arthur Haddy 1940 Up to 15,000 Hz
Wire recorder revisited
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Corporation (3M) Ferro-magnetic powder-coated tapes
Germans develop modern magnetic tape AEG corporation – brown iron oxide
Magnetophon, 30 ips
AC bias utilized 40-150 kHz, later up to 400kHz
Ampex founded 1944
Wartime Technology
V-Discs
78 rpm vinyl records pressed between 1943 and 1949
Shipped to oversees to boost morale
Special recording sessions
Transcriptions from radio broadcasts, concerts, sound tracks, and commercial releases
“When Johnny Comes Marching Home” Glenn Miller Orchestra
“Beyond the Blue Horizon” Martha Tilton
World War II
Record sale rise through 40’s, take a hit in 48 Swing in decline
1948 Columbia releases LP records commercially Vinyl construction
Vinyl previously used in transcription
Shipped overseas for soldiers in WWII
Old acetate discs transferred to LP
224 to 260 thread count, 55 to 60 dB signal-noise ratio
1948 - AES
Post-War Music Scene
Rise of the audiophile
Talking machines can be customized, built
Hi-fi long-play for classical music
Novelty, production of desires, personal fulfillment
Consumers are resistant to change, unless adequately incentivized
Consumerism, 1950
Columbia: 33 1/3 rpm 12” LP 1948
Based on the earlier RCA design
Over 20 minutes per side
Victor: 45 rpm 7” record
Victor refuses to license 33
8-minute play
78 rpm continues to be produced through 50’s
Tape machines grow in popularity
Sold as home-recording devices
¼ stereo or mono pre-recorded tape marketed by RCA and Columbia
Format Wars II
Record Industry Association of America
Standardized “RIAA” EQ curve 1945
Compensation on either side of recording process
High-frequency response increased as arm moves inward
Record Technology
{Rock n’ Roll
Merging of Styles and Technology
Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) founded 1939 by National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Competing, lower-cost alternative to ASCAP
1930’s ASCAP required fixed fees from radio stations, substantial increase in rates 1939.
Sought out artists ASCAP overlooked Blues, jazz, gospel, country, folk
1941 strike against ASCAP, settled by court decree
Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC) founded 1930 Founded to represent European artists with
American Royalties
Publishing
Majors RCA Victor, Columbia, Decca, Capitol (est. 1942);
Mercury (est. 1947)
Independents New York: Apollo (1943); Jubilee (1943); Atlantic
(1947); Vanguard (1950)
California: Excelsior (1942); Jukebox (1944); Imperial (1945); Specialty (1945); Verve (1949)
Cincinnati: King (1944)
Chicago: Chess (1947)
Philadelphia: Essex (1951)
Start-ups, hand-me-down radio gear
Record Labels in America
Walter Fuller – magnetic pickup
Adolph Rickenbacker; “Frying Pan” 1931
Gibson ES-150 1935 for Charlie Christian
Les Paul’s “The Log” c. 1940
Leo Fender “Broadcaster” 1948
Gibson’s “Les Paul” 1952
The Electric Guitar
1947 – Neumann U-47 condenser
1949 – Neumann M 49/50
Artificial Reverb/Delay
Chamber Reverb
ex 1947 “Peg o’ My Heart” Harmonicats
Spring reverb – Hammond organs, 1940’s
EMT 140 Plate Reverb 1957
Tape Delay, pioneered 1950’s Sun Studios
New Technology
Transistor 1948 Bell Labs
Sans-tube amplification, using semiconductor material to amplify/control electrical current (germanium or silicon)
Transistor Radio
Television
First developed in late 20’s
Boom of consumer sales 1948-1949. Household item in middle-class families, 1950’s
New Technology
Charlie Parker (1920 – 1955)
“Yardbird Suite” 1946 Dial Records
“Ornithology” 1946 Dial Records
Dizzy Gillespie
“Salt Peanuts” 1945 Guild Records
“Groovin’ High” 1945 Guild Records
Early Bebop
Robert Johnson (1911 – 1938) “King of the Delta Blues”
41 Recordings of 29 songs for American Record Company (ARC) between 1936 and 1937
Blue tradition survives on records
Migration in WWII brings black audiences to Northeast
Muddy Waters (1913 – 1989) "Gypsy Woman" / "Little Anna Mae” Aristocat,
1947
“Rollin’ Stone” / “Walkin’ Blues” Chess 1950
Blues, Pre-Rock n’ Roll
Successor of “jump blues” style
Up-tempo, big-band influenced blues style
Louis Jordan
“Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” 1946
“Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby” 1944
“Rhythm and Blues” coined by Jerry Wexler
Ruth Brown
“Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” 1953, Atlantic Records
Roy Brown
“Good Rockin Tonight” 1947 Wynonie Harris, Deluxe Records
“Good Rockin” later recorded by Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley
1947 Atlantic Records founded, Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abrahamson
Rhythm and Blues
Bob Willis and His Texas Playboys
“San Antonio Rose” Vocalion 1938
“New San Antonio Rose” OKeh 1940
Al Dexter
“Pistol Packin’ Mama” OKeh 1944
“Guitar Polka” Columbia 1946
Eddy Arnold
“Bouquet of Roses” 1947 RCA Victor
“All Alone in this World Without You” 1946 RCA Victor
Country Music
Sun Records Founded 1952, Memphis TN
Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis
Sold to RCA Victor 1955
Bill Haley “Crazy Man Crazy” Essex 1953
“Rock Around the Clock” Decca 1954 First Rock n Roll million seller in UK
“Shake Rattle and Roll” Big Joe Turner, Atlantic 1954
Covered by Bill Haley, Decca 1954
Rock n’ Roll
Boom throughout 1950’s
Singles market: Rock, R&B, independents
LP market: major labels – classical and Broadway
Popularity of “cover” songs
Attention to radio and television exposure
Payola
Record Market
Sam Philips – record producer, founder of Sun
Discovered Elvis to bring black music to masses
Ed Sullivan Show
“That’s Alright” 1954 Sun Records
1946, Arthur Cradup
Released along with “Blue Moon of Kentucky” as a b-side
“Heartbreak Hotel” 1956 RCA Victor
Elvis Presley
Ed Sullivan Show (1948 – 1971)
The new vaudeville – variety show
Elvis Presley Appearances 1956
“Soundies” shown in theaters before main features
Rock Musical Films
Rock Around the Clock Bill Haley 1956
Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley 1956
Television/Film Media
Charlie Parker (1920 – 1955)
“Yardbird Suite” 1946 Dial Records
“Ornithology” 1946 Dial Records
Dizzy Gillespie
“Salt Peanuts” 1945 Guild Records
“Groovin’ High” 1945 Guild Records
Early Bebop
Robert Johnson (1911 – 1938) “King of the Delta Blues”
41 Recordings of 29 songs for American Record Company (ARC) between 1936 and 1937
Blues tradition survives on records
Migration in WWII brings black audiences to Northeast
Muddy Waters (1913 – 1989) "Gypsy Woman" / "Little Anna Mae” Aristocat,
1947
“Rollin’ Stone” / “Walkin’ Blues” Chess 1950
Blues, Pre-Rock n’ Roll
Successor of “jump blues” style Up-tempo, big-band influenced blues style Louis Jordan
“Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” 1946 “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby” 1944
“Rhythm and Blues” coined by Jerry Wexler Ruth Brown
“Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” 1953, Atlantic Records
Roy Brown “Good Rockin Tonight” 1947 Wynonie Harris, Deluxe Records “Good Rockin” later recorded by Wynonie Harris, Elvis
Presley
1947 Atlantic Records founded, Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abrahamson
Rhythm and Blues
Bob Willis and His Texas Playboys
“San Antonio Rose” Vocalion 1938
“New San Antonio Rose” OKeh 1940
Al Dexter
“Pistol Packin’ Mama” OKeh 1944
“Guitar Polka” Columbia 1946
Eddy Arnold
“Bouquet of Roses” 1947 RCA Victor
“All Alone in this World Without You” 1946 RCA Victor
Country Music
Sun Records Founded 1952, Memphis TN
Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis
Sold to RCA Victor 1955
Bill Haley “Crazy Man Crazy” Essex 1953
“Rock Around the Clock” Decca 1954 First Rock n Roll million seller in UK
“Shake Rattle and Roll” Big Joe Turner, Atlantic 1954
Covered by Bill Haley, Decca 1954
Rock n’ Roll
Boom throughout 1950’s
Singles market: Rock, R&B, independents
LP market: major labels – classical and Broadway
Popularity of “cover” songs
Attention to radio and television exposure
Payola
Record Market
Sam Philips – record producer, founder of Sun
Discovered Elvis to bring black music to masses
Ed Sullivan Show
“That’s Alright” 1954 Sun Records
1946, Arthur Cradup
Released along with “Blue Moon of Kentucky” as a b-side
“Heartbreak Hotel” 1956 RCA Victor
Elvis Presley
Electric solid-body guitar
“It’s Been A Long Long Time” 1945 Decca records w/ Bing Crosby
Pioneer of muli-track recording in music Started by overdubbing with discs
“Les Paul and Mary Ford Show” Transcript recordings played, NBC
“Brazil” “Lover” 1948 Capitol Records
“How High the Moon” 1951 Capitol Records
Acquired Ampex’s first 8-track system 1957
Les Paul
Recorded 1951, Ampex 300, RCA 44
12 vocal tracks and 12 guitar tracks
Paul develops a destructive sound-on-sound technique, added playback head
Delay effect achieved with another added playback head
“How High The Moon”
Ed Sullivan Show (1948 – 1971)
The new vaudeville – variety show
Elvis Presley Appearances 1956
“Soundies” shown in theaters before main features
Rock Musical Films
Rock Around the Clock Bill Haley 1956
Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley 1956
Television/Film Media
Analog tape adopted, run along-side discs
Addition of “artist and repertoire” positions
Hierarchy in major-label recording sessions: Producer
Engineer
Tape op
Independents = shared duties
Purpose-built facilities Separate mastering rooms for disc-cutting; Abbey
Road, URC studios in Hollywood
Curtains, baffles, vocal booths, drum booths, diffusers
The New Studios
Early Career with Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, 1940-1942, RCA Victor
Columbia 1943-1952
Mitch Miller, A&R
The Voice of Frank Sinatra 1943 LP, US#1
Capitol 1953-1962
“I’ve Got the World on a String” 1953 Single, US#14
“Learnin’ the Blues” 1955 Single, US#1
Come Fly With Me 1958 LP, US#1
Frank Sinatra (1915-1998)
“That’ll Be the Day” 1956 Decca Records Recorded along with other singles, none of them
successful
Decca drops Buddy the following year
“That’ll Be the Day” 1957 Brunswick Records Recorded at Norman Petty’s studio and shopped
Instant Hit, million seller, released under “The Crickets”
“Peggy Sue” 1957
“Words of Love” 1957 Doubled vocal technique
“Oh Boy” 1958
Buddy Holly (1936-1959)
Race of technology, Atlantic on top
Ray Charles
The Genius of Ray Charles – Atlantic 1959
Tom Dowd, 8-track machine, stereo release
Plate reverb
The Drifters
“Save the Last Dance For Me” – Atlantic 1960
The Beach Boys
Pet Sounds – Capitol 1966
American Records
English Parlophone label EMI subsidiary
“Love Me Do” “P.S. I Love You” 1962
Please, Please Me Parlophone 1963 Released mono first, Stereo a month later
Recorded in one day
Recorded on stereo tape, vocal and leads on one track and instrumentation on the other
Released by Vee Jay Records in U.S. in 1964 on LP “Introducing the Beatles.”
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” first hit in US 1964
The Beatles
Neumann U-67, 1960. popular on Beatles recordings from 65 on
STC 4038 and 4033 ribbon microphone, designed by BBC 1953, later under the name “Coles”
AKG C-12, 1953 variable pattern design. Used heavily on bass amp, strings, and piano at
Abbey Road
Four-track recorders Studer J37, Acquired at Abbey Road 1965,
replace older Telefunken 4-track machines
Technology
George Martin (b. 1926)
Beatles records, Parlophone
Hired as A&R manager, established producer role
Phil Spector
Known for “wall of sound” approach
“River Deep – Mountain High” – Tina Turner 1966
Let It Be – The Beatles 1970
Producers
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” – 1963 Parlophone single
First record by the Beatles to use 4-track machine
Rubber Soul 1965 – Parlophone
Recorded at Abbey Road in 4 weeks
Due to success, EMI gives Beatles full access to Abbey Road
Revolver 1966 – Parlophone
“Tomorrow Never Knows”
“Eleanor Rigby”
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967
The concept album, recorded over 5 months
Two 4-track recorders synced together
The Beatles
Berry Gordy, 1959 Detroit, MI
Set up as “Tamla” and “Motown” under the umbrella of Motown Record Corporation
Moved to LA in 1972
1961-1971 110 top-10 hits
Hitsville U.S.A. headquarters
Soul and R&B style, black artists
Specific focus on artist development
Motown
The Marvelettes “Please, Mr. Postman” 1961
The Temptations “My Girl” 1964
Marvin Gaye “I Heard It Through the Grape Vine” 1966 “What’s Going On” 1971
Martha & the Vandellas “Dancing in the Street” 1965
Stevie Wonder “Superstition” 1972
Jackson Five “I Want You Back” 1969
The Four Tops “Reach Out I’ll Be There” 1967
The Supremes “You Can’t Hurry Love” 1966
Motown Artists
Musicians serve in work-for-hire recording sessions
Recording sessions demand certain musicianship
Rhythm section often local jazz musicians
Detroit: “The Funk Brothers”
Los Angeles: “The Wrecking Crew”
Often anonymous
Muscle Shoals: “The Swampers”
The Studio Musicians
