RECORDING ON THE EDISON CYLINDER PHONOGRAPH

[THEVICTROLAGUY]

GREETINGS,
Benjamin THEVICTROLAGUY here. i just joined and wanted to introduce myself. while what i do is a virtual dead science i wanted to talk about recording on Edison two minute cylinders. the concept of mechanical recording differs greatly from the work done with a modern record lathe, but the essentials are the same and in fact it was the cylinder that started the entire ballgame.

the Edison two minute cylinder phonograph is capable of much more than the average person would give them credit. with modern techniques the Edison cylinder phonograph can produce results that rival those of a cassette tape recorder, in some cases it can greatly exceed it.

like everyone who ever recorded on a cylinder phonograph i began by shouting " mary had a little lamb " into an Edison standard d cylinder phonograph with really mediocre results. now a year later my wife robin and i are now recording custom two minute cylinders and supply collectors with cylinder copies of cylinders to rare or simply too expensive to own. we do custom cylinder recordings and can transfer any modern audio file, mp3, m4a, wav, etc. to a recording blank with really outstanding results.

we now provide cylinder recordings world wide, most of which are copies of original cylinder recordings that have been archived using the archeophone. a collector will contact us looking for a specific cylinder, if we can find a copy on any archive i can transfer the audio file to a recording blank with the results sounding like the original. in many cases the copy exceeds the original as we can manipulate the audio before doing the transfer to reduce noise and increase available useable signal. SINCE THESE RECORDS ARE ALL PRE 1920 THERE IS NO COPYRIGHT APPLIED TO ANY OF THE ORIGINAL CYLINDER RECORDINGS, THEY ARE ALL PUBLIC DOMAIN RECORDINGS. one of the most popular of our cylinder recordings is the 1906 Edison demonstration cylinder recorded by Len Spencer entitled, " I AM THE EDISON PHONOGRAPH ", along with Thomas Edison himself telling the story of " THE LIVER COMPLAINT ", and the 1919 recording of Edisons message to the American people " LET US NOT FORGET ". we provide copies of cylinders free of charge to museums and schools. a history teacher from Seattle recently had me record the star wars theme on a brown wax cylinder for use in a school demonstration. as i said a dead science, but this is the original recording process, every thing started with the "HILL AND DALE " tin foil recordings of 1877.

this is strictly mechanical recording, and thus has its own set of rules, but the Edison cylinder phonograph is a record lathe in every sense of the word, the feedscrew and mechanics are identical to a modern disc lathe, and all of the principals apply with the exception of being strictly a mechanical format, if you want a loud recording you have to have a loud source, output equals input.

until recently all cylinder recording was performed with a recording horn, depending on the subject, different horns of vastly varying sizes are used. for voice recording a speaking tube is used, a simple primitive microphone, a hollow flexible tube with a brass bell on one end. in mechanical recording it is the sound waves alone that drive the recorder, the louder the source the louder the recording.

over the last year or so i have developed a new process for recording on the Edison cylinder phonograph with really outstanding results. the new recordings equal the quality and volume of a disc and can compare quite favorably with an electric recorded 78 disc. my wife robin and i began THE ROBIN RECORD COMPANY to begin producing cylinder recordings. to our amazement we have done quite well with this and are looking to expand our recordings to discs as well as cylinders. we sell many of our cylinder recordings on ebay : WIARDOFMENLOPARK

here are a few links to some of my you tube videos. i think you will find the recordings quite impressive, considering they are recorded on a cylinder made of aluminum soap. i am hopeful i can pique someones interest in recording on the Edison cylinder phonograph, it is not only fun, but it is also gratifying to hear a really outstanding recording coming from a machine that was built before the invention of the aeroplane. my dedicated Edison recorder is a Edison standard B cylinder phonograph dating from approximately 1903. i rebuilt and repainted it for use strictly as a recorder. the recording head is an improvement of the original Edison design, rather than using mica for a diaphragm i have used polymers, in the newest recorders i am building i am using isinglass for the diaphragm along with neoprene gaskets with an original cupped point sapphire stylus.

in any case, i hope this is of interest, this is the original record lathe, it is as much an art as it is a science, but in this case nineteenth century science. the new recordings are quite good and speak for themselves. you might call the new recording process a giant step, backwards. i also supply Edison recording blanks, we have 200 minimum in stock as of now. we carry parts, horns, etc. we deal in all acoustic phonographs and stock most accessories for the Edison cylinder phonograph. looking forward to answering any questions if i can, thank you for having me....

Benjamin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUUPhhKXSBk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2FeIjCtOgw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOCKo_bDNZo