Indeed. I wouldn't recommend direct conversion of sound waves to electronic output in this case. I think Neil's setup is pretty much a high-quality mic packed down the throat of the horn of whatever player he has accessible for whatever project.
Best, E At 12:36 AM 11/26/2004, you wrote: >Eugene, > >If one has a wax cylinder player and a microphone and a tape recorder the >transfer should be easy. One can't lose fidelity when recording to a higher >fidelity medium (as long as one avoids ambient noise). A complicated system >using the electrical output from the wax player to its speaker isn't needed, >and in fact might be counter productive. The characteristics of the >recording room might make a truer representation of the sound as it was >heard by the listeners of the time than any direct transfer. Come to think >of it, I don't think there was any electrical signal. I think the wax >cylinder was like the early gramophone (which I had in the thirties) with a >mechanical transfer of the vibrations to the speaker. Substituting a >piezo-electric needle connection would probably make more noise. Better to >play the cylinder and record it on a mic in an acoustically friendly room. > >Best, Jon > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Eugene C. Braig IV" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 12:20 PM >Subject: Re: early recordings > > > > I know Neil Gladd <http://www.neilgladd.com/> is preparing a couple such > > projects from early mandolin recordings (i.e., not recordings of early > > mandolin) for Belmando Records <http://www.belmando.com/>. He's done such > > stuff before and shared images of the work in progress. I can't recall if > > he'd posted the images at his site somewhere or sent them by e-mail. In > > any event, Yes, transfer from wax is done on occasion. > > > > Best, > > Eugene > > > > At 12:12 PM 11/24/2004, timothy motz wrote: > > >Tony, > > >I wouldn't want to imagine what a wax-cylinder drive would look like. > > >Talk about legacy equipment! I doubt that it would fit in the extra > > >drive bay on a PC. And anyway, the memory capacity just wouldn't > > >compare with a CD or even a Zip drive. > > > > > >Seriously though, there are companies (almost on the cottage industry > > >level) that produce CDs from wax cylinders. I've dealt with a guy > > >that markets a collection of American popular music from about 1900 > > >through the 1920s that he's transfered from wax cylinders. I've > > >added the music to museum audio presentations and kiosks. If there > > >are early recordings available on wax cylinder, you can probably have > > >them transferred. > > > > > >Tim Motz > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > > >
