He doesn’t look very happy in this picture, but this is David E. Hughes, former child prodigy harpist turned inventor who was a very successful and significant man. He was born 180 years ago yesterday. Hughes was a contemporary of Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell and paddled in the same new technology waters asContinue reading “(Another) Welshman invents electromechanical device that converts sound into an electrical signal & calls it mic not dave.”
Category Archives: RECORDING EQUIPMENT
The saviour of the 1890’s record business – and possibly where Jonathan Ives got his inspiration for the ipod white bud earphones?
We’ve posted this picture before but hadn’t realised its significance. Digging a bit further into the life of Fred Gaisberg (who was the Zelig of the early recording business), the relevance of the photo becomes clear. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph system of recording and playing back sound that preceded the gramophone and used cylindersContinue reading “The saviour of the 1890’s record business – and possibly where Jonathan Ives got his inspiration for the ipod white bud earphones?”
Our First Plug!
This is very exciting. We’ve been asked to spread the news about a new book. Our first plug! And we are very pleased to say that the book in question is rather lovely; it’s a lavishly-illustrated, information-packed hardback book printed on high quality silk paper with colour digital photographs, comprehensive descriptions, technical details, originalContinue reading “Our First Plug!”
If you are ever irritated by those teenagers sharing an ipod’s headphones and ignoring everything around them LOOK AWAY NOW!
They were far more “sharey” in the 90’s. That’s the 1890’s, of course. We stumbled across this photo the other day but we don’t know much about it. It’s apparently a group of listeners trying out the new fangled phonograph on headphones, treating it like a sort of communal ipod. We think this was probably a wayContinue reading “If you are ever irritated by those teenagers sharing an ipod’s headphones and ignoring everything around them LOOK AWAY NOW!”
Glamorous gramophones and other early playback devices #4
This is the Excelda portable gramophone which is a fabulous piece. It’s one of the first playback machines designed to be portable; a proto-ipod. It was Swiss made by a company called Thorens in 1930. Thorens was formed in 1883 and originally made music boxes and, like many early, clocks. They continue to make high end audio equipmentContinue reading “Glamorous gramophones and other early playback devices #4”
Glamorous gramophones and other early playback devices #3
This little beauty from the EMI Archive Trust collection is an Oratiograph Phonograph which was made by John Schoenner in Germany in 1902 Its described by the Trust as: “…a is a fascinating small machine about which not much is known. They were made in Germany by the John Schoenner Factory in the early years of the 20th Century.Continue reading “Glamorous gramophones and other early playback devices #3”
Glamorous gramophones and other early playback devices #2
This is a seriously cute piece; it’s another Phonograph called ” Le Mervilleux” (Meaning = “Wonderful”) and was made by Henri Lioret around 1894. Our friends at EMI Archive Trust, who own it, describe it thus: “Henri Lioret was a respected clockmaker before turning his attention to phonographs. This unusual phonograph was made from around 1894,Continue reading “Glamorous gramophones and other early playback devices #2”
Glamorous gramophones and other early playback devices #1
This is the first of a series of early playback devices that are owned by the EMI Archive Trust. Its actually not a gramophone; its a phonograph. An Excelsior Pearl phonograph which was made in Cologne, Germany, in 1904 This is how the Trust describes the piece “Excelsior phonographs were produced by the Excelsiorwerk of CologneContinue reading “Glamorous gramophones and other early playback devices #1”
Absolutely not the last about the King’s Speech….
I’ve been meaning to post a link to an interview with Abbey Road’s Peter Cobbin and Lester Smith on Absolute Radio. Pete recorded the soundtrack and used the EMI Archive Trust microphones to do so. Lester is guardian of the microphones at Abbey Road and looks after the Trust mics as well. Here is whatContinue reading “Absolutely not the last about the King’s Speech….”
More royal microphones
Following on from our first blog item below about the microphone used in the new film The Kings Speech and in response to the huge correspondence that the blog item stirred up (well I had one email about it), here are some more of the royal microphones held by the EMI Group Archive Trust. TwoContinue reading “More royal microphones”
Sound Of The Hound 