Fred Gaisberg records the Great Caruso and kickstarts the modern record business – our new podcast episode out today

It’s the spring of 1902. Italian tenor Enrico Caruso is due to sing in Covent Garden later in the year, and Fred and Will are still in Milan desperate to record him. Their plan – in what predates the now-ubiquitous music industry ‘360’ marketing deal by over 100 years – is to print the masterContinue reading “Fred Gaisberg records the Great Caruso and kickstarts the modern record business – our new podcast episode out today”

When Fred Gaisberg set the Vatican on fire

Fred Gaisberg and his brother Will had been sebt to Milan in early 1902 to try to entice the superstar opera singer Enrico Caruso. When he was playing hard to get the brothers headed to Rome with the hope of recording the Pope. That proved impossible but they did get to record the last castratoContinue reading “When Fred Gaisberg set the Vatican on fire”

The Last Castrato – if you are going to listen to one episode of our podcast this is the one!

Fred and his brother William travel to Milan in 1902 with the aim of convincing opera superstar Enrico Caruso to record for them. However Caruso is busy and non-committal, so the men seek out other forms of sound to record while they wait for an answer. Aiming high, they approach the Pope to ask ifContinue reading “The Last Castrato – if you are going to listen to one episode of our podcast this is the one!”

Sounds as useful as a chocolate teapot? The long tradition of chocolate records.

We were sent a link to a contemporary Scottish group called Found who worked with a local baker to create a record made of chocolate. It was for their single Anti-climb Paint and you can watch a video of their experiment here. It seemed like a novel idea. But they were not the first…..this guyContinue reading “Sounds as useful as a chocolate teapot? The long tradition of chocolate records.”

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”

The invention of the modern music star in a hotel bedroom in Milan

Fred Gaisberg was one of the men who invented the recording industry. In 1893 he worked in the States as the assistant to Emile Berliner, who had just invented the gramophone disc, and then Gaisberg went on to open and run the world’s first recording studio. In 1898 Gaisberg moved to London to make theContinue reading “The invention of the modern music star in a hotel bedroom in Milan”