- We've explored how recording media became a tool of artists, and how Art theory was changed by the advances in recording technology. Now, let us discuss how this effected our concept of reporting reality....-
Sound recordings up to 1932 had been made either by wax disc, or magnetizied steel wire. In Germany, 1935, a revolution would take place, with the AEG Magnetophon and the BASF cellophane tape. At first, this method did not seem promising in terms of sound fidelity. Then, an interesting thing happened. The original model Magnetophons were designed with a DC bias. In 1940, the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschraft radio network put Walter Weber to work on improving the recorder. He discovered that using an AC current, with inaudible high frequencies resulting from the bias, made the recordings perfect.
Meanwhile, Kenzo Nagai of Japan, and Marvin Camras of America would also discover the superiority of AC bias magnetic recording. Yet, World War II prevented the development from being commercialized. It wasn't until August of 1944, when a Major Jack Mullins of the Army Signal corps. was sent to Paris to investigate Nazi technology, that the Magnetophon and BASF tape was discovered by the Allies. And then, they had only found the DC Bias machines. A year later, Mullins was investigating rumors of a high frequency radio weapon that might have been afflicting Allied bombers by cutting out their engines. Instead, he found the modified Magnetophons.
Under the terms of surrender to the Allies, the patents to the Magnetophon were forfeit. Mullins managed to bring back some of the modified AC units, and began a manufacturing company to duplicate the German system.
Now, it may surprise some people that Bing Crosby was once the hippest man alive. Sure, we know him as a crooner, and that ladies loved his voice. But, the guy in the sweater, with the pipe, trading jokes with Bob Hope and singing "White Christmas" every year? Well.... yeah. Bing would set the template for Sinatra, Presley and male pop singers that followed. He hung out with the likes of Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington, possibly smoked some dope, became a film star. And he was immensely popular on radio. But, radio broadcasts were live. Crosby didn't like being tied to a weekly commitment. So, he asked that his shows be recorded. On disc. Unfortunately, the discs were too troublesome and lacked sound quality. His shows ratings declined. And then, someone called Jack Mullins...
By this time, Mullins was experimenting with editing magnetic tape in the fashion of editing motion picture film. Mullins would be able to omit "dead spaces" between performances, add laughter to jokes that failed on the audience, shape the recording to make it seem better than the actual performance. At this point, Mullins was still working with the salvaged German Magnetophons. But, Crosby was making a deal with the fledgling Ampex corporation, who duplicated the Magnetophon, for equipment in exchange for advertizing. Unfortunately, the start up seemed too unreliable for ABC, Crosby's network. It took Crosby personally investing $50, 000 in Ampex to get the party started..
With the Ampex machines becoming an industry standard, one eventually made it 's way into the hands of Les Paul (a gift from Crosby. See? I told you he was hip..). Les Paul is famous for his virtuoso skills as a guitarist. He was also well known for his skills as a gadgeteer. While he didn't invent the pick up, amp or electric guitar, his skills created the unique Gibson Les Paul model. And Paul worked for the Armed Forces Radio during the war, learning the art of editing disc recordings. He had already developed a method of "dubbing' sound from one recording to another, using phonographs. This allowed Paul to accompany himself. But now, he had a new plaything to experiment with... Soon, Les Paul had devised a multi-track recording method. And this would create a bit of a problem for Paul's live performances; there was no way you could duplicate the exact sound from his records without playing recordings as accompaniment...
(I want to give thanks to Greg Milner's excellent Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music as the source of much of the information about the development of sound recording technology.)
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