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Old records, spiffed up and streamed to your computer

If you haven't got The Real Player now's the time to get it!
The music you're about to hear is sampled from period disks or cylinders, cleaned up, and streamed from the server to your computer. The disks were sampled using a modern belt-drive turntable adapted especially for playing 78RPM disks, fitted with a 60-micron stylus. The cylinders were tracked with a Stanton cartridge, adapted for vintage cylinder players by Bob Lomas at The Edison Shop. Without his help, I could not be doing this.

The resulting "WAV" sample was processed first with "ClickRepair", which is great shareware written by a mathematics professor in Australia, and then with "Diamond Cut Audio Restoration Tools"; clicks and pops were removed, the "tinny" sound of the acoustically-recorded source equalized a touch, and surface noise was reduced (I've found it a good practice to not remove all of the surface noise - it can take some music with it sometimes!).

A further technical note: some systems have difficulty with the newer Real Players. With that in mind, I've coded these samples so that they are "backward compatible" with RealPlayer 5.0, which can still be downloaded (if needed) by using the link at the top of this page.

You will derive maximum enjoyment from these recordings if you've got a modem connection running 33.6K or better. Click on the one you want to hear, and your Real Player will pop up and play it.

Enjoy!

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"A Talk On Trusts"

by Murry K. Hill

A rarity in any age, Murry Hill was a thinking-man's comedian. You'll hear puns and word-associations mixed with random oxymorons, and coupled with his manic energy it is enough to get your head spinning. He refers to topical subjects in the New York of 1911 that need to be explained briefly: firstly the trusts themselves, business entities much like cartels that author John Moody described as being "formed with intent to monopolize business, to restrain trade, or to fix prices." (See this article at Wikipedia for further reading on this subject.) Murry's audience for his live performances no doubt felt that the fuss about trusts was overblown, and were probably delighted to hear him mockingly associate them with every known evil including a sudden overabundance of lemons and the labor unrest led by seemstresses in New York's garment industry. This bit was popular enough to be recorded a number of times, and this is the version for Victor, recorded on February 15. The record itself had been badly treated in its life but there was enough life in the groove to get some decent sound out of it. Noise reduction and EQ helped.

 

"Cohen Phones Mrs. Levi (About a Matter-o-Money)"

by Joe Hayman

In 1913, when Joe Hayman waxed the first "Cohen At the Telephone" monolog for Columbia (that recording is in my archives), comedy skits about Jewish people were an industry in their own right with every label marketing their own versions of the same bits, all of which sold very well. By the early Twenties, when this monolog was recorded, a new generation of people were buying records and they were not as enthusiastic about racial stereotypes as their parents had been. This would be one of the last Cohen records, recorded on April 16 of 1923 for Columbia. The subject of a rascallion wooing a wealthy widow had been popular Music Hall fodder for many years, and this is a good example of how such bits were performed. While the punchline is predictable, and more than a little cynical, it is a slice of entertainment history and should be heard with that context in mind. The acoustic recording, probably made in London, is good with a quiet surface. Despite being played quite a lot, noise reduction was able to remove much of the scratch and crackle. (The flip side of this record, "Cohen Phones for a Phone," is featured in a post at the Vocal Tracks Blog.)

 

"Benedick's Idea of a Wife"

by Ben Greet

While touring America in 1912 with his "Elizabethan Stage Society of England," troup leader Ben Greet took some time to record some Shakesperean monologues at Victor studios. Of the 15 performances made, only four were released: two on a twelve-inch record, and two on a ten-inch. This is the second side of the ten-inch release, from the comedy "Much Ado About Nothing," put to wax on May 3. To modern ears he may sound overly drenched in flowery Victorian-isms, but he was one of the better Shakespearean interpreters of the time. He would later become director of the Old Vic theater in London, and in 1929 he would be knighted (see this entry in Wikipedia to read more about him). Victor discs of this period had quieter surfaces and truer tonal qualities than a few years before, so this recording benefits from both improvements. The disc had been played repeatedly so there was some surface noise, but it is reduced to a point where the original performance can be enjoyed.

 

"Every-Day Song"

by Chief Oskenonton

Mohawk Chief Oskenonton made it his job to describe and perform American Indian ceremonies and dances, and in the early 20s he recorded a total of five sides for Columbia. He had made some sides for Victor in 1915 but those were never issued. This is one of the Columbia sides, made on June 6 of 1920, and it is the first of the two he made that year. Besides the unusual unaccompanied Indian voice, remarkably well done for someone with so little experience making records, this is one of the few acoustic records you will hear that features a drum prominantly. Drums would easily overwhelm other instruments and so they weren't put on wax in many cases. The record from which this sample came had been played a few times, so there was some surface noise to deal with, and a de-crackle made a nice difference.

 

"Rondo A La Turka"

by the Russian National Orchestra

One of Columbia's "ethnic" series, recorded electrically, probably on June 15 of 1925 judging from the matrix number (adjoining numbers on either side were recorded the same day). Mozart's opus is delivered on a battery of balalaikas, and it is refreshing to hear it performed that way. The recording quality is astounding; it is very nearly "hi-fi" with lots of airy treble and non-muddy bass. The record had only been played a few times in its life so what noise there was came near the end of the record. Removing the crackle has resulted in a very listenable sample.

 

Hear all these recordings by clicking the jukebox below

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If you are looking for a recording that used to be posted on this page,
I've moved it to my Archives.

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(Keep in mind, please, that I am currently limiting my offerings to those recordings on which the original copyrights have expired. Any recordings which have been commercially issued since then will be voluntarily removed when I learn of the re-issue. These files are streamed from the server, and are not intended to be downloaded or duplicated without permission. Also, the opinions and attitudes expressed or implied in these recordings are not necessarily those of the web master.)
 

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rev 2.3.10, RAE Productions Written with VIM