Categories: Recordings

The Sound of the Front

A friend recently asked me if I could digitize a record for him.

T’s mother passed not long ago, and in her possessions he found a small record-album that a suitor had recorded for her while serving in WWII.

It seems that Pepsi-Co provided these machines for the use of GI’s. There is small print on the disc itself that reads ‘Recordisc,’ which was a popular pro-sumer disc recording unit of the era. I have not been able to determine exactly what the recording apparatus for these Pepsi-branded discs were, but I imagine it was not dissimilar to these:

(web source)

When T first asked me to do this transfer for him, he was very concerned with the recording deteriorating due to the playback. For this reason, I captured the material on the first-pass.

I used my shitty little VESTAX ‘porta-trax’ or whatever player, as it is my only deck that does 78 RPM. Why did I assume 78 RPM? Well, the 33.3 LP or the 45rpm 7″ were not in common use during WWII, so 78b RPM was a safe guess.

The recording was actually quite good, aside from the surface noise. Since the VESTAX applies an RIAA equalization curve (which was NOT used in 194X), I had to re-EQ the audio in Pro Tools. I attempted to research the Recordisc machines in order to determine which pre-RIAA pre-emphasis EQ curve they used, but I could not find any information on this. So I use my best judgment. I used my ears. I applied a 24db/oct lo-cut at about 200hz, a 12db/oct hi-cut at around 5k hz, and then boosted a bit at around 2200 to help the intelligibility. Two stages of compression were then applied.

Here’s the result.

LISTEN: AudioLetter_WWII_serviceman_to_ladyfriend

This is powerful for a few reasons. Generally, when we hear voices like this, it is in the context of a film or radio news program of the period. Although this GI is reading from a piece of paper (it sounds like), he is not an actor, and he is not acting; this is intended for an audience of one.

In case you were wondering: the woman in the photographs is in fact the addressee of this recorded message. This man did come home after the war. He did not marry the woman that he is addressing, although they did remain in touch; and he is not T’s father.

chris

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View Comments

rrusston says:

02/19/2012 at 12:03 am

My old maid aunt (who never married because her beau was killed in WWII and she remained single until death: a Latin and Greek teacher, she had the word "UNIVIRA" put on her memorial marker, which means she was never with more than one man, and implicitly, was not a virgin) said that she had received a similar recording from her "beau" -the term she always used, she wouldn't say as to whether they had been engaged-after receiving news of his death. She commented that these records were pretty rare. I never heard it: she always claimed it was lost, but later my mother said she had wanted it destroyed after she died and that her brother (my uncle) had done this. She mentioned that it was a black disc with a hand written white label. Apparently it had three holes in a triangle around the regular center hole.

That would resemble some other 78 rpm acetates I have seen. I would guess the holes are for the torque the cutting machine would need in plowing the groove, so to speak.
Frans van den Berge says:

10/11/2012 at 4:29 am

As a former UN soldier who has seen war... this means big things... A man who hides his emotions just to make sure everyone at home can be happy with the gift... And not an emotion is shared. Just as the ladie who's friend and spouse did not return from this war wich in fact was not theirs... and who gave up on finding a new love....
Cam M says:

04/27/2020 at 2:58 am

This is incredible. Thanks for taking the time.