***UPDATE: I’ve added a variety of links to relevant Cook-resources at the end of the piece. ***
Thanks again to contributor T.F. for providing an extensive collection of documents relating to one Emory Cook, inventor, Connecticut businessman, and pioneer of binaural sound. There is much too much information contained within these primary source documents for me to adequately paraphrase, but here is a quick synopsis.
Cook achieved the widest recognition for his research and development of binaural sound apparatus. Binaural sound is a specific type of stereo (two channel synchronized) sound which specifically attempts to capture sound in a manner consistent with the hearing apparatus of an unimpaired (IE., having full use of both ears) human animal. Stereo sound is much broader field; truly, any system in which two discrete channels are programmed and synchronized for playback on two separately-located transducers could be described as ‘stereo.’ As the past sixty years of electronic media history has played out, true Binaural sound techniques have had limited application and/or consumer appeal, but it is critical to recognize how the field of stereo sound was largely birthed by individuals such as Mr. Cook who were so taken by the attempt to recreate, electronically, the biological process of two-eared hearing and the spatial-localization that it affords. Beginning in the early 1950s, Cook published a number of papers and articles on the subject. I would encourage you to read them and get the story from the horse’s-mouth, as-it-were:
DOWNLOAD: Tele-Tech-5211-Emory_Cook-Recording_Binaural_Sound_on_Discs 1952: Cook explains and defends his two-cartridge stereo LP system and offers a design for an economical stereo amplifier.
DOWNLOAD: Emory_Cook-Binaural_Disks. A more consumer-oriented essay which covers similar material as the prior.
DOWNLOAD: Emory_Cook-AIEE-530616-Binaurality. A technical paper on binaurality delivered in 1953. T.F comments: “(it is) interesting how (Cooks’s) summary of past technology ignores Blumlein’s 1934 patent.”
DOWNLOAD: High_Fidelity-5410-Emory_Cook. A largely biographical piece from HIGH FIDELITY, 1954.
IN ADDITION: The Journal of the Audio Engineering Society ran an excellent essay by Cook in their very first issue, January 1953. Since the AES depends on the sale of their previously published material for revenue, I do not think it suitable to offer that article here; you can, however, purchase it directly from them.
DOWNLOAD: Cook_Laboratories-1960s_brochure
There is a ton of other information online concerning Cook; here are some good places to start. Cook passed in 2002 (click here for his obituary as published by the AES) and the catalog of recordings that he controlled is now owned and archived by the Smithsonian. In fact, you can purchase the ‘Burlesque’ recording depicted above from them. Cook’s Wikipedia page was apparently created with input from a former employee; if anyone out there worked for Cook at his plant in CT, please drop us a line. I also welcome any substantiated corrections to this piece. And I look forward to a heated discussion of the merits and/or fallacies of ‘binaural sound’ in the comments section.
Thanks yet again to T.F. for making these rare archival materials available to all. For those of you unacquainted with T.F. and his rather unique perspective on the history and development of commercial stereo-sound recording, please click here.
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It's amazing that in the 50s no one had a problem with the bare mammalian protuberances in an "artistic" setting but now they do.
Stereo was a tit for tat affair back then.
It is well worth it to read the two-part Emory Cook feature by Daniel Lang in The New Yorker dated 3 and 10 March 1956. The perspective broadens!
Kind regards,
George
I enjoy this site for it brings to mind many fond memories of the years I spent working with Emory Cook. He was truly by definition a genius.
Yes, James, I also remember well, and working with you at his plant on Ely Avenue. Glad to know you're doing well.
Retired electrical engineer who worked with Sonny Hindmon, well known in the mid to late 40's, we developed t.
Hi! I know this is an old thread. I'm recently obsessed by the Luiz Bonfa "Solo in Rio" album, which was evidently recorded by Emory Cook, later donated to Smithsonian Folkways as part of his Cook Records catalog.
This album... recorded 1959, sounds just phenomenal. I found some liner notes that suggest Cook was traveling and recording with a Nagra III recorded. I wonder what microphones he was using?
Capps CM2030.