Tag: OOP book report

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Out-of-print Book Report: “Starting Your Own Band” (1980)

Ah salad days.

Making noise with some high-school bros

and/or chicks

maybe you were on the “wheels-of-steel”

or maybe you were the one who pushed ‘RECORD’ while others were in the lights

Good days.

“Starting your own band” (h.f. ‘SYOB’) was published in paperback by Weekly Reader Books of Middletown CT in 1980.  It’s the work of one Lani Van Ryzin, who also wrote several other books on subjects and near as “Cutting a Record in Nashville” and as far as one volume on creating magical spaces in your yard.  Anyhow, SYOB is a 64pp volume squarely aimed at high-school students.  Some of the suggestions on offer:

“To succeed, (a band) must flow together– not just musically, but in feelings, too. And it simply won’t flow if’s full of personality hassles…”

“It’s probably best not to start talking ‘Band Talk’ until after several jam sessions.”

“Extension cords are expensive and necessary…”

“Making music is making sounds, and the quality of the sound you make is critical.”

Could there ever really be a book of a sufficient length to offer the knowledge necessary to operate a rock-band smoothly?  The answer is no.  Lani, if you’re out there, tell us about the bands you were in…  send us some MP3s.

Back to the photos.  I am going to wishfully believe that these pics were shot in Connecticut, home of the publishing company responsible for this treatise…  prove me wrong (or right).   As I look at these images, which truly feel like they are from so-very-long-ago, I have to recognize that I was in a high-school garage-band in CT a mere 10 years later.  Trying not to cross the line from ‘historical research’ to ‘actual nostalgia.’  Wish me luck.


 

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Book Report: The Ultimate HiFi & Listening Rooms

Wow would you take a look at that pile.

Been thinking about Japan a lot lately; it’s impossible not to, what with the coverage of the horrific events suffered there by so many.   As I type this, NPR is reporting that the official death toll has just passed 10,000.   I attended a public magnet school for 10th grade in which I was taught Japanese and then sent to Japan to live with a suburban family for a month.  This experience had a profound effect on me and I am consequently one of many Americans who has a great fascination with, and affection for, Japan.  It is notable that middle-aged Japanese men seem by all accounts to be the world’s leading demographic of vintage-audio fans and collectors; antique audio has become my obsession as well.  Not sure how the chicken/egg thing sorts out on this one but there you go.

“The Ultimate HiFi & Listening Rooms” was published sometime in the past decade.  From what I can divine from the wholly Japanese text, it seems to be a collection of “Show us your system!” reader-submissions as published from 1989- 2002 in MJ Audio Technology, the venerable Japanese magazine.  See this earlier post for full details on MJ.

If there is one thing that collectors of obscure items all enjoy, it’s seeing the similar collections of others, and this book does not disappoint.  I picked this up in Tokyo several years back, and I have no idea if it is still in publication; if it is, Kinokuniya can certainly import it for you (The ISBN 10 is: 4-416-10201-1).

Here are some examples of the wonders on display in this 192pp volume.

I really dig how the inclusion of the antique-industrial-electronics within an otherwise conservative, posh-masculine domestic space creates a real Matthew Barney vibe.  Or, in a different sense, it feels like the discourse established by the obelisks in the various images within the Led Zep ‘Presence’ sleeve.

Aside from the strange and sizeable systems, many of the spaces themselves are quite  beautiful and idiosyncratic.

Portraiture of the obsessed.  Highly recommended.

See this link for previous Japanese Super-Collector coverage on PS.com

 

 

 

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Out-of-print-book report: Magnetic Recording (1948)

Not sure where I came across this obscure volume.  Written by one S.J. Begun, then VP and chief engineer of recording-tech pioneer Brush Development Corp, ‘Magnetic Recording’ (h.f. ‘MR’) was completed in June 1948 and published the following year by Murray Hill Books.

There is a lot of information in this 235pp volume; the best feature by far, though, is that it contains diagrams and schematics for a great number of the recording devices discussed.

Here’s a quick survey of the machines covered in MR.  Most are wire recorders.  Remember that tape recording was still incredibly new in 1948; wire was still the dominant format.  If you have any of these machines and need to service it, seek out this book. You might find what you need.  Names are beneath each image.

The original circa 1948 Ampex tape recorder, which promised an unheralded 30-15k (+/- 1db) frequency response.

The WW11-era German Magnetophone, from which the Ampex was largely derived.  The Magnetophone ran at 30 ips in order to achieve its (then) excellent performance.

The Armour Master wire recorder.

The Armour Model 50 wire recorder

The Bell Labs Mirrorphone

Brush Labs Model BK-303

Brush labs model BK-403, the portable Sound Mirror

Brush Labs model BK-503 ‘mail a voice,’ which recorded a magnetic signal on coated paper discs.

Brush Labs SoundMirror

Brush Labs model BK-401

The Lear Dyanport (pictured with American Dynamic mic)

The Magnecorder SD-1, a predecessor (prototype?) of my beloved Magnecord PT6.

The Nemeth Master Wire Recorder

The Peirce Dictation model 55-b

The Rangertone, by Rangertone

The Telegraphone, a pre-vacuum-tube wire recorder.  See this earlier post for the details.

The Webster Wire Recorder.  In my experience, these are the most commonly-found wire recorders that you may encounter.

The WiRecorder Model PA

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Early Electronic Music History Publications

Out-Of-Print-Book Report: History Of Music Machines (Smithsonian)

Came across this obscure volume in a rubbish bin several years ago.  Published by Drake Publishers in 1975 and billed as being ‘Prepared By The Smithsonian’ (No author attributed), “(The)History Of Music Machines” (hf. ‘HOMM’) is a b&w hardcover gift/coffee-table book which presents a fairly interesting survey of the history of reproduced sound.  Several copies are available for just a few bucks at amazon. 139pp.

From the introduction (by writer Irving Kolodin):

“Over the years, the debates have continued about the pros and cons of music machines, the impact of their existence on the habit patterns of society,…. their influence for good and evil on taste…  As for taste, it has been driven to the wall, and all but through it, by exploitation of the music machines’ potential for serving the lowest common denominator.  Whether in records, or in radio’s reliance on the Top Forty -those loudest, hardest, often cheapest appeals to the beetle-browed-  selectivity has since foundered on the rock of commercialism.”

Jesus Irving.  Don’t mince words buddy.  Tell us how you really feel.  Note how he allusively slips ‘Be(e/a)tle’ and ‘Rock’ in there.  Nice one.  ANYhow. Reactionary sentiments asides, HOMM is basically a chronological series of photos with explanatory captions.  I find it interesting because it does not attempt to parse recording devices, electric instuments, synthesizers, amplification equipment, choosing instead to include all of these very different (in my mind, at least) type of equipment into the totality of ‘music machines.’  This suggests the view point that music is either made ‘by man alone’ or somehow made ‘by machine.’  It’s an interesting idea.  A very outmoded binary opposition, certainly.  Here are some highlights.

The multiphone, a wax-cylinder jukebox from 1905.

The Stroh Violin.  DS mentioned  last week that he had seen a band in NYC recently that performs exclusively 1900-1930 music on all period instruments.  ‘One of those Violins with the victrola horn’ is apparently employed.  Now we know that this is called a Stroh Violin.

The much-loved Magnecord PT6 gets some praise.

HOMM ends with some (even then very-dated) images of Electronic Music Studios. Above we have the Columbia-Princeton Studio circa 1959 (see my previous post) and below some rare images of the circa ’65 studios at the Catholic University of America.

(footnote: a nod to EKL, originator of the ‘out-of-print-book-report’ in her PARFAIT series)