Antique sound system prop

[gafftaper]

Thanks guys. I found a local guy who knows all about vintage gear and actually has a mixer board from the time period to loan. He says that a remote broadcast would have most likely been done live over a phone line at the time. So we are borrowing a vintage mixer, picked up some old Bakelite headphones on E-bay for cheap, and building some fake microphones that look cool. I'll try to remember to post some pictures when I get it all together.

[FMEng]

Yes, live broadcast would have been by phone line, with a simple mixer and a mic. The mixer would be a metal box with a large VU meter and three or four rotary 2 inch rotary control knobs. The operator would wear headphones, and he would stare fairly intently at the meter while riding gain on one of the knobs.

Recording in that era would be done on a cutting lathe. One looks like a very large record turntable with a heavy, floor standing base (think washing machine). It cuts grooves in 16 inch diameter vinyl blanks (bigger than LPs).

[gabe]

Just for future reference, Stock photography, Editorial Photos, Iconic Images, Motion: Corbis is a great site for research, here are the results from searching for "audio recording equipment" with a date range of 1935 to 1945: Corbis: photography, rights, motion - Search Results

You have to pay to use these images on stage but you can print samples which are perfectly fine for production meeting research images.

[Cashwalker]

We have a black wooden box with a red and green bulb on top, a couple analog meters, a few dials and switches, and a pair of old-looking headphones. Two guys carry it in, set it up and "plug it in". (light switches from red to green by the "radio-op" character)
Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it on our website right now.

The microphone was constructed from a loop of heavy gauge wire, some springs from decorative plate hangers, a disk of plywood painted black, and a couple drain covers.
Picture of microphone:
The Minstrel Players :: The Man Who Came to Dinner 2008 :: WescottChoir

[museav]

Originally Posted by FMEng

The mixer would be a metal box with a large VU meter and three or four rotary 2 inch rotary control knobs. The operator would wear headphones, and he would stare fairly intently at the meter while riding gain on one of the knobs.

Other than there being multiple VU meters, that could be describing the mixing in many radio station into the 1980's and in some even still today! I worked at a campus station in the early '80s and our mixer was a big metal box with big rotary faders and an analog VU meter for each channel and the output.