Antique sound system prop

[gafftaper]

Hey all, We are doing "The Man who Came to Dinner". The show is set in 1939. Towards the end they are recording a radio broadcast. There is a sound crew in the room doing the recording. I'm going to have to build a prop and unfortunately I'm having a hard time even finding information on what it would have looked like. I'm envisioning some sort of reel to reel system with controls that look like some of the "smaller" units on this site.

Any suggestions to help me figure out what this thing should look like would be greatly appreciated. Brand's and models of equipment to research would be really helpful.

 

[BillESC]

This might do the trick.

Dictaphone Wax Recorder, 1910's
This is an early dictaphone that recorded to a wax cylinder. It was huge, heavy and bulky but this was state of the art stuff for it's time. The rounded shelving on the bottom of the stand was for storing either blank or already recorded wax cylinders. To "erase" a cylinder already used, you had a little peeling unit that simply shaved the wax off the outside of the unit. Eventually, the cylinder wasn't any good because too much wax had to be peeled off it. By all means, you wouldn't want to get these ah too hot as they might ah melt. Developed for business executives to sound out letters their secretaries would then type, there isn't much doubt about the wax recorder being used to audio record "evidence." Speaking of business executives recording their letters and memos for others to type, I have often wondered why all the time and expense was wasted on this instead of requiring business executives to learn how to type themselves. Of course, typing was a "skill" and also required spelling skills. You can click here to learn more about wax recorders.

This link will take you to a history of recording and the machines used.

Audio Recording Evidence History

 

[jkowtko]

Yeah, I would agree with Bill -- something more like a gramaphone. Unless this is a state-of-the-art recording studio ahead of its time, seems like magnetic tape would have come 10-15 years later.

If you haven't already, check out wikipedia for 'gramaphone'. Also follow the link to 'recording and replaying sound' to get a timeline.

 

[jwl868]

Maybe try googling for images of radio studios in 1930s and 1940s. Or maybe radio station histories. There was a lot of radio propaganda in the 1930s and 1940s, but I don't like searching for nazi sites even for scholarly reasons.

Joe

 

[waynehoskins]

Yeah, that's a few years before mag tape. I think we (or the Germans) had just invented wire recording then.

As to the general look and feel of older radio equipment, take a look at Collins Radio, their older amateur A line and their art deco commercial lines. Beautiful and heavy.

 

[museav]

The Germans had tape recording technology then but WWII delayed anyone else having the technology for a few years. Wire recording started in 1939 but primarily used by the military and was 'state of the art'. Recording to disc was much more common at that time.

Here is a good summary of recording technology history, Recording Technology History, of special interest might be the comment

1931 - RCA tried to market coarse groove discs of "Vitrolac" vinyl plastic that ran at 33-1/3 rpm "professional" speed, but it failed to replace popular 78 rpm consumer speed; however, the professional transcription disc coated with cellulose acetate remained the standard transcription disc for radio station recording until magnetic tape was adopted in 1948.

 

[Van]

I believe we used a turntable set up, one guy stood there with a brush wiping the LP as if it were cutting a master in a studio. Build a big box ouut of wood , stain and shellac it, use Bills picture as refernce for the "mic". and no one will be the wiser. Remember the "Baffle them with BS" addage.

 

[Dover]

The recording scene in the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" should help you out.

 

[TimmyP1955]

I don't think you need to go crazy. A vintage style microphone (Heil Classic Pro - discontinued, but available on eBay - you can actually use it, and EQ it for a radio quality sound as an effect), cabled to a "black box" on a table, and a man wearing an old style headset (Grado - which sound great).

 

[avkid]

Robert Auld is a great source of information on historical audio.

The Art of Recording the Big Band, Pt.1

Countant.org has some early RCA ribbon mics from the correct time period.

Classic Ribbon Mics


Radio was almost completely live until the second world war.

 

[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]

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.