Electrical Recording, 1925

In 1925 electrical recording gave dynamics to the microphone and made intimate singing possible.

Time and place

New York and London, 1925. Columbia and Victor adopted the Western Electric system, ending acoustic recording through a horn.

What happened

The old system placed players before a horn whose diaphragm cut the groove directly, cutting low and high frequencies and forcing the band close together. The new system turned sound into an electrical signal, amplified it and drove a cutter. Frequency response widened, volume came under a knob, and singers could work at different distances.

What changed

The microphone reshaped arranging and singing. A singer no longer had to overpower a band and could use a speaking register at low volume; crooning followed. Dance bands added guitar, muted trumpet and strings, balanced through the microphone.

Listen to the turn

Texas Tommy Swing is a 1910s dance number; hear the density of the tutti and the hard edge of the drums, written for dance-hall volume. Morton's The Crave is solo piano, its bass heavy and its layers carried by the fingers. Gershwin's Do it Again, from 1922, has a narrow range and short phrases, made for quiet singing at the microphone.

The turn belongs to Modern; see the Microphone and the Voice.

Listen in the library

Texas Tommy SwingC12:181910 年代舞曲，齐奏密度与鼓的硬边是为舞厅音量写的DetailsThe CraveC14:31莫顿的钢琴独奏，低音厚重，层次全靠手指控制DetailsDo it Again!C12:431922 年流行歌，音域窄、句幅短，适合麦克风前的轻声唱Details

All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).

Sources

Grove Music Online, entry "Recording"（Oxford University Press），用于核对 1925 年电气录音的采用与频响
Tim Brooks, Lost Sounds（University of Illinois Press, 2004），用于核对声学与电气录音的工艺差别

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.

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