The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-08
A MAN WHO SEES SOUND.
PECULIAR WORK IN PHONo-
GRAPH ESTABLISHMENT.

Between "MaSters" and "Dubs."
People Who Make Living by
singing Into Machines-OnIy Con-
/ Germ of Young German NodieF.
From New York Commercial-Advertiser.
Speaking Of the head record taker OF a
! large phonograph establishment in This
| city a man connected with the central
Office of the same firm said, enthusiastic
ally
"Ah he is wonder. He can see
sounds"
In answer TO a question. he explained
that by looking at the almost microscopic
! indentatons on photograph cylinder the
superintendent OF the record department
of the company in question could tell, not
only the kind Of instrument that produced
it, but also the tune 1t contains. Taking
ont number of records or wax cylinders
covered with fine grooves. the clerk then
asked whether the visitor could tell the
| difference between them. The latter ad-
mittod that to him they had no more indi-
viduallty than the separate hairs on his
head.
well. you wouldn't say that II you had
TO handle these cylinders by the hundred
every day in the week" said the clerk,
with a smile "An coons look alike. yet
when you live down South and see more
niggers than while men you get it SO that
! each coon has his own looks for you, and
you don't mix them up. So we can tell
! the difference between some cylinders and
| others. Those who work in the record
| taking department. particularly the en-
piOyes of the testing room could easily
| tell the record OF a piano from that of a
| piccOlo or a whistle, for instance. But no
| body in the whole country, or, for the
| matter of that. in the whole world comes
/ up TO our superintendent. He cant explain
| how he distinguishes the various records.
| but he does it. OF course, he has been
| many years in the business. but / think he
| Is endowed with a special faculty, pecu-
| liar kind of instinct sort of sixth sense,
! which enables him to see the recorded
sounds almost as easily as you and 1 hear
| the original ones"
The record taking department was found
! busy. AS the visitor stood in the dingy
! corridor he was greeted by a medley of
human voices and musical instruments. In
| the orchestra room he found a group of
! musicians seated on a platform facing
| five suspended tunnels or horns. These
| converged with their broader sides at
| central point directly in front of the or
| chestra. one of the superintendents as
! sistants took up an enormous megaphone,
| and aiming il at the horns, he called out:
"A descriptive selection, 'On the Road
| played by the celebrated So-and-So Or
/ chestra."
His words could be heard for blocks
| around, but in their final form as they
were to be reproduced by thousands of
| monographs they were supposed to be
| the announcement of the next number"
by the presiding genius of a concert
! No sooner had the record-taker with
!
| struck up a tune all leVeiing their in
| struments at the five conveTging horns in
| front of them. When they were through
| the five cylinders bearing the record of
| the descriptive selection" were taken into
| the testing room where they were exam
! ined and put into a photograph with a
| horn as big as the megaphone through
| which the announcement had been made
| This announcement and the selection were
| reproduced with remarkable faithfunesS.
| The records were accepted and were christ
| ened Masters" or original records from
/ which thousands of duplicates or "dubs"
| We're to be made in the same way as these
! masters had been produced by the human
| voice and the orchestra. To make dub
| the master" is operated in a reproducing
| monograph placed against the conVerging
| horns of two or three other monographs
! each with recording adjustment When
| The cylinders of these have received the
| record they are taken off to make room
| for other cylinders, and the photograph
| containing the master is set i'm motion
once more. going over the same selection
The operation is repeated until the desired
| number of "dubs" is reached
The masters are the children and the
| 'dubs' the grandchildren of the human
voice or the Instruments said the re-
cord-tal<er, jokingly. THE public never
hears the children, All the Photographs
You see, from the cheapest up to the best
1 80
we would, for an orchestra can only pro-
duce four or five at a time and some of
| these are liable 10 be rejected as defec-
tive; but the 'dubs' are quite as good
| Each Of our solo singers, for instance
sings into TWO machines at a time, so that
each time he sings song we get two rec
ords one of which may be rejected But
the one which is acceptable in its turn
sings the same song into scores of other
! monographs, so that while we pay the
| singer a dollar we can afford to sell the
dubs containing his song at a very COW
| price
one of these singers was a robust young
man with a rudy German face He made
his living by yodling Tyrol songs into the
| Tin horns of two recording instruments.
| When there is plenty to do and his voice
is in trim he spends whole days yodling
| the same song or Two.
| After having performed a piece of yod-
| ring 10 his own satisfaction, he followed
the records into tine testing room, where
standing in front of the big brass horn of
a grand" he soon heard his own words
and his own yodling. The reproduction was
so exact that the stranger burst out laugh
ing Not so the yodler. He stood listening
to his own voice gravely, almost solemn
| lY, as il the sounds came to him from a
| grave.
The visitor thought it very pathetic, and
when il was all over he said to the yoder
1T must be very interest ng to hear your
own voice from this dumb machine There
is something touching about it, isn't
| there"
The yodler gave him a perplexed look
and said:
"When both records are rejected we
don't get paid for the song. So | was lis
| teninC to hear if il was all right"
FORMS OF SUPERSTITION.
some Noted People Have Very Curi-