New-York tribune., 1921-10-23


Beethoven and Verdi to his audience. And
the modern phonograph laboratory is the
best school of music craftsmanship that can
be found.
A large part of this putting over is done by
the laboratory director. Said one of them:
"We stage record the way Belasco would
stage a play or 1nce would stage a picture.
After we have chosen the song and picked the
right artist to sing it the MUSICAL director and
] decide on the setting. Is it to be straight
orchestral accompaniment and are we to have
a male quartet or mixed chorus joining in the
refrains? 1t all depends on the nature of the
selection.
IAN operate aria has to be treated much as
it would in real opera. People want their
Puccini just about is, but with an old ia
vorite like annie Laurie or Garry Me Back
to Old Virginny' you can do all sorts of things,
and the problem is which arrangement would
be most effective and satisfactory to the
greatest number Of persons. 1t must sound
fresh and unhackneyed and yet not depart too
radically from accepted Standards For in
stance, if you tried out clever new version
Of old Black Joe, with modernized harmonies
and other novel changes, a lot Of people would
balk at it and say: This isn't the way we're
used to hearing It, These old songs are al
ways wrapped up in sentiment that has to be
respected, we have to treat them SYM
pathetically and reverently--almost the way
you'd treat fellows mother. AS a matter Of
fact, the simplest Of these old favorites is
harder to record just right than some tech
nically difficult stuff Of to-day.
"When we've picked the selection and the
singer singers, our musical director ar
ranges an orchestral accompaniment that will
complete the picture. The opening bars, be-
fore the singer comes in, must establish the
mood-put the hearer in joyful, pensive or
sad frame Of mind, as the case may be, con-
juring up for him magical East, if it is an
Oriental number, making him think of Scot
land or Erin's Isle, Dixie plantation or an
Indian encampment at sunset. BY the time
the soloist begins the hearer must be already
under the spell. All the way through the
instrumental setting must supplement the
voice, echoing the melody and taking it up
appealingly between stanzas and concluding
with just the right finale. Have you ever
noticed how many records end in fade-outs, like
the movies?
sIndeed, when you come down t5 it, record
to the eye, and in home instead Of in thea
ter. We plan it for the home. Notice this
room where we try out the test records. 1t is
about the size Of the average living room and
is carpeted and furnished accordingly. If
record sounds clear and enjoyable in these sur
roundings-neither too loud nor too faint-it
will sound right when people play it in their
homes.
"The artists, too, have to be made to feel at
home. The hack singers of the old days used
to work in drab, barnlike surroundings. A
soprano who had come to record tender love
song might have to do SO standing on an old
soap box. To-day we have the most sensitive
artistic temperaments to deal with, and we do
all we can to put them at their ease. For
reasons having to do with acoustics the re-
cording room has to be quite bare, but you
will notice that it is not really ugly: And be-
fore the artist comes into it he gets 'accli-
mated in surroundings that are as attractive
as we can make them He is received at the
private street entrance, which is like that of
an exclusive club; is taken up in special ele-
vator to handsome music room containing a
grand piano and easy chairs-just the sort
of music room he would like to have in his own
are brought to him. Here he warns up his
voice and gets into the mood for singing-and
then, when he is feeling in the spirit of the
thing, he passes into the recording room and
makes the record"
Scientific coddling, you'd say. But Einstein
was right--to deal successfully with stars one
has to get onto their curves
Artists can be coached and cajoled into CIV
ing great performances Laboratory wizards
can achieve secret wonders in wax. but the
most remarkable thing that the phonograph
people have accomplished is in the nation at
large--getting the people to like music
I'VE are practically in the show business" is
how the general manager of one of the largest
companies puts it. "And we are at the dis
advantage of having to perform our show at
long distance. Instead of learning the wants
of single LOCAL community, we have to fill the
wants of all~ Our large composite audience
is made up Of all walks of life, from the high
brow and the man of means to the farmer and
factory worker. This necesstates close
study Of human nature and conditions everv
where, and the ability to choose music and
singers that will be most pleasing to the pub
lie. And this choice must be made from an
enormous mass of publications and from thou