Cook Labs records, 1939-2002, bulk 1948-1965
date: label: Date
content: 1939
label: Date
content: 1939-2002
label: Date
content: bulk 1948-1965
label: Date
content: 18th century
name: label: Creator
content: Cook Labs
label: Creator
content: Cook, Emory 1913-2002
label: Subject
content: Cook Labs
notes: label: Notes
content: Emory Cook (1913-2002) is widely regarded as one of the top audio engineers of all time. Born and raised in Albany, New York, he joined the Army Air Corps in 1932. After his discharge in 1934 he obtained his degree from Cornell University and began working for Western Electric in the Audio Engineering Force. During World War II, while still at Western Electric, Cook supervised the creation of a fire-controlled radar "Trainer," for which he received a commendation from the Service. In the late 1940's, Cook began experimenting with making his own audio equipment. Cook Laboratories was started in 1945 when he developed a new cutting head to be used in record production. Future development of equipment brought about the discovery that he could record frequencies as high as 20,000 hertz, more than any other recording company at the time. He cut a record of piano and organ music to demonstrate this discovery, and took it to the 1949 Audio Fair in New York City. When he demonstrated the record with the hopes to sell the recording equipment, he found that people were much more interested in buying the record itself. Shortly after, Sounds of Our Times, later called Cook Labs, was born.
label: Notes
content: Cook Labs collected many different sounds and was mostly aimed at the devoted high-fidelity listener. Cook believed that hearing was a sense often overlooked by people, and he wanted listeners of his albums to be able to hear things they might otherwise miss. In a New Yorker profile by Daniel Lang in 1956, Cook claimed that hearing was "always being kicked aside in favor of sight... There's a time and a place for everything, and that includes sound." In order to encourage listening, he put out many albums full of everyday sounds, such as Voice of the Sea, an album of ocean sounds, and Eye of the Storm, recorded during a thunderstorm. One of the most successful albums was Rail Dynamics, an album of steam trains pulling in and out of a station.
label: Notes
content: Cook Labs also produced traditional music albums from its plant in Stamford, Connecticut. The label produced everything from organ music to folk, flamenco guitar, calypso and steel band. Cook had little interest in name musicians and instead searched high and low for anything he thought might be an interesting contribution to his label. He even invited listeners to send in their favorite sounds, some of which he eventually recorded. Cook had such a large interest in Calypso music that he set up a second pressing plant in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. There he pressed calypso and steel band music for both a Trinidadian and American audience, and most albums sold well in both countries.
label: Notes
content: In addition to the wide range of music Cook recorded, he was also an inventor. It was Cook who first came up with the idea of pressing records with powdered rather than solid vinyl, a technique he dubbed "microfusion." This technique not only saved money, but cut out many of the traditional crackles and pops associated with records. He also developed the binaural system of recording and playing records, which he thought was superior to the more commonly used stereo method. Binaural was more precise than stereo, and it required placing two microphones six inches apart, approximately the space between two ears, during the recording. It was then played back with a special two-needle playing arm. Binaural recordings were thought by Cook to best duplicate the original sound. Emory Cook died at the age of 89 after a long hospitalization.
label: Notes
content: A finding aid and inventories to the business records and the recordings are available.
label: Notes
content: The Archives acquired the Cook Lab records in 1990, when Emory and Martha Cook donated their company records to the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Anthony Seeger, then Director of Smithsonian Folkways Records, received a call from Mr. Cook in the summer of 1989 offering to donate the Cook label to the Smithsonian. Dr. Seeger visited him in August of that year to view the contents of the collection, and the Smithsonian received custody of the collection in May 1990. In return for the donation from Mr. Cook, the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage agreed to keep the record titles available and to store the papers in the archives.
label: Organization
content: The phonograph records from the Cook label are housed in the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives Reading Room. Duplicate copies, as well as master tapes, are shelved in the Archives stacks. Folders containing business records reside in file drawers in the stacks. The items listed in the inventory of the business records have been assigned an accession number, and like materials have been grouped together, such as documents relating to specific artists
label: Summary
content: The Cook Labs records, which date from 1939-2002, document the activities of audio engineer Emory Cook and his label Cook Labs. The collection consists of two main components: the recordings themselves (both phonograph records and master tapes) and the business records relating to these recordings. The business records contain general information that does not pertain to any one recording in particular. The contents include artist contracts, recording reports, various notes on records produced, photographs of artists, news articles both about and by Emory Cook and Cook Labs, correspondence by Emory Cook and Cook Labs, and other miscellany. Many contracts are signed by both Cook Labs and the artist. Correspondence is primarily between business associates. The collection also contains two interviews were done with Emory Cook in 1990: one by Jeff Place and one by Anthony Seeger and Nicholas Spitzer. The audio recordings of these interviews are in the archives and are included in the finding aid. Lastly, there are several physical objects relating to Cook Labs including a bag of powdered vinyl, a binaural playing arm, and parts of a record cutting head.
label: Cite as
content: Cook Labs records, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution
label: Repository Loc.
content: Smithsonian Institution, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, 600 Maryland Ave., S.W., Suite 2001, Washington, D.C. 20024. Call 202-633-7322 for appointment. Fax: 202-633-7019. Email: rinzlerarchives@si.edu
place: label: Place
content: Caribbean Area
label: Place
content: United States
label: Place
content: Louisiana
label: Place
content: New Orleans
topic: label: Topic
content: Sounds
label: Topic
content: Music
label: Topic
content: Wit and humor
label: Topic
content: Folk music
label: Topic
content: Calypso (Music)
label: Topic
content: Jazz
label: Topic
content: Popular music
setName: label: See more items in
content: Cook Labs records 1939-2002 [Cook Labs]
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
objectType: label: Type
content: Artifacts
label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Contracts
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Phonograph records
label: Type
content: Photographic prints
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Access by appointment only. Contact the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at (202) 633-7322 for additional information
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Copyright restrictions apply. Contact archives staff for additional information
physicalDescription: label: Physical description
content: Phonograph albums 6.3 cubic feet
label: Physical description
content: Audiotapes 63.5 cubic feet
label: Physical description
content: Business records 8.75 cubic feet
label: Physical description
content: (78.55 cubic feet)