Difference between revisions of "The Victrola"

Revision as of 12:33, 26 March 2008

Physical Description of the Victrola

The portable Victrola is designed as a container for the playback of sound. It is contained in a hard suitcase for the purpose of mobility and the protection from possible damages that would arise from being in transit. There is a handle which is semiotically associated with a brief case, and affords the ability to carry it in motion. The exterior of the portable Victrola cannot be differentiated from any other briefcase. The crank is located on the side of the machine that juts out when in use. The crank can be taken out, and stored in the case. On the corner of the case there is a container for storing needles. There is a place to store the records in order to carry around many at a time. The horn is not visible, and cannot be accesed.

Material Affordances of the Portable Victrola

The portable Victrola has a partially predetermined volume. There is no tool for the mechanical adjustment of volume within the device itself. However, if one were to close the container slightly, the sound would diminish. Although this is an inconvenience of the device, in other competing formats where the user is given control over the volume, the clarity o the recording is altered at the same time. The volume level of the portable Victrola suggests that it could be used outdoors. In the competing formats such as the gramophone, the adjusting spring could be tightened or loosened allowing variation in volume and clarity and the tone would be come less clear as the volume grew louder. (Sterne, 215)However, it is partially possible for the user to increase the volume by replacing a sharp needle with a dull one. What this did was to create a louder volume, however the volume accompanied by a less articulated tone. Thus it was up to the user to decide how s/he preferred to hear the recording. Although sound was pre-recorded, it could be expressed in a multiplicity of ways, and afforded consumer preference and active involvement in the perception of the recording. In a sense, there was a collaboration between the studio engineers, and the listeners. By eliminating certain aspects of the original recording event, and augmenting others, the user could partially manipulate the way in which the recording was heard. For example, Jonathan Sterne notes that if one were to point the machine towards the wall, the bass sound would increase. The portable model of the Victrola afforded it to be positioned according to the user’s preference, and placed in an infinite variety of acoustic situations. The user of the Victrola had to mechanically wind the machine in order for it to work. The more that the machine was wound, the longer it would play. However, the duration of the recording itself determined the length of the playback, and therefore the length of the sonic expression was mechanized.The portable Victrola allowed the user to hear the record being played back at different intervals of speed. Therefore it was up to the listener to determine how s/he wanted to hear the recording. However, the device symbolically suggests that the middle level would be the most accurate and truthful expression of the original sound recording event.

Material Substrate and Sonic Representation

If one were to listen to the early phonographic recordings, one would notice that they sound somewhat flat or “tinny” and contain “pops and hisses.” This is due to the process and materials used to record the sound. The early recordings on wax surface were unsuccessful in capturing the heavy bass notes, and notes from the top end of the spectrum. “Loud sounds would force the stylus to the edge of the groove and sometimes beyond it, ruining the record.” (Sterne, 200) In the earliest recordings, music was captured by the phonograph’s horn and then channeled to the recording stylus. Sometimes the elements captured the sound accurately, and other times the material used in the construction of the instrument, the room’s size and dimensions, noise from outside, would all get incorporated into the recording. The earliest phonographic recordings were impractical, in that they could only hold two minutes worth of sound. (Steffen, 27) Wax was used as the material substrate for recording, because it allowed for a more defined and sharper recording, because the grooving was closer together than that of tinfoil. However, recordings on wax were significantly softer then tin foil. (ibid, 28)

Precursors to the Victrola

The Victrola is situated in a technological history automated devices that mediated sonic performance the music box, to the piano roll. The mediation comes from machines meant to read inscriptions and codes and thus to mechanize a sonic event. The automation would produce “live music” and could only be repeated using the machines that were present. The Musical Box was one of the first automatic instruments. It was manufactured in Switzerland in 1814 and was the first use of the cylinder in the production of music. There was a winding lever, and a “fan-shaped governor” to regulate the speed. With one winding, the instrument could run by itself for two hours. (Science > Vol. 12, No. 306 (Dec., 1888), pp. 286-288) The Victrola is a remediation of the Musical Box, using much of the same technology in its process of automation. The winding lever is present in the mechanical Victrolas, as well as the ability to regulate speed. The telegraph is another invention that directly preceded the creation of the phonograph. It was invented by Samuel Morse in 1844 and was the first invention to provide instantaneous communication of information through space. The telegraph created the possibility of disembodied communication, where face-to-face interaction was no longer necessary for interaction. It is possible to see the first instantiation of disembodied performance as the telegraph operator could make patterns that were broad casted elsewhere.

Stenography and the Encoding and Decoding of Messages

Stenography can be seen as a precursor to the earlier forms of audio/visual representation, as well as a cultural paradigm from which Edison’s initial intention for the phonograph developed. Stenography, also known as “short hand,” was a system of representation used prior to the phonograph, and was replaced by the phonograph. Its function was to capture live testimonials, and transcribe them verbatim. Eventually stenography evolved into phonography, which was a more advanced version of the former. Stenography was taught to students, and used widely by teachers. It was taught to students because it was known to utilize intellect as well as mechanical dexterity. (Headline: One of the Marvels of the Nineteenth Century. Sound Recording Itself; Article Type: News/Opinion Paper: Porcupine's Gazette, published as The Pittsfield Sun; Date: 10-31-1861; Volume: LXII; Issue: 3189; Page: [1]; Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) In combination with still photographs, stenography was used as a method of recording history (Gitelman, 25) It attempted to capture and edify aspects of oral expression, and evolved to focus on the vocal element as opposed to the spelling of the word. (Gitelman, 25) The logic of capturing oral expression was extended into the subsequent invention of the Phomoautograph. This device was invented by M.L. Scott and purported to visibally fix sound on a tablet. In the representation of sound on a tablet, each sound could be seen as visually distinct. Human voice was able to be distinguished from the sound produced by musical instruments. The acoustic vocabulary of tones and frequencies were employed to show how different sounds were represented visually on the tablet. This is a remediation of stenography as it attempted to capture the ephemeral sonic event, and to represent this event visually in a semiotic system. However, stenography employed writing, and the language used was the alphabet. It relied almost exclusively on the human labor of the stenographer. The Phomoautograph relied on the interface between sound and machinery much like the camera did with visual material substrate. There was an attempt to transcribe the graphic representation of sonic waves back into words, thus mimicking the process of stenography, however, this proved to be impossible, as all words looked visually different. “It is difficult to imagine the importance of the discovery, whether in respect it be in respect to the unimpeachable accuracy of the process, the entire absence or trouble and expense in reporting any articulate sounds, or the great saving of time, and exhausting labors of parliamentary reporters.” (Porcupine’s Gazette)The Phonograph extended the notion of converting oral experience into evidence. (26) The notion of short-hand used in order to capture oral experience is seen in the 18th. Century. “..The fallies of imagination and the falutary advise of wisdom and experience would die with their professors, and be unavailing to posterity.” “By it we can make the copious effusions of animated oratory our own, catch the beautiful or the sublime, from the lips of the speaker we admire.”Headline: On the Art of Common, and That of Stenography or Short Writing; Article Type: News/Opinion Paper: State Gazette of South-Carolina; Date: 12-17-1793; Volume: LV; Issue: 4296; Page: [3];) The Phonograph solved the problem of stenography in that it got rid of the anxiety of inaccuracy due to fallibility of the stenographers. Stenography evolved into another form of writing called Phonography, which was intended for teachers. The use of the word Phonography first appeared in 1845. The art of Phonography was “intended to benefit mankind.” (Headline: Pursuit of Knowledge; Article Type: News/Opinion Paper: Sun, published as The Pittsfield Sun.; Date: 07-15-1847; Volume: XLVII; Issue: 2443; Page: [1]; Location: Pittsfield, Massachusetts)