Victor and Columbia adopt electrical recording
Western Electric licenses the Bell Laboratories microphone-and-amplifier recording system to the two leading American record companies; Victor contracts for commercial use in March and issues its first electrically recorded orchestral sides in April. The usable bandwidth roughly triples. Instruments the acoustic horn could barely register — string bass, bass drum, quiet guitar, an unforced voice — become recordable, so ensembles no longer have to be rearranged around the machine, and a rhythm section can be heard doing what it actually does.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Electrical recording · technology · not located
- Sound recording · technology · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
1925: Western Electric / Bell Labs electrical recording
Western Electric licensed the Bell Laboratories electrical recording system to Victor and Columbia in 1925; Victor contracted in March and issued its first electrical orchestral recording in April; the Harrison and Maxfield matched-impedance recorder handled roughly 50–6,000 Hz against the acoustic process's roughly 250–2,500 Hz. V55 verification basis: retrieved in search summary attributed to this technical history; the article was not opened, no Bell Laboratories or company record was consulted, and the frequency figures should be read as approximate.
Mix (audio-industry technical history series) · Partly verified
mixonline.com, technical history of the 1925 Western Electric electrical recording system
Recorded on Electrical recording
- Edison demonstrates recorded and reproduced sound
- Berliner patents the gramophone
- The first jazz record is made
- KDKA broadcasts
- Victor and Columbia adopt electrical recording
- The Kumasi Trio record in London
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The Kumasi Trio record in London · 1928
- KDKA broadcasts · 1920-11-02
- The first jazz record is made · 1917-02-26
- Berliner patents the gramophone · 1887-11-08
- Edison demonstrates recorded and reproduced sound · 1877