An Archive of 10,000 Cylinder Recordings Readied for the Spotify Era

Hyperallergic ^ | Claire Voon

[sparklite2]

From cakewalks to carols, historic sounds of all kinds are preserved at the University of California, Santa Barbara's Cylinder Audio Archive, home to a vast collection of recordings. The UCSB Library first made this archive available online in 2005, but it recently launched a new website that now features over 10,000 cylinder recordings - all available to download or stream online for free.

Cylinders, as the website explains, are what people listened to "before MP3s, CDs, cassettes and vinyl records - First made of tinfoil, then wax and plastic, cylinder recordings, commonly the size and shape of a soda can, were the first commercially produced sound recordings in the decades around the turn of the 20th century." Similar to vinyl, they had engravings of audio recordings on their exterior surface, which phonographs could trace and play.

[sparklite2]

Brown wax-era cylinder featuring "Beau Ideal" by Edison Concert Band (1898 or 1899)
 (all photos courtesy UC Santa Barbara Library. Dept of Special Collections)

[CommieCutter]

BM

[al baby]

Wow how cool my Grampa had a player piano the one with the rolls of paper it was mesmerizing to watch and listen

[sparklite2]

The sound quality of the featured cylinder is way above what I was expecting.

[Fiji Hill]

When I was a kid we had a cylinder record player. One of our favorite cyliners to play was Bake That Chicken Pie (1907) by Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan, two of the most popular singers of the day.

Warning: This song is highly politically incorrect for 2015.

[BOOHA]

LMAO

[sparklite2]

Oh, my.

(Two snaps up)

[publius911]

Bookmark

[T. P. Pole]

Oh, wow.

[BenLurkin]

Very cool!

[smokingfrog]

[Fiji Hill]

Another cylinder that I liked as a kid was Good-Bye, Betty Brown by Frederic H. Potter (1910). Unfortunately, we accidentally broke this one, along with several others--they are made of bee's wax and are very fragile--and I didn't hear it again until Youtube came along more than a half-century later.

[Dr. Sivana]

Warning: This song is highly politically incorrect for 2015.

My 3rd grade teacher brought in her cylinder player and we got to hear "When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam' ". The lyrics aren't politically incorrect, but it was done minstrel show style.

It is on YouTube as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTbxV_YKIxM

[colinhester]

Bflr

[SunkenCiv]

The Edison machines are pretty neat. I don't expect a resurgence of interest in the technology, or a revival of manufacture as we see for collectible vinyl LPs, but they have a constant angular velocity as well as constant linear velocity. The difference versus flat records was ease of storage. A search of YouTube should turn up examples of freelance conversion of the century-plus-old cylindrical recordings.

[Bigg Red]

This is really great. Thanks for posting it.

[sparklite2]

You’re welcome!

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdKk8IziCHg

[TexasRepublic]

“The sound quality of the featured cylinder is way above what I was expecting.”

Believe it or not, the cylinder records often sound even better played on an original phonograph than through a modern loudspeaker. The sound projects much better from a large horn. The cylinder’s fidelity improved over the years, reaching its peak in 1912. I have been collecting them nearly 50 years, so I have a few opinions about them!

[sparklite2]

Just verified with Google that the original
“His Master’s Voice” has the dog listening
to a cylinder, instead of the later windup
record player.