The Association for Recorded Sound Collections presents the following program from its 2011 ARSC Annual Conference at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, Los Angeles, California on Friday, May 13, 2011:
THE REDISCOVERY, RESTORATION, AND RESURRECTION OF THE LOST COLUMBIA MULTIPLEX GRAPHOPHONE OF 1900
Presented by Dr. Mike Khanchalian, Monrovia, CA, and Charley Hummel, New Jersey
This presentation will unveil the story of the legendary Columbia Multiplex Grapho-phone of 1900, believed to have been lost to history. This remarkable machine was designed by Thomas MacDonald to take the listener to the outer limits of recorded sound possibilities for 1900! It was constructed for the Columbia Phonograph Company, and first demonstrated at their booth at the World's Fair of 1900 in Paris, France. This Graphophone accommodated a mammoth wax cylinder of from 9-3/4 inches up to a probable 14 inches in length, and 6-1/2 inches in external diameter. The concept was to reproduce synchronously from its surface the modulation of three different simultaneously recorded grooves with a pitch of 100 t.p.i. The selection of a single musical or spoken presentation of some two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half minutes in length was amplified through three fifty-six inch horns and employed three separate floating reproducers. Also, an alternative was made available: a morphologically identical cylinder with a single recorded track from one end of the cylinder to the other, rather than three tracks. A singular reproducer was employed to reproduce the selection of some seven to ten minutes through a single fifty-six inch horn. Only built to order and costing $1,000, a single example of this machine was ordered, specially built, and delivered to the Shah of Persia the following year. In 1904 an improved version of the Multiplex Grand was prepared and demonstrated at the St. Louis World's Fair in the Columbia booth. During this presentation a detailed historical overview will be given and some recent significant discoveries in regard to this legendary technology will be elucidated and presented for the first time to the international recorded sound community.
THE ASSOCIATION FOR RECORDED SOUND COLLECTIONS (www.arsc-audio.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings, in all genres of music and speech, in all formats, and from all periods. ARSC is unique in bringing together private individuals and institutional professionals-everyone with a serious interest in recorded sound.
Videographers: Michael and Leah Biel
Editor: Nathan Georgitis