Synopsis
This 1942 black and white film (Part 1 of 2, with a 1949 color finale) offers a fully detailed and carefully narrated look at the process by which a 10” shellac 78 rpm commercial audio recording (or a 331⁄3 rpm electrical transcription disc) is produced, mastered, and pressed, featuring footage from an RCA Victor phonograph record plant of the World War II era. This film concludes in color as Periscope Film #XD39044a, which introduces 7” vinyl 45 rpm recordings (TRT: 16:50). Distributor leader. Title card: “Movie Wonderland, 6116 Glen Tower, Hollywood, California” (0:07). “Radio Corporation of America, RCA Victor Presents Command Performance, A William J. Ganz Production” (0:14). “Narrated by Milton Gross” (0:16). Aerial photography. A splice and jump cut. A man surveys the master recording vaults of RCA Victor (likely in Camden, New Jersey), removing master discs with metallic coatings from their protective sleeves. Still photos of Enrico Caruso as Pagliacci, Fyodor Chaliapin or Shalyapin, John Phillip Souza (0:23). Inside RCA’s record pressing plant. Melted wax is poured onto a hot plate, then covered. A flame touches up the wax, which is then left to cool (1:28). Next, the wax disc is passed to a recording room. A stylus is adjusted on a Scully 501 record disc mastering lathe, and Strauss’ Blue Danube Waltz is recorded live by a studio orchestra (2:26). Extreme closeup on the recording stylus as it cuts grooves into the spinning wax. A recording engineer mixes the sound…
Uploader's description on archive.org
Details
- Running time
- 16 minutes
- Collection
- Ephemeral Films
Subjects on the Internet Archive
- Command Performance
- 1949
- RCA
- Victor
- 45 RPM Record
- Stock Footage
- Periscope Film
