Dean Benedetti‘s disc cutter.

[Hardbopjazz]

 This is the disc cutter that Dean  Benedetti  lugged around in New York when he recorded Bird on 52nd street. 

 This unit is so cumbersome to carry around, it makes me appreciate even more his effort in recording Charlie Parker. 

 

[Ted O'Reilly]

Nope, that looks like a wire recorder to me.  (A loser to tape machines in the world of recording.)

[Dave James]

1 hour ago, Ted O'Reilly said:

Nope, that looks like a wire recorder to me.  (A loser to tape machines in the world of recording.)

I thought Benedetti used a wire recorder.

[jazzbo]

He used a disc recorder, then a wire recorder.

[Gheorghe]

I have listened again to this one, which is one of my favourite Albums. Actually the first time I had a taste of it was in the 70´s when there was a sampler on CBS "Miles Davis Greatest Hits" wich had two tunes from that Album: My Funny Valentine and the Ultra fast Version of "All Blues". 

And Right now while I read this I remember I actually saw all members of the second Miles Davis quintet live , each of them with their own later Groups: Miles anyway on several occasions, George Coleman , the short "replacement" Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter of Course, Herbie, Ron, Tony, and the unit as VSOP . 

 

[Gheorghe]

oh sorry, wrong thread 

 

[Ted O'Reilly]

9 hours ago, jazzbo said:

He used a disc recorder, then a wire recorder.

That's what I understood.  My remark is only referring to the description of the device as 'a disc cutter'. 

[jazzbo]

I got that. Was just adding a clarifying bit.

[JSngry]

I still don't get how somebody figured that recording to wire was a strategy?

[jazzbo]

It wasn't that sonically deficient, better than 78 rpm disc. No surface noise.

[Hardbopjazz]

Well, what I posted up top is what is on display at the  jazz museum of Harlem.   This is what Dean used to record Charlie Parker when he came to New York Following Bird.  

[jazzbo]

Interesting that they have the actual machine. Very cool. He did use the wire recorder in NYC and the disc cutter in California. Thank goodness we had him, he contributed a considerable amount of Bird to posterity.

[JSngry]

2 hours ago, jazzbo said:

It wasn't that sonically deficient, better than 78 rpm disc. No surface noise.

Yeah, that part I get. It's just wire in general, just seems like a weird idea to think about using wire for that.

[jazzbo]

Well, I get it. . . magnetism. Made sense to have some metal moving for that purpose, and wire was a good way to do that. It was the next step to have metallic particles on tape. . . but I get that magnetism was the way into the process.

[Ed S]

Interesting video on wire recorders:

 

Retro Tech - Recording on Wire

[medjuck]

Wow! I didn't know that wire recorders actually used ahh.. wire!  (Seriously I presumed that it was a metal  reel that looked like a roll of narrow audio tape.)

[JSngry]

The wire was just so thin...like fishing line.

Magnetism, sure. But sound waves, frequency/dynamic range, vertical wave forms....wire?

Oh well, they got there with tape, thank god.

 

[jazzbo]

Well, that's the way things develop. Wire was something known, something to work with. It sure sounded better than lacquer discs. And then a further development. .. magnetic tape. But they didn't get to the tape before using the wire and discovering its limitations.

Now there's. . . digital. . . a whole other ballgame.

[Ted O'Reilly]

On 7/12/2019 at 3:30 PM, Ed Swinnich said:

Interesting video on wire recorders:

 

Retro Tech - Recording on Wire

I worked at a radio station in the early '60s that dumped old equipment in the basement.  Rummaging around one day I saw a wire recorder, and a metal cabinet dedicated to the complete Lang-Worth transcription library, each disc carefully put away, and likely played but once.  I should have stolen the whole damn thing...