IMMATERIAL IN THE MATERIAL: A STUDY ON 78RPM AUDIO CARRIERS IN PORTUGUESE COLLECTIONS

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Immaterial in the Material: A study on 78rpm audio carriers in Portuguese collections

Publication . Belchior, Susana; Ramos, Ana Maria; Castelo-Branco, Salwa

In 1887, Emile Berliner patented the gramophone and its flat lateral-cut records, a format that was the basis of the birth of the music recording industry. The aim of this study is to contribute to the history of sound recording and to the preservation of shellac discs through a better knowledge of the material and immaterial aspects of industrial record manufacture during the acoustic period, ca. 1898-1925, through a multidisciplinary approach, combining research methods from ethnomusicology, history of technology and conservation sciences. The first part of this study is dedicated to the history of the recording companies and record labels active in Europe during the acoustic era, considering the different perspectives of their activity in these early decades: from artist and repertoire selection to the technical challenges of the early recording sessions, and to the marketing and distribution strategies that led to the implementation of this emerging industry across the globe, with Portugal serving as a case study of how the business relations could lead to the introduction of local labels in a country with no manufacturing facilities, and how major companies, like the Gramophone Co., operated in these smaller markets. The study then goes into the more technical aspects of record manufacture, with a focus on the procedures inside the factory. Shellac disc compound recipes were compiled, retrieving information from patents and historical documentation, to assess the most common ingredients used over time by each company as fillers, binders, and additives. This then led to the second part of this study, where a set of shellac discs from Portuguese collections was analysed with a non-destructive method, µ-EDXRF, with the aim of identifying the materials used as fillers and ascertain whether it would be possible to attribute a specific pattern or a tendency to the production of each European factory over time. This study may enable the material characterization of the production of each factory over time, allowing in the future a better knowledge of the manufacturing location of local labels whose history is little known up to now, being also important for further studies on the preservation of these sound carriers – which are important information providers themselves, and need to be preserved together with the audio signal they carry.

2021-12-16Tese de doutoramento

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Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Número da atribuição

SFRH/BD/80411/2011