HAPS Newsletter Vol 12, Issue 2 - Hoosier Antique Phonograph

Hoosier Antique
Phonograph Society
www.HoosierAntiquePhonographSociety.com
Volume 12 Issue 2 May 2008
A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT
Judy and I, along with everyone in the H.A.P.S. membership, would like to thank Al Gentry for
all the hard work he invested in the Chapter during the last two years. We were blessed to have a
person of his qualities to lead our Chapter.
This year we hope to get our Chapter involved in bigger events. The August M.A.P.S. Phonovention in Auburn IN will be a start to show the world that we can get things accomplished.
We will be working with the members from Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan to make this one of
the better Phonoventions in years.
I'm looking forward to August. To see all our phonograph collector friends and to spend a couple of days talking about old times, and new items that we have discovered.
PS - Look at something old every day, even if it's just looking into a mirror.
Paul Ladd
Our Next Meeting:
Sunday, May 18th, 1:00 p.m.
Stan Thompson's Home
10360 Hickory Hills Court
Osceola, IN 46516
An Evening with Hennessey & Martin
I first met the married team of Richard Martin and Meagan Hennessey two years ago at a
Hoosier Antique Phonograph Society meeting in Richmond, IN. My first impression was that they were a young, intelligent and well informed
couple... What were they doing there? That question was soon
answered when Richard brought out his wares. It was my first
introduction to Archeophone Records ( www.archeophone.com )
and I’ve been a regular customer ever since. Last Tuesday, I
had the immense pleasure of not only seeing the internal
workings of the business enterprise, but also of being dined and
entertained by this amazing Grammy Award winning duo.
Archeophone Records, LLC
Richard in Sound Studio
By day, I own and operate a medium sized insurance agency.
I have a first hand perspective of the failure rate of start-up business. In my
humble opinion, it takes three steps to mature from a start-up manufacturing / distribution business to a successful enterprise: (1) Research what products the buying
public will purchase, (2) Create an effective marketing plan to distribute a product, (3) Have the
skills and means to create a quality product. Richard and Meagan certainly have their act
together in all three areas.
Research: Archeophone Records have over 39 Compact Disc offerings in their catalog,
many of which are compiled in a “series” approach. Let’s say that I just purchased my first
Victrola and discover that it was manufactured in 1920. I begin purchasing a
few 78 records, but have no idea when the records were recorded. I’d like to
find an inexpensive collection of “Hits” from 1920 to hear for myself popular
selections and various musical styles of that year. One need look no further
than Archeophone’s Phonographic Yearbook series 1920: "Even Water's
Getting Weaker" [ARCH 9001A (2nd ed.)] with 25 selections of some really
fun music.
Warehousing
"Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry", 1891-1922 [ARCH
1005] won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Historical Album. "Actionable Offenses: Indecent
Phonograph Recordings from the 1890s" [ARCH 1007] was nominated for the 2007 Grammy
Award for Best Historical Album. These two accomplishments alone should be enough to
demonstrate the company’s attention to detail. But then, just last month,
these two entrepreneurs together with David Giovannoni and Patrick
Feaster amazed the world by resurrecting the world’s oldest recording
from a 1860 Leon Scott Phonoautograph etching on smoked paper
medium. (See April 2008 Hoosier-phone for press release)
Marketing Plan: You can create the world’s finest water trough,
but if you don’t show it to the horses... well you get the idea. To be a
Shipping
successful merchant, you take your wares to the consumer. Today’s consumer
enjoys making their purchasing decisions from the comfort of their computer
monitor and keyboard. They make certain demands of a web site before they
part with their credit card number. The site must portray a successfully run
business, be informative, and make the purchasing process convenient and
secure. All this can be found at www.archeophone.com. Among other duties,
Meagan creates and maintains web sites for her employer. In her spare time,
she does the same thing for their business with amazing results. The husband
and wife team seem to share a single vision of quality first. It is self evident in
the artwork, carefully detailed descriptions and presentation of their web site
and in their products.
Amberola 30 with
electronic pickup
The warehouse/distribution area is well stocked and organized. New
professionally published product arrives in bulk at one end, and consumer distribution ships
from the other. Archeophone has several distribution avenues, but finds direct sales from their
own web site outpacing all others. Marketing and distribution channels alone will not guarantee
repeat buyers. One must offer something well worth the purchase price, which
brings us to the most important success asset.
Quality Product: I have transferred many 78’s and a few cylinders to
digital form for my own amusement, mostly with varied and unsatisfactory
conclusions. Richard does it on a daily basis with the desired result - a recording
that is enjoyable to hear. Archeophone's first release was “Real Ragtime” in 1998.
Back then the compilation of public domain music was digitized and cleaned with
state-of-the-art software, burned onto recordable compact discs (CD-R) adorned
with a self-adhesive paper label, booklet and jewel case inserts printed with their
personal ink jet printer. This labor-intensive production technique soon gave way
to professionally stamped and printed CD’s and accompanying inserts. Like all
true artists, Richard will never leave well enough alone. "Real Ragtime: Disc Recordings From Its Heyday" [ARCH 1001A] is in its second edition release with
Real Ragtime:
today’s
newest technology sound conditioning under the control of a perfectionist.
Bottom CD is from
original release on
homemade CDR,
Top image is
current 2nd
Edition pressing
Richard invited me into his transfer studio where I had the time of my life
gazing longingly at all of his toys, better known as studio production equipment.
He uses several different techniques for a transfer. Let us say his current project
requires him to record a cylinder onto his hard drive. Since each cylinder is
different, there is no hard and fast rule for transfer. One cylinder works best being played back
on his Edison Standard with a custom built electronic pickup. Another cylinder requires being
digitized on a $25,000 price tagged Archeophone archival unit, which he has access to. For
other recordings, his work area is well equipped with a variety of phonograph cartridges and
many different styli for all the variations of groove width and groove wear. If the 78-rpm record
he is working on has a “sweet spot”, he’ll find it.
At our last Hoosier Antique Phonograph Society meeting in April, Richard and Meagan
mentioned to a couple of members their desire to produce a future CD of a particular artist.
Those HAPS members volunteered to loan their valuable and rare cylinders for the project.
It was my good fortune to be present in Richard’s studio to hear the beginnings of the transfer
process. He uses professional caliber software programs to master the transfer very selectively.
Richard identifies noise, tells the software to remove it, and then instructs the software to play
back only the selected noise to make sure he is not removing anything musical. He informed
me that software programs often identify percussion or drums as well as other musical attributes
as noise. An experienced sound engineer in his element.
Before Richard and Meagan prepared a world-class meal for
our dining pleasure, I was conducted to the computer center where
the company’s web site is created and updated. Here too, the
artwork and text for the CD labels, booklets and inserts are designed.
They have access to a wealth of detailed artwork covering more than
100 years of sound recording history. As a testament to this
team’s attention to detail, the CD booklet is as much fun to read, as
their CD is to hear.
Meagan at the helm of her
computer workstation.
My insurance office is complete with Victor and Edison phonographs. When entering
my work place, you’ll most likely hear me playing one of my many Archeophone CD’s. Recently a client of mine asked me why I would play a CD of music when I could be playing the
same record from my Victrola. My answer was simple; “I often play my phonographs, but
rarely during the workday. It tends to interrupt my concentration when I have to get up and change records and needles
every 3 minutes.” I enjoy surrounding myself with the
things that I like. An office filled with phonographs and
Archeophone music almost makes the paperwork enjoyable.
Tim McCormick
Hoosier Antique Phonograph Society
President: Paul Ladd
Treasurer: Richard Oxenrider
Editor: Tim McCormick
2951 W. Stratford Cir.
Crawfordsville, IN 47933
Professional Model John Everman
showing off the new HAPS line of
apparel. Examples will be available
at Stan’s home on Sunday.
Web Site:
www.HoosierAntiquePhonographSociety.com
The meeting was graciously hosted by Jeff and Joanne Lendaro at their beautiful Victorian home in downtown Noblesville. In attendance were Rick and Kathy Aldrich, Gerald and Marjorie Fitzpatrick, John Everman and
Theresa Crowe, Richard Martin and Meagan Hennessey, Paul and Judy Ladd, Stu and Pat Marsh, Stan Thompson,
Rod Pickett, Pete McCormick, Al & Loraine Gentry, Dick Oxenrider, Jeff and Joanne Lendaro, Tim Fizer, Carlton
Smith, Tim McCormick and Phil & Eileen Stewart.
Once we were able to pry the group away from Jeff’s amazing collection of Victor machines and Joanne’s
wonderful cooking, we gathered for the business meeting.
President Al Gentry opened the meeting asking for the reading of minutes from the previous meeting.
The reading was waived. Next came the Treasurer’s report. Dick Oxenrider reported that there was $321.20 in our
treasury. Next, discussion was directed towards phonovention where we repeated the decisions that were made at
the March 16th HAPS/MAPS meeting at the World War II Victory Museum.
Next Tim McCormick brought up the sore subject of HAPS apparel. He distributed a sample logo with a
line drawing of the stylized “P” phonograph and volunteered to pay for the setup costs to have the logo digitized
for embroidery. It was suggested by President Gentry that a full color version could be done at a later date.
Al Gentry asked for new elections as he wished to resign his office. Secretary Rick Aldrich confirmed
that our group was indeed past due for elections, and also wished to resign his office. Rick informed the group that
since Tim McCormick was now the recently appointed newsletter editor and took notes of each meeting, it would
be redundant to maintain the separate office of Secretary with this solitary duty. He suggested that the editor assume the office of Secretary. Rick also pointed out that traditionally, the Vice President has the duties of editor of
the newsletter. My notes become a little illegible at this juncture.
Paul Ladd was kind enough to volunteer to be nominated for the position of President for a period of one
year. He felt obligated to see Phonovention 2008 through to a successful conclusion. There were several comments from the floor that Paul would be the natural choice as he has spent so much time and energy on the project
to date. As there were no other nominations from the floor, Rod Pickett presented the motion that Paul Ladd be
nominated President, and Tim McCormick be nominated Vice Present/Editor and Secretary and Dick Oxenrider be
re-elected as Treasurer. Jeff Lendaro seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous with Tim McCormick abstaining.
The group as a whole applauded all the efforts and successes of the outgoing President, Vice-President,
Editor and Secretary.
Dick Oxenrider showed the group our Certificate from the Edison Birth Place in appreciation of our donation. Rick Aldrich showed the group our original charter document from MAPS (Both documents to be made
available from our web site). Discussion briefly returned to Phonovention. Rod Pickett volunteered his home for
the July 20th annual HAPS picnic. We are all to bring a covered dish.
A question was raised concerning completion of the web site membership page. The answer was that new
members are required to join both MAPS and HAPS and that both memberships be offered on this web page.
Richard Martin spoke to the group about the fascinating “Oldest Sound” project that has been so prominent in the news. He was asked to pass around their most recent Grammy Award Nomination medallion. We also
got to see the Grammy tickets, program and even the Official Grammy baseball-hat.
Out-going President Al Gentry adjourned the meeting.
Tim McCormick, VP/Sec/Editor/Saint
Map to Stan Thompson’s home
July 20th picnic at Rod & Diane Pickett
August 22nd & 23rd — Phonovention
September 21st at Paul Ladd's.