Victor
Talking Machine Company Recording Location:
Camden Church Studio (or Trinity Church Studio)
Camden Trinity Church, Converted by Victor Talking
Machine Company
into a Recording Studio, Building 22. Location
of many famous recordings
Early Recording Locations of Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was incorporated in Camden, New
Jersey in October of 1901, and expanded rapidly there. Camden is located
East of Philadelphia, just across the Delaware River.
With the growth of quality of recordings, and the increasing need to
record groups, rather than individual singers or musicians, the
recording locations used for early acoustic recordings later began to be
inadequate. Victor's original recording studio, on the southwest corner
of Front and Cooper Street 1, was surrounded on all sides by factory
buildings, including Victor buildings. Another recording location was
the top floor of a production factory on the northwest corner of Front
and Cooper Street 1. Using the top floors of a building for recording
allowed Victor to use weights to power the acoustic disk cutting
mechanism, without motors.
Victor recording engineers in later years tended to refer to the
recording locations and their facilities as “recording laboratories”.
The two Victor locations used prior to 1917 had two deficiencies.
First, both locations were too small for larger groups, let alone
symphony orchestras, such as the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Boston
Symphony, which Victor began to record in 1917. Second, being surrounded
by factories, there was too much ambient noise, which was audible, given
the increasingly sensitive recording instruments.
Recording in the Eighth Floor Auditorium of the Executive Office
Building
The Victor Executive Office Building, referred to as “Building
2” was completed in 1916 2.
On its Eighth Floor, Victor Building number 2 had a
large auditorium, as shown in the picture above.
During 1917, Victor began experiments in recording large groups, such
as a symphony orchestra, as described by Harry O. Sooy (1875-1927), the
pioneering Victor recording engineer: “…On June 20th [1917] the Victor
Company gave its first concert in the Auditorium, eighth floor,
Executive Office Building, for the benefit of the Red Cross Drive… July
1917 [1917], we started to make the first Large Symphony Orchestra
records. On July 23d, Mr. [Josef] Pasternack [1878-1940, Victor Music
Director] got an orchestra together consisting of 51 musicians. The
rooms in the general recording department not being large enough to
carry on this work, I was permitted the use of the 8th floor,
auditorium, Executive Office Building. After the engagement of July 23d
was finished, and we had heard our results, another date was set for
September 21, 1917. At this engagement we had eighty (80) musicians
under Mr. Pasternack, after which we felt quite sure commercial records
could be made of Symphony Orchestras…” 3
The Auditorium, seventh floor Victor Executive Office Building
Building 2, location of the first Philadelphia Orchestra Recording
October 1917 - First Victor Recordings of a Symphony Orchestra -
Karl Muck and
the Boston Symphony
Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra
These trials were followed by the historic recording sessions of
October 2-5, 1917 of Karl Muck with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and
Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Both the Boston
and Philadelphia orchestras used
essentially full-size symphony orchestras of 85 to 100 musicians.
These October 1917 recordings are remarkably fine in both interpretation
and performance, particularly considering they were Victor's and the
orchestras' first efforts of recording a full symphony orchestra.
Also considering the physical difficulties of recording a large group,
and the often unpredictable results of the acoustic recording process.
The Muck - Boston Symphony recordings are not only excellent, but provide
Muck's only
recordings of several works.
Harry Sooy wrote: “…On October 2d [1917] we had our first engagement
with a large Symphony Orchestra, it being with the Boston Symphony
Orchestra, under the direction of Karl Muck. The Orchestra consisted of
one hundred musicians, and the records were recorded in the Auditorium
on the eighth floor of the Executive Office Building. The services of
the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra were secured for Record Making in
October this year [1917]. The first engagement we had with this
organization was on October 22d, 1917, in the Auditorium on the eighth
floor of the Executive Office Building, the Orchestra under direction of
Leopold Stokowski…” 4
Purchase of the Camden Trinity Baptist Church
Because of its need for a larger recording studio, the Victor Talking
Machine Company decided to purchase the Camden Trinity Baptist Church in
1918. As Raymond Randoff Sooy (1880-c1954), also an early Victor
recording engineer, and younger brother to Harry O. Sooy stated in his
memoirs: "...February, 1918: The Victor Company purchased the Trinity
Church, 114 North Fifth Street, Camden, N.J., as we needed a larger
studio for Symphony Orchestra recording..." 5
Since the church building was located amongst the other Victor
facilities and was favorable for large groups, both in size and
acoustics, it was a logical purchase. Victor removed the bell tower, and
renamed it "Building no 22". The ground floor of Victor Building 22 was used
first for storage, but during February, 1918, because of its favorable
acoustic properties, the Camden Church Studio was constructed by making
an upper floor in the main hall of this converted Baptist church.
Harry Sooy recorded in his memoires: "... To take care of the
necessity for quarters containing rooms large enough in which to do
Symphony Orchestra recording, etc., the Victor Company purchased the
Trinity Church Building, 114 North Fifth Street, Camden, this being the
best available place. The building was put in order, and on February
27th [1918] I reported it was ready for operation" 6
The Estey Pipe Organ in the Camden Church Studio
One by-product of this acquisition of a church building was the pipe
organ included in the building, used in later years by musicians such as
Fats Waller. The organ was an "Estey Op. 1850" built by Estey Organ
Company of Brattleboro, Vermont. In 1926, Victor had Estey enlarge the
organ, adding a third manual to the console, and additional features,
such as a second touch, as well as several ranks of new pipes. 7 This is
the model used by Fats Waller in several famous recordings between 1926
and 1935. Waller, who as a youth earned money playing an organ for
silent movies in Harlem’s Lincoln Theater, knew how to made the Estey
organ swing, such as in his famous Camden recording of "Sugar".
8
The Camden Trinity Church Studio with the Estey Pipe Organ
The upper level of the church was first used for orchestral recording
in the 1919 recording sessions, when it was referred to as the "Camden
Church Studio", or "Trinity Church Studio". The Camden Church Studio
continued to be used for Victor’s recordings until December, 1924, when
developments, including the advent of the Westrex Electrical recording
process, required changes to Building 22. (Note: to read more of the
development of the Westrex process click on The Development of
Electrical Recording.)
The first change was the creation of a new “recording laboratory” on
the fifth floor of Building number 15, as stated by Harry O. Sooy:
“…December 8th, 1924: After considerable work remodeling the 5th floor,
Building #15, for an additional Recording Room for the Laboratory, we
made our first records of the Philadelphia Orchestra in this studio on
this date…” 9
Installation of Electrical Recording Equipment in Victor Building number 15, Camden
In early 1925, Victor Talking Machine Company reached preliminary
agreement with the Western Electric division of American Telephone &
Telegraph to license the Westrex process of electrical recording, as is
described in
Licensing the Westrex Electrical Recording System to Victor
and Columbia. This led to the signing by Victor with Western Electric of
the licensing contract for the Westrex system on March 18, 1925.
However, well before this, in January and February, 1925, the Westrex
system was first installed in Camden in Victor Building 15, as described
by Harry Sooy:
“…January 27th, 1925: A representative of the Western Electric
Company, Philadelphia, called to-day to measure up for wiring and
equipping studio at Victor Company, as per instructions of Mr. Maxfield.
This wiring was started January 28th, and finished February 2nd, 1925.
(Studios wired, #2 on seventh floor, #3 on fifth floor [of Building
number 15].)…February 3rd, 1925: The Electrical Recording Equipment from
the Bell Laboratories arrived at the Victor Laboratory, Building #l5,
via truck, this date…” 10
In February and March, 1925, a series of electrical recording trials
were done in Victor Building 15. Allen Sutton of the superb Mainspring
Publishing has documented that Victor's earliest electrical recording
session that resulted in a published record occurred on February 26,
1925 with a vocal group which performed what was called "Miniature
Concert" 11.
April 29, 1925 - First Electrical Recording of Leopold Stokowski and
the Philadelphia Orchestra
It seems from the commentary of Harry and Raymond Sooy that Studio
number 2 on the seventh floor of Victor Building 5 was larger than
Studio number 3 on the fifth floor, so presumably, this first
Philadelphia Orchestra electrical recording was done in Studio 2 on the
seventh floor of Victor Building 15 in Camden.
Then, a third recording studio was equipped with the Westrex
electrical recording system, as described by Harry Sooy: “…May 13th,
1925: After extensive changes being made in #1 Studio, 7th floor, Bldg.
#15, changing partitions and sound proofing by Johns-Mansville Company,
rugs and draperies installed for Electrical recording, we made our first
records by the Victor Orchestra, thus making three studios in operation
in Camden and abandoning all old direct [i.e. acoustic process]
recording methods…” 12
From later comments, and the famous recording pictures of Studio 1, I believe that Studio 1 on the seventh
floor of Victor Building 15, after being renovated and equipped for
electrical recording may have been the largest of the three studios
listed for that building, Studio 2 being the second largest, followed by
Studio 3. However, I have not yet seen documentation verifying this.
This may indicate that after the first Philadelphia Orchestra records
of April 29, 1925 being recorded in Studio 2 of Victor Building 15, that the
Tchaikovsky ‘Marche slav’ and the
Ippolitov-Ivanov ‘Caucasian Sketches’
recordings of May 14 and 15, 1925 were made in the newly refurbished
Studio 1 of Victor Building 15. Certainly this is a minor point, probably of
interest only to the most extreme followers of Victor recording history
(persons such as myself, I should add).
Further evidence that Studio 1 of Victor Building 15 was the largest and
used for larger groups are two famous photographs, mentioned by Harry
Sooy. “…November 13th, 1925: As per instructions of Mr. Fenimore Johnson
[1899-1971,son of Eldridge Johnson, Victor founder], we made a
photograph of the old way (direct recording) in Studio #1—7th floor,
Bldg. #l5, showing Horn and Orchestra. Another photograph was made of
the new way making records, showing Microphone and Orchestra…Not
satisfactory….November 23rd, 1925: We repeated the making of these
photographs of the old and new way making records which proved to be
more satisfactory and shows distinctly the two methods...” 13
To read more of this famous picture, click on 1925 Victor Transformation
of Recording Studios.
The famous pair of 1925 pictures of a Victor acoustic recording session and
of
an electric recording session
in Studio 1 of the seventh floor of Victor Building 15
Installation of Electrical Recording Equipment in the Camden Church Studio
By the end of October, 1925, the Westrex electrical recording system
was installed in the Camden Church Studio. According to Harry Sooy:
“…October 31st, 1925: The Illinois College Band, consisting…to make two
selections for the Victor Company. The records were made in the Church
Building…” 14
At the time of the installation of the Westrex system, there was also
further reconstruction in the Camden Church Studio building to improve
acoustics both to the "Camden Church Studio number 2" on the
upper floor, and the "Camden Church Studio number 1", with the Estey
organ on the lower floor.
Camden Church Studio number 2, sometimes referred to as Trinity
Church Studio number 2 being on the upper floor of the structure was
aided in using the weights still employed to drive the disk cutting
mechanism used throughout the 1920s. The electrical circuit of the
Westrex electrical recording system was powered by large storage
batteries from the Electric Storage Battery Company 15, but the
turntable mechanism will still rotated by weights until well into the
1930s, when electric motors that were both quiet and reliable became
available.
From this information from Harry Sooy, I conclude that the
Dvorak
Symphony no 9 'From the New World' recording sessions of December 8,
1925, and perhaps also of October 6 and 7,1925 were done in the Camden
Church Studio, which seems to have been the largest, and perhaps
acoustically most appropriate recording studio for a symphony orchestra,
and probably larger than Studios 1, 2 and 3 in Building 15. Lacking
other, different information, this is my assumption for the Dvorak
discography (see
Leopold Stokowski - Philadelphia Orchestra
Chronological Discography of Electrical Recordings 1925-1940).
I would also suppose that the last Philadelphia Orchestra recording
session in Camden in the 1920s was also done in the Camden Church
Studio. This was the session of March 16, 1926, where the first movement
of the Caesar Franck Symphony in D minor was recorded, but not issued.
Soon after this March 16, 1926 session, Westrex recording equipment
was installed in the basement of the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.
There, on June 10, 1926, the first recording in the Academy of two
waltzes by Johann Strauss II, "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" (An der
schönen blauen Donau), and "Tales from the Vienna Woods" (Geschichten
aus dem Wiener Wald) were made. These recordings were perhaps the most
successful electrical recordings, as a combination of sonic brilliance
and quality of performance, of a symphony orchestra made anywhere up to
that time. (Read about these at
June 10, 1926 - Recordings of two Johann
Strauss II Waltzes)
The Philadelphia orchestra made all of its recordings in the Academy
of Music, their home in Philadelphia from June, 1926, until the end of
1930.
Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra recording
in the Academy of Music, probably in November or December, 1935, or early 1936
Then, in March, 1931, under RCA Victor (RCA having purchased Victor Talking
Machine Company in 1929), the Philadelphia Orchestra returned to the
Camden Church Studio for recording. This was to reduce costs during the
depression. As further cost savings, RCA Victor also decided to use a
reduced number of orchestral musicians, as they had (for other reasons)
during the acoustic era. Major orchestral works were often
recorded with only 50 musicians.
In early 1934, Victor seems to have made further changes to the Camden
Church Studio. This may be the reason for the Philadelphia
Orchestra beginning in March, 1934 recording in the Camden Church Studio
number 2 on the upper level, rather than the Camden Church Studio number
1, which they had done beginning in March, 1931. See the recording
locations in the
Chronological Discography of Electrical Recordings
1925-1940.
In December, 1935, after nearly five years of recording in Camden, the
Philadelphia Orchestra happily returned to recording in the Academy of
Music in Philadelphia. This is likely as a result of the city of
Camden deciding to extend the Camden subway, with construction near the
Camden Church Studio, as described below.
Installation of Electrical Recording Equipment in Victor’s New York Studio
Harry Sooy: “…July 31st, 1925: We made our first Electrically
recorded records in the New York Studio after the Electrical
installation. R. Sooy and E. Raguse being on the job. The talent used
for this date was Jack Shilkretts [Jack Shilkret (1897-1964), brother of
Victor conductor Nat Shilkret (1890-1982)] Orchestra…” 16
Nathanial Shilkret and the International Novelty Orchestra, shown here, most likely at
WEAF, the AT&T broadcasting station. AT&T sold WEAF in 1926 as part of a settlement
with GE/RCA to exit broadcasting, and GE and RCA committed to transmit all their network
broadcasts via AT&T long distance lines. The International Novelty Orchestra recorded all
their electrical recordings in New York, according to John R. Bolig
18, 19
Motion Picture Soundtrack Recording in the Camden Church Studio
In addition to electrical phonograph record recording, the Camden
Church Studio also did some early motion picture sound recording.
Beginning in 1927, equipment for recording motion picture sound tracks
synchronized with film was added to the Camden Church Studio. One of the
first was for "Wings" starring Clara Bow and Buddy Rogers,
with Gary Cooper in one of his earliest roles 17.
Famous Performers who recorded in the Camden Church Studio
As well as the Philadelphia Orchestra, many famous Victor artists of
the period from 1919 to 1935 recorded in the Camden Church Studio (or
later, Studios). Enrico Caruso’s later recordings, including his last
recording of September 16, 1920, were done there, as well as recordings
by John McCormack and Vladimir Horowitz’s first recording in 1927.
Arturo Toscanini and the visiting La Scala Orchestra made his first
recordings in the Camden Church Studio on December 17, 1920. Among many
popular artists, as well as Fats Waller (including, as mentioned, on the
Estey Organ) and Jelly Roll Morton, were Duke Ellington and the Carter
Family.
End of Recording in the Camden Church Studio
In 1935, the city of
Camden decided to extend its subway system below the church location,
and first the construction, and later the rumbling subway noise ended
the Trinity Church’s role as a famous recording location. Most recording
was thereafter moved to New York, or other locations. The Philadelphia
Orchestra benefited from this, returning to recording in the Academy of Music in
December
1935.
RCA Victor then converted the building into a gymnasium for the
Victor Athletic Association, and later also added the Employees' Store.
Ben Kragting, editor of a Dutch Jazz magazine, who has also been
interested in the rich recording history of the Camden Church Studio did
some investigation in 2008 or the Philadelphia location, and informs me
that unfortunately, the Camden Trinity Church structure no longer
exists, presumably torn down some time after 1947.
1
Recording locations
2
Victor Executive Office Building, Building number 2
3
page 66. Sooy, Harry O. Memoir of my Career at Victor
Talking Machine Company 1898-1925. Manuscript, not dated,
but ending with events of 1925. Another important record of
the history of recording, on the David Sarnoff Library
website: http://www.davidsarnoff.org/sooyh-maintext1909.html
4
page 67. Sooy, Harry O. op. cit.
5
From February, 1918: Sooy, Raymond. Memoirs of my Recording
and Traveling Experiences for the Victor Talking Machine
Company. Manuscript, not dated, but ending with events of
1931. An important contribution to the history of recording,
the David Sarnoff Library edited and reproduced these
memoires on their website.
http://www.davidsarnoff.org/soo-maintext.html
6
page 71. Sooy, Harry O. op. cit.
7
Estey Organ Company. Opus 1850 / 2370 / 2529. Trinity
Church, Victor Talking Machine Company Studio, Camden, NJ.
“…Victor purchased the building in the early twenties for
use as a recording studio and in 1926 brought Estey back to
enlarge the instrument.”
8
February 2, 1927 Fats Waller Victor 23331 recording. “Sugar”
by Maceo Pinkard (1897-1962).
9
page 112. Sooy, Harry O. op. cit.
10
page 114. Sooy, Harry O. op. cit.
11
The fascinating research of Allen Sutton is documented in
his web page http://www.mainspringpress.com/vic_minicon.html
with the title: "A Miniature Concert" - The Earliest Issued
Victor Electric.
12
page 120. Sooy, Harry O. op. cit.
13
page 129. Sooy, Harry O. op. cit.
14
page 130. Sooy, Harry O. op. cit.
15
page 118. Sooy, Harry O. op. cit.
16
page 122. Sooy, Harry O. op. cit.
17
page 82. Barnum, Frederick O. "His Master's Voice" in
America. General Electric Company. 1991.
18
Bolig,
John R. The Victor Black Label
Discography 18000-19000 Series.
Mainspring Press, LLC. Denver. 2008. ISBN
978-0-9772735-9-1.
19
pages 110, 111. Adams, Stephen B. and Butler, Orville R.
Manufacturing the Future: A History of Western Electric
. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK. 1999
ISBN 0-521-65118-2
If you have any comments or questions about this
Leopold Stokowski site, please e-mail me (Larry Huffman) at e-mail address:
leopold.stokowski@gmail.com
