First Recording in the City of Detroit?

**cassdetroit** · January-07-10, 05:14 PM

I've been thinking...what's the earliest known audio recording from the city of Detroit? i would imagine some sort of speech or political message, but am really not sure where to start/search.

also, what's the earliest known musical recording from the city of Detroit?

**Laughsmith** · January-07-10, 06:05 PM

You might try checking the G. Robert Vincent Voice Library at MSU. They have a massive collection of rare recordings there -- local and otherwise.

http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/

-- Paul

**Whitehouse** · January-07-10, 07:30 PM

I think Berry Gordy was still in daipers.

**bigtreble** · January-07-10, 08:07 PM

Thanks Laughsmith, I didn't know about the MSU Library until now.

Searching the MSU database:
Oldest recording with keyword 'detroit' is dated 1935, "Charles Coughlin speaks on social justice".

I was guessing somewhere closer to 1880.

**Gsgeorge** · January-07-10, 11:01 PM

This could be tracked down in the LoC.

**texorama** · January-07-10, 11:13 PM

Recording on location was rare until the 1930s--records were made at the headquarters of the big companies. Independent labels didn't really come along until WWII technology drove down the prices of the materials and machinery. The 1936 date for the Coughlin sounds about right, although there could certainly be earlier ones.

Stosh · January-07-10, 11:14 PM

I'd probably think something by Edison would probably have been the first.

**Jimg** · January-08-10, 05:46 PM

Actually, location recording was quite common in the 20's. Okeh, for one, had mobile recording vans which captured some great field recordings - like from New Orleans, St. Louis, and possibly Detroit. Recording broadcasts was uncommon.
Jean Goldkette's ork waxed two titles for Victor at the DAC in 1924. I think the earliest dance-band sides are from 1921 [[Finzel's Arcadia Orchestra) and they were either cut in Det or St. Louis using mobile equipment. The Arcadia ballroom was on Woodward near Stimson.
United Sound opened around 1933, but very few bands recorded in Det until after WWll. Chicago and NYC had the record labels and the studios. Gennett and Paramount [[Chicago/Wisconsin) had studios but they were small potatoes compared to Victor & Okeh. There were recordings made by bands with "Detroit" in their name [[Milt Shaw and his Detroiters) but they were waxed elsewhere, and their link to Det is tenuous, at best.

It's true the independent record derby didn't take off until after WWll, and the reasons for that include material availability but also the AFM relaxing its rules governing recording. Those rules actually changed during the War.

**Laughsmith** · January-09-10, 12:56 AM

Not to thread-jack [[technically this is still the same topic) but does anyone know if WWJ retained their audio archive? They went on the air in 1920 so it's possible that they might have some archival discs from that era. Unfortunately, I once saw an early Louis Armstrong broadcast acetate, with a WWJ label on it, in a now defunct antique store. I don't hold out much hope for their entire archive to have remained intact.

I am sure that there are Detroit recordings dating much earlier, the bigger trick is to find out where they might be stored.

**Jimg** · January-09-10, 04:06 PM

Yeah, that's the question...where's the stuff??
The acetates I've "discovered" were either in the hands of musicians or "fiendish mental patients" as John Sinclair called 'em, devotees who knew the value of those artifacts. WDET had stacks of transcription discs which I inspected just before they got tossed but didn't find anything of interest to me.
I hoped to find recording logs etc. at United Sound but was told they had been tossed years before - and this was in 1987.
On a brighter note, we have met musicians over the years who allowed us to copy several private acetates from the late 40s, and these will see light of day, maybe this year.
The thing is, time is taking its toll on the folks who matured during the 40s. We usually find that their children/relatives either threw out their stuff, or are holding it because they just know it is worth a fortune.
Perhaps another fiendish mental patient checked out WWJ?

Stosh · January-09-10, 05:37 PM

Not from Detroit originally, but interesting nonetheless:

Stosh · January-09-10, 05:39 PM

Stosh · January-09-10, 05:41 PM

Not really that old but a recording outfit in Detroit:

Stosh · January-09-10, 05:42 PM

Stosh · January-09-10, 06:24 PM

As far as an actual recording of anything in Detroit, the link below will take you to a page where Ty Tyson broadcasted [[and was recorded here) a game vs the NY Yankees from Navin Field, Detroit on 9/20/1934. First 4 are the game broadcast. It is in Real Player format.

http://otr.net/?p=spor