For several years i have been researching the wonderfully odd, lost culture of the coin-operated and domestic machines that allowed ordinary people to make a record of their voice long before the advent of tape or digital recording (Jack White has been using one, The Voice O Graph, recently to produce unique lo- fi caught-in-the-moment records, including an album with Neil Young).
These machines are broadly the same devices - recording lathes - the Soviet Bootleggers based their own home-made versions on and there were similar machines for public use in the USSR - although not in coin-operated booths.
One of the most poignant uses of the way of recording were the ‘Voices of the Forces’ records made by soldiers stationed abroad to send messages back home during the second world war - you can watch the short British Pathe film on those here.
In a recent Bureau of Lost Culture show on Soho Radio, we were joined by oral historian and broadcaster Alan Dein to hear a selection of recordings of strange, moving ghostly voices from his collection and learn how the public were able use these records to commemorate visits to tourist destinations or to capture the sounds of loved ones - or their own voices - in a way that had never been possible before.
You can listen below and to all the Bureau of Lost Culture shows HERE or at the major podcasts providers HERE
These records sit right at the junction of oral history and audio recording history. The audio contain is unique, on the verge of being lost and I am currently hoping to combine my research into them with new musical works.
An early test example is here:
Voices of the Forces: British Pathe 1945
Soviet Lathe Operator late 1930s