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Acoustical and Recording Techniques of the First Broadcasting Studios in Germany

The first official radio transmission in Germany took place in October 1923, broadcast from a small studio which was acoustically prepared on a temporary basis with horse blankets, crumpled silk paper, and curtains. For the recording, a Reiss microphone was used, as well as a VOX phonograph which irradiated the sound via a trumpet directly into the microphone. The VOX building at Postdamer Platz in Berlin was full of studios with different acoustical properties, such as the so-called Schaeffer tent. In 1931 the Broadcasting House (Haus des Rundfunks) was opened with new studios and the first large recording studio for symphony orchestras. The first microphone was that of Reiss in 1864. Together with the telephone of Graham Bell, the first acoustical transmission took place when the Eiffel Tower was completed in Paris in 1881. Recording and transmission techniques, sound absorption and sound-proofing, cinemas, and the first radio studios will be described as well as the work of the architects, artist and technicians who opened the way for the new media: radio.

Author: Völker, Ernst-Joachim
Affiliation: Institut fuer Akustik und Bauphysik, Oberursel, Germany
AES Convention:94 (March 1993) Paper Number:3521 Import into BibTeX
Subject:Audio History and Technology

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