A Museum for the Nation
When Thomas Alva Edison came to West Orange, NJ, in 1886 he had already achieved infamy for the development of the electric lamp and the phonograph. His West Orange campus served as both a research facility for Edison's staff and a factory complex for his products. The massive facility dominated one end of Main Street. From within the brick walls of the laboratory came the motion picture camera, the electric storage battery, the phonograph and the development of the world's first motion picture studio. Across Lakeside Street, factory workers kept Edison's battery division humming. Behind the laboratory, Edison's phonograph company produced the latest and greatest audio recordings. It is said that Edison's favorite creation was the phonograph, and that he personally listened to almost every recording made by his company. According to legend, Edison's motivation to curtail the division in 1929 was to due to his own failing hearing.
Today, the laboratory is the centerpiece of the National Park Service's Edison National Historic Site. While several other buildings of the Edison campus remain, only the lab grounds have been preserved thus far (his estate, Glenmont, is also run by the NPS and is located near by). The site is an amazing monument to the brilliance of Edison and the incredible scientific advances of the industrial revolution.
They Might Be in the 1890's
As caretaker of Thomas Alva Edison's tangible legacy at his West Orange laboratory, the National Park Service regularly attempts to bring the static world of the past to life with demonstrations of Edison's greatest inventions. Special events dominate the Spring and Summer schedule at the Edison National Historic Site, and one of the most unique happenings of 1996 was held on April 27th when the popular modern rock group They Might Be Giants held a public wax cylinder recording session in Building #1.
The connection between They Might Be Giants and the Edison NHS goes back several years, to when Brian Dewan and Giant John Linnell wrote "The Edison Museum" for WFMU-FM's Edisongs LP (1991). A wonderful spin on the Edison lab experience, "The Edison Museum" describes the lab as "the tallest, widest and most famous haunted mansion in New Jersey." There were definitely some ghosts were conjured up on the day of the recording sessions.
The room selected to hold the sessions occupies the middle of Building #1, one of four one-story brick buildings laid out perpendicularly to the main lab. In its day, Building #1 was Edison's Physics Lab, today it houses displays and offices. Guests for the three recording sessions gathered in the main lab entrance and were escorted through the courtyard to Building #1. Three rows of chairs were laid out in the stark white room, turned north overlooking the shaded lawn which narrowly separates the lab complex from Main Street.
The 12:30 session (the second of three held) began promptly as They Might Be Giants entered the room. The 1898 recording system and an accompanying playback machine bookended the simple wooden stage. TMBG leaders, John Linnell and John Flansburgh, were smartly attired in black and white while the band (including legendary Joe Jackson bassist Graham Maby) dressed in more casual apparel. They looked relaxed and confident. It was quite evident that TMBG were enjoying the event as much as the Park staff and the general public.
Peter and His Machine
One of the stars of the show turned out to be Peter Dilg, a wax recording specialist whose enthusiasm served as a reminder that behind every ancient machine still working in the modern world there is a human who has dedicated their life to it. Dilg lovingly tended to the ancient recording device, carefully preparing each wax cylinder. Lit by the unearthly glow of two carbon-filament lamps used to heat the wax to a perfect recording temperature of 85 degrees, Dilg's eyes shone with the intensity of the perfectionists who plied his craft on the same soil a century ago. If he were to let the wax become too warm, it would allow the stylus to dig deeper and the recording would have an undesirable echo effect. Content with the quality of the fist cylinder, Dilg asked that the audience please refrain from clapping until the cylinder had stopped. With that, he raised his hand towards the band. The specter of Edison himself may have smiled at the glorious sounds which followed.
We Can Hear You
Singing directly into a huge horn (a precursor to the modern microphone), John Flansburgh lead the band through the clever "I Can Hear You". A wonderful pop song with a coda which calls strongly upon The Beatles' "A Day in the Life". "I Can Hear You" chronicles the aural events of modern life. Car alarms, phones and door bells all alert the singer of the presence of another person. The song was a perfect choice to begin the session. Pleased with the recording, Dilg took the cylinder to a window ledge to cool.
Waxing Nostalgic
Listening to a band recording on wax is quite different than sitting in at a modern recording studio. For starters, a cylinder only holds two minutes of recording time, so all the songs need to be less than 120 seconds in length. Multi-tracking, of course, is non-existent. All the instruments and vocals must be recorded at one time. The only way to "mix" the sound is to adjust the distance of the instrument or vocalist from the huge horns which funnel the sound waves into the machine.
The air disturbances caused by sound actuate wax cylinder recorders. The sound waves come through the horns to a diaphragm at the top of the machine. The movement of the diaphragm causes the stylus to vibrate. The stylus, which is in direct contact with the wax cylinder, cuts a groove which reflects the vibrations of sound.
After the recording is done and the wax has cooled and hardened, the cylinder may be played back. Playback reverses the process of recording, for now the groove vibrates the stylus, which in turn moves the diaphragm and sends the sound out the horn.
Satisfied with the cooling of the cylinder, Dilg set up for playback on another antique Edison machine. The recording crackled with the exuberance of the band, though much of the midtones were lost for those sitting in the back of the room. Because the nature of the recording process requires vocalists to sing directly into one of the horns, most of the audience couldn't actually hear the lyrics until playback time. The joyful nature of the song (typical for TMBG) put smiles on the faces of most in attendance.
Next up, John Linnell sang "James K. Polk", from TMBG's "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" CD. There is a temptation to call this tune a typical TMBG song, which means that it is a brilliant assemblage of words and music. "James K. Polk" eulogizes the eleventh President of the United States in a manner that surely would please the long-departed statesman. A strong tuba line punctuated the bottom end, highlighted by a tuba/vocal break in the middle.
The band finished the session with a smooth version of "The Edison Museum" featuring vocals by "The Pride of the Oranges" (as John Flansburgh introduced him), WFU's Nick Hill.
After finishing each recording, Dilg took the cylinder over to a window ledge to cool. While waiting it to harden sufficiently for playback, the band, NPS staff and the audience enjoyed very informal question and answer sessions.
A Fine Close to the Afternoon
Jerry Fabris, the Edison NHS's resident wax recording expert, and Peter both spoke about the ups and downs of wax recording in the modern era. One problem they have encountered is getting their hands on the medium itself. The cylinders, which record two minutes of music when used at their optimum RPM come from a small supplier in England. At a cost of a dozen for $100, they aren't outrageously priced, but availability is often a problem. Thus, an avid wax recorder must strive to keep and ample supply of cylinders on hand.
Due to the close proximity of the open windows in Building #1 to the sidewalk along Main Street, the sounds of the recording session caught the ear of unwary passersby. It was quite amusing to watch their faces as they heard the music of an all acoustic band drifting from behind the dark green window frames of the Edison lab grounds. It was if they had heard a ghost... and perhaps they had. For one afternoon, the best of the past and the present met, and together they produced some memorable music.
After the performance, several of the band members gathered with fans in the courtyard. Among the attendees was respected pop singer/songwriter Marshall Crenshaw. Crenshaw was driving home when he heard Jerry Fabris playing historic wax cuts on WFMU the previous weekend. Like many who came to witness the event, Crenshaw thought it would be a great way to spend a Spring afternoon. He was right.
Big things are ahead for both They Might Be Giants and The Edison National Historic Site. The band is currently working on a new album, and Flansburgh said they may decide to release a few of the Edison tracks. Also look for John Linnell's side project, Mono Puff, to debut June 11th on Rykodisc, with a tour following in late June.