Small Body, Big Voice

Emmet Robinson Speaks Posted on by

The tiny mandolin is yet one more descendant of the lute family, with ancestors dating back to Mesopotamia three thousand years ago. Although roughly the size as a ukulele, the modern mandolin has a few interesting differences:
• For each single string on the ukulele, the mandolin has two, tuned in unison.
• Instead of gut or nylon, the mandolin is strung with steel.
• The abrasive nature of the steel strings requires the use of a pick rather than the fingers.
• The tuning is very different from that of the uke – more like that of the violin and viola. As a result, different chord formations are used.

Continue reading →

How to Capture Your Grandmother

Emmet Robinson Speaks Posted on by

by Emmet Robinson

What that alarming title actually refers to, of course, is capturing the life story of your grandmother – or any senior family member – with a professionally produced audio or video interview.

• The adventures and accomplishments, trials and tribulations, joys and regrets of your senior family members can be fascinating, meaningful – and educational!

• My grandmother was a tremendous positive influence on me, and the recordings I made of her warm, loving voice nearly fifty years ago remain among my treasures.

• Your grandmother, grandfather, parents, aunts and uncles can provide a treasure trove of personal and family history. You’ll learn things about them that might surprise you. For example…

Continue reading →

Because It Looks Like One!

Emmet Robinson Speaks Posted on by

Because It Looks Like One

    All things considered, the banjo is a rather odd-looking musical instrument. It looks like the result of an arranged marriage between a drum and a ukulele.  When I asked a country musician why it was called a “banjo,” I was told, “Because it looks like one!” Basically, a banjo is a round wooden shell covered with either a plastic or natural hide “head” and attached to a fretted neck. It is yet another American musical instrument “not invented here.”
    Although opinions vary somewhat, the origin of the banjo is generally thought to be the African continent. When slaves were taken from their homeland to the Caribbean, they brought this musical instrument with them. Immigrants from the Caribbean to the U.S. then brought it here, where it began a long process of increasingly sophisticated development.

Continue reading →

Flickers

Emmet Robinson Speaks Posted on by

AUDIBILITIES
                 By Emmet Robinson              
King Street Recording Company
Professional Audio Services for Any Purpose You Can Think Of
 Video and Photo Too!
Volume 70, Fall, 2018        610-647-4341       
www.kingstreetrecording.com         kingstreetrecord@aol.com
      Blog: www.emmetrobinson.com/wp/
   Celebrating Fifty-one Years in Business!

 

Film
Motion picture cameras were developed for the obvious purpose of capturing events as they happened. Since then, the field of photography has never been the same.

The first practical movie camera was the manually operated Kinetograph,developed by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, a native of Scotland, and an employee of Thomas Edison. By the mid 1890s, the movie camera had become a practical reality.

Continue reading →

Who Was Flanagan?

Emmet Robinson Speaks Posted on by

The Story

The story begins in the late 1800s when many Pennsylvania coal towns had their own baseball teams and would compete for cash prizes. Between Carbondale and Pittston competition was especially fierce because of one member of the Pittston team named Flanagan. Flanagan could hit the ball, it was said, and his name was both revered and feared throughout the region.

Continue reading →

Who Invented the Guitar?

Emmet Robinson Speaks Posted on by

Who Invented the Guitar?

The earliest stringed instrument known may have been the bowl harp from nearly 4000 years ago. With a tortoise shell for the body and a curved stick for the neck, adding a few strings allowed the making of music.
The tanbur might have been next. A straight neck allowed pressing the strings down to produce a wider range of tones. A tanbur, dating from about 3500 years ago may be seen at the Archaeological Museum in Cairo.

Continue reading →

Celebrating Fifty Years in Business!

Emmet Robinson Speaks Posted on by

What’s Next?

In capturing and reproducing sound, the first recording devices were strictly mechanical, probably beginning with Edison’s invention of the phonograph in 1877. A metal cylinder, wrapped with tinfoil, was the recording medium. Volume and sound quality were extremely limited.

In the late 1880s, development of the wax cylinder proved a significant improvement. Although originally intended for business use, entertainment quickly became the major – and more profitable – interest.

The introduction of electrical recording systems and 78-rpm disk records in the middle 1920s proved a major leap forward in the accurate capture and reproduction of music.

Continue reading →

What Are You Waiting For?

Emmet Robinson Speaks Posted on by

AUDIBILITIES
By Emmet Robinson
King Street Recording Company
Professional Audio Services for Any Purpose You Can Think Of
Video and Photo Too!
Celebrating Fifty Years in Business!
610-647-4341
www.kingstreetrecording.com
Blog: www.emmetrobinson.com/wp/
kingstreetrecord@aol.com

Volume 67, Fall, 2017

What Are You Waiting For?

If you’re even remotely typical, somewhere inside of you is a singer, songwriter, poet, musician, radio personality, author, trainer or professional speaker yearning to be free. Deep within your soul there may be a powerful creative urge trying to get out.
So, what are you waiting for?

Continue reading →

50th Birthday Sale!

Emmet Robinson Speaks Posted on by

Are you a singer? Musician? Poet? Actor?
Do you want to record?
Are long on talent but short on cash?
If that’s you, here’s a SPECIAL OFFER you can’t pass up!

 Announcing
King Street Recording Company’s
50th BIRTHDAY SALE!
Special rates for the Month of August
Record your acoustic music, poetry or narration
for only $49.00 per hour.

Continue reading →

The Absolute Truth About Photo Restoration

Emmet Robinson Speaks Posted on by

The Absolute Truth About Photo Restoration

As an impatient nation, we’re always looking for faster ways of getting things done. In restoring and preserving vintage photos, for example, there are online services promising fast results at low prices. Why not use them? The answer lies in the details.

The absolute truth is that online services have no direct access to your original image. Whether it’s a vintage photograph, newspaper clipping, or handwritten letter from 1853, online services can only work with the digitized images you send them.

If your original photo or document has been physically damaged and won’t scan properly, what do you do?
When your original is too large for the scanner, how do you handle that?
If, for technical reasons, you’re unable to send a sufficiently high-resolution file, your retouching options may be severely limited. How do you get the results you want?
The answer, of course, is by using professional services right in the neighborhood!

Continue reading →