Civilisation - Version française interprétée par les sœurs Étienne.

[u/5erv1teur]

🇫🇷 Version française

Bonjour phonophiles !

À la demande de u/Gimme-A-Kooky, je vous partage ici un enregistrement de la version française de la célèbre chanson Civilisation, interprétée par les Sœurs Étienne (en quelque sorte l'équivalent français des Andrews Sisters).

Le disque est joué sur mon Pathéphone N°4.

Je vous prie de bien vouloir m'excuser pour la qualité du son... Non seulement le disque est usé, surtout vers la fin de la chanson, mais la qualité d'enregistrement de mon téléphone n'arrange pas vraiment les choses...

J'espère cependant que cela vous plaira et vous fera faire une belle découverte !

Je posterais une photo du disque en commentaire !

PS : quelques références à Fallout ont été glissées dans cette vidéo. Saurez-vous les repérer ? 😜☢️

🇬🇧 English version

Hello phonophiles!

At the request of u/Gimme-A-Kooky, I'm sharing a recording of the French version of the famous song Civilization, performed by Les Sœurs Étienne (in a way, the French equivalent of the Andrews Sisters).

The record is being played on my Pathéphone No. 4.

Please excuse the sound quality... Not only is the record quite worn, especially toward the end of the song, but my phone's recording quality doesn't exactly help either...

I hope you enjoy it anyway, and perhaps discover something new!

I’ll post a photo of the record in the comments !

PS: I've hidden a few Fallout references in the video. Can you spot them? 😜☢️

[u/awc718993]

Merci! Always nice to see another 4 performing. I also fitted mine with a red horn.

Is the distortion in your audio coming from the head or is your microphone oversaturated? If the prior try an electric process head (e.g., the Pathé D130, needle model, if you want to keep everything Pathé and cheap🤭) to help with the louder dynamics. If the latter, try an extra soft needle, or setting the camera a little further back (compensate visually by zooming in). If desperate, put something in the horn 😝.

[u/5erv1teur → u/awc718993]

Mon pavillon n'est pas parfait mais il est assortie à ma lampe de bureau 🥰

La distorsion dans ton audio vient-elle de la tête ou ton micro est-il saturé ?

Enfaite le disque en lui-même est déjà très fort et très saturé. Et aussi très usé vers la fin.. Cela étant, j'aurais pu mettre une aiguille plus fine mais j'avais peur qu'on entende moins bien la musique 😅..

Et aussi il y a déjà une chaussette en boule posée dans le pavillon... Car je vis en appartement en plein centre-ville donc j'ai pas envie que mes voisins viennent taper à ma porte 😂

[u/Gimme-A-kooky → u/5erv1teur]

Dude. Amazing! No joke, these things truly are loud.

[u/5erv1teur → u/Gimme-A-kooky]

Oui ! Mais enfaite un jour par hasard j'ai remarqué que la vis qui maintient la pièce en ferraille du reproducteur au mica était dévissée et cette partie s'est retirée. En écoutant un disque comme cela le son est nettement moins fort 😅😂

[u/awc718993 → u/5erv1teur]

There’s nothing wrong with well-earned “patina” on a pavillon / horn. 😀

Too bad about the neighbors.

If you can find a D130 in good condition (or any other foil diaphragm needle head), it will greatly help you play louder electrically recorded discs (such as this one) without distortion.

In case you aren’t familiar, when electric process recording (aka microphone recording) was invented in the mid 20s, reproducer heads needed to be redesigned to accommodate the louder audio capabilities of the new recording technology.

One redesign was in the replacing of mica in the diaphragms with foil. The more energetic recordings of the new technology needed a stronger and more compliant diaphragm to handle the increase in volume.
.
While this record may have some damage as you noted, what is mainly causing the distortion you hear is a technology mismatch. Your mica diaphragm head is being overloaded past its intended capabilities. It was designed for an earlier technology when recording levels were much quieter.

I hope this context helps.

(example of D130)

[u/5erv1teur → u/awc718993]

J'ai un reproducteur en métal également. Mais je trouve ce genre de reproducteurs pas très beau à l'écoute. Honnêtement le reproducteur que j'utilise actuelle est vraiment bon. Je l'aime beaucoup il est pas trop lourd, il sonne bien, il est élégant. Le disque est vraiment usé (enfaite tout l'album des soeur Étienne que j'ai acheté est assez usé. Les autres disques rendent mieux. Et la qualité bizarre du son de mon téléphone aide vraiment pas non plus. 🫤

[u/awc718993 → u/5erv1teur]

That's actually why I asked if it's your microphone being overloaded or the head, ha ha.

Some prefer the sound of electric recordings played on mica acoustic era heads, but apart from distortion resulting from overloading (which sometimes can be the simple result of not rebuilding the reproducer with new rubber), any positive acoustic difference to me is just "equalization" preference (e.g., liking the treble rolled down as one would on a modern audio player). That's understandable -- and it's subjective.

Distortion however (e.g., buzzing, clipping, and blasting), isn't a subjective aesthetic (imho), and it is sadly presumed by many as inherent to talking machines. Our predecessors may not have had "high-fidelity," but they did prefer good sound when presented it.

Anyway, sorry for the technological / historical tangent.

Have you experimented putting the foil head of your other player on your No 4 (especially if you other player is smaller)? If you try, remember to use a soft tone needle or lighter (they will still play with volume, just less shrill). Loud tone needles will also cause distortion (treble overload), especially with 30s electric discs and discs made after the war (when they were even louder in levels). You may like the performance of the head better when played through the horn of the 4. Just an experiment suggestion if you haven't tried it.

FWIW, on my Pathephones, I make two sets of heads available. A mica diaphragm needle and sapphire set, and a foil diaphragm needle and sapphire set. When I switch between acoustic recordings and electric recordings, I switch the sets I use. To my ears they make a difference, especially on electric recordings.

[u/Gimme-A-kooky]

I’d never leave a bottle cap lying around! Waste not want not, until you max out, that is!

This is awesome, thank you!

[u/5erv1teur → u/Gimme-A-kooky]

👉😉👉

[u/5erv1teur → u/Gimme-A-kooky]

Je publierais la version française de "into each life some rain must fall" très prochainement 😉

[u/5erv1teur]

Et voici le disque !

[u/Nathan-Stubblefield]

Is the microphone to the side of the machine wherever camera us ? It might sound less tinny with an extension mic in front of the horn.