Today, we’ve added another piece of artwork inspired by the legendary Voice-O-Graph “automatic recording studio”.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve heard about how much I enjoy the mid-century, coin-operated vintage vibe of the Voice-O-Graph. While the machines themselves are incredibly cool (UPDATE: even the brass patent plate tacked to the unit is a nice piece of design), the Voice-O-Graph is breathtakingly expensive to own, difficult to maintain and operate, and — naturally — requires you to own a record player in order to do anything with the recordings you make. I had a sizable record collection when I was a kid, but I haven’t owned any vinyl in a very long time.
At the same time, I have been looking for some cool vintage advertising signs that are appropriate for a recording studio. So while I can’t say I have any interest in owning an actual Voice-O-Graph machine, the artwork from these machines is very cool and it’s been fun recreating bits and pieces of the Voice-O-Graph “vibe” as artwork for our studio hallway.
International Mutoscope Corporation, the manufacturer of the Voice-O-Graph, produced a number of different versions of this phone-booth sized record machine. The machines were festooned with all sorts of graphics explaining to the consumer how to make a record: what to talk (or sing) about, how much time you had to record, and what to do with your recording when it was finished. The machine would even sell you a correct-sized mailing envelope if you wanted to send recorded greetings to someone far away.
One of the stickers on the unit even points out where to find the record when the recording process is finished — a large, red arrow, marked RECORD DELIVERED HERE, pointing to the slot where the record would slide out. I’m not sure why they thought this was necessary, but with the amount of verbiage in these booths, no one could ever accuse Mutoscope of not being thorough.
In any case, the RECORD DELIVERED HERE sticker, re-sized and recreated as a metal sign, seemed like a funny bit of recording kitsch to add to the studio hallway.
The sign points to the entrance to the studio control room, helping to ensure that studio visitors know exactly where to pick up their “final product” when their visit to Undisclosed Location Studios are over. It’ll probably be a hard drive, though — cause we don’t cut vinyl records here!
Read more about the other pieces of Voice-O-Graph inspired artwork here at ULS:
“Step In! Record Your Voice” Sign
Voice-O-Graph Oversized Patent Plate
