As previously announced, I have finished the update of my Aeolian
organ web site.  The Aida selections have been added as well as
a 116-note roll converted to Duo-Art format.  The previous recording
of Lew White has been taken down and replaced with a better recording
of the same roll.

Even after all the work that has gone into this, I can't say that
it is perfect, for it is not.  When I attempt to record the organ,
I must compete with the elements.  Sometimes rain and hail is bouncing
off the skylights.  At other times a neighbor is running a noisy leaf
blower or the dogs are barking.  As the sun heats the roof in the music
room, the expansion causes the beams to make popping noise.  That
process reverses in the evening, and they pop again.

The phone seems to turn itself back on, and it rings.  Someone stops
in to say hi, or else I swallow my Pepsi and get choked while the soft
passages play.  I've lost track of all the things that screw up the
recordings, but after I overcome all those variables I notice that the
organ is no longer in tune.   Then the gauntlet starts over.

The new recordings feature X-Y mic placement that optimizes the
separation of the two swell enclosures, and since that location does
not "hear" the pedal pipes too well, those pedal pipes now have their
own mic.  The forth mic hears the room reverb, even though it is small.

The four Aida rolls total over 27 minutes.  If you don't want the full
experience, listen to the first and last rolls.  I know many of you may
not care for opera music, but I posted it because it shows how advanced
mechanical music had become by 1925.  It took many artists to bring
this (mechanical) music to the consumer, and now those artists are gone.
The 1925 price of the first Aida roll was $8.50.  Was it worth it?

http://web.me.com/bobtaylor5/aeolian/Welcome.html 

Bob Taylor