Peter K. Burkowitz, former CTO at Polygram and thus also part of the long Emil Berliner Studios history, wrote an extensive chronicle about the history of sound recording and kindly made this available for us. The chronicle starts with Emil Berliner's birth in 1851, highlights numerous important milestones of sound recording development and ends with the relocation of Emil Berliner Studios from Hannover to Berlin in 2010.

Mr Burkowitz died in June 2012 at the age of 92. We are indepted to him for his extensive research and kind permission to use this chronicle for our purposes, and we will keep him in fond memory.

 

 

1870

Emil (or Emile) Berliner, born on May 20, 1851, immigrates to the USA together with a friend of the family, Nathan Gotthelf. On arrival he takes an interest in the newly developed telephone technology, creating an improved microphone for this device. The fact that Alexander Graham Bell acquires the patent for it for the sum of 50,000 $ renders Berliner financially independent for the foreseeable future and enables him to open a laboratory. When he returns to Germany for a short period together with his brother Joseph, they found the Joseph Berliner Telephone Co., the first such plant in Europe at that time.

 

1887

After his return to the USA on September 26, Berliner applies for a patent on his fully operational “gramophone” recording system, based on a method of etching a lateral cut into a zinc disc. He is granted American Patent No. 15232 on November 8, 1887. Prior to this there had been only one other vertical cut-type of record, submitted for patenting on April 24, 1878 by Thomas A. Edison, and granted, as soon as August 6 of the same year (British Patent 1644), but Edison´s simultaneous application for an American patent was rejected on the grounds of “British Priority”. Although the drafts supporting his application anticipate the “gramophone”, Edison could not provide an operational specimen.

 

1893

Emil Berliner founds the United States Gramophone Company. Fred Gaisberg, who is his first record producer, quickly wins world fame.

 

1895

On October 8, Emil Berliner founds the Berliner Gramophone Company in Philadelphia. This time he invites shareholders to provide an increase in share capital. To further enlarge the contract basis, this company merges with the Victor Talking Machine Co. under Frank Seaman in 1904. It is acquired in 1929 by RCA, creating the label RCA Victor.

 

1896

Emil Berliner transfers all U.S. rights of sale for fifteen years to the National Gramophone Company, founded by Seaman, but based on the first fully operational spring drive by Eldridge R. Johnson. Seaman´s company also takes the job of producing and delivering all exports, but it soon meets considerable displeasure in the countries involved on account of its exclusively American repertoire.

 

1897

In consequence Berliner commissions two U.K. partners, William Barry Owen and Trevor Williams, to create an international repertoire by founding the UK Gramophone Company, initially meant to be no more than an artist & repertoire centre.

In New York and Philadelphia recording studios are established.

Hard rubber is replaced by shellac for pressing records.

 

1898

Berliner´s recording specialists Fred Gaisberg and Joe Sanders establish their first recording studio in Europe in rooms of the Cockburn Hotel, London, Henrietta Street.

Berliner´s U.S. production partner Frank Seaman is suspicious about of all this activity and stops delivering to Berliner´s distribution network. Berliner calls up an ad-hoc meeting with his closest associates, resulting in the decision to establish an improvised record production plant in the Hannover-based telephone factory of Berliner´s brothers Joseph and Jacob. J. Sanders is sent to Hannover to give a hand. The manoeuver succeeds and invalidates Seaman´s attempts at an embargo. Contrary to all expectations, the initially makeshift production in Hannover flourishes, which induces Berliner to found Deutsche Grammophon GmbH through his brothers Joseph and Jacob (on December 6). It includes a modest amount of record player construction, based on components from the USA. By the outbreak of World War I Berliner´s recording business has already turned into an international market leader.

 

1900

In view of a patenting dispute in the USA Berliner transfers his company headquarters to Canada and founds the Gram-O-Phone Co in the suburb Saint-Henri of Montréal. The “dog tag” is given the logo His Master´s Voice.

On June 27, Deutsche Grammophon GmbH is transformed into a corporation, founded by Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Orpheus Musikwerke GmbH, Leipzig, and UK Gramophone Company, London, which soon acquires all shares.

Because of the change of name in London the production plant in Hannover is temporarily renamed Gramophone & Typewriter GmbH (until 1908).

The headquarters of Deutsche Grammophon AG and the record player production are transferred to Markgrafenstraße 76 in the centre of Berlin, including a recording studio with a workshop. Theodore B. Birnbaum, one of the founders of Berliner Gramophone Co. in Philadelphia, is made managing director.

Further subsidiaries are established in Russia and Austria.

Technically, etching in zinc is replaced by wax cutting. (For the production of the original Berliner had so far used a zinc disc covered by a thin layer of hard fat. During the recording process the pin connected with the membrane of the sound box cuts through this layer down to the metal surface, so that the waveform embossed into the fat layer precisely represents the musical undulations. The zinc disc “inscribed” in this way is submerged in an acidic solution which “bites” a deep, channel-shaped groove into the metal. The copper tools, father, mother and matrix, are made from this original by using well-known galvano-plastic procedures. But the resulting groove surfaces are not smooth enough, which causes considerable noise when the record is played. That is why this method is soon abandoned in favor of the generally accepted one of cutting a v-shaped smooth groove into a massive, circular wax disc by using a polished cutting stylus.)

 

1901

Extension of the disc format from 17 to 25 cm; introduction of paper labels.

By this time, Berliner´s Canadian GRAM-O-PHONE has already sold two million records, established a Nipper-decorated shop in the Rue Sainte-Catherine (Montréal) and opened up a lavishly equipped recording studio as well. This offers many jazz musicians the opportunity of undisturbed (and highly successful) recording sessions due to the hate campaign launched in the USA by car manufacturer H. Ford against jazz as “Jewish machinations” [see Article by Lothar Baier in the German newspaper DIE ZEIT].

An advert by Deutsche Grammophon promises: “We offer you 5,000 records in all languages of the world!” (Thanks to Gaisberg – the author) “Strongest, most natural sound! Hard discs, no soft cylinders!”

 

1902

The first six records are made with the young tenor Enrico Caruso for a fee of just 100 £ (1 £ = 20 Reichsmark = a wage of ten days of work).

For the first time the diameter of the recordmeasures 30 cm; the playing time is ca. 5 minutes.

1901/02: The company pays a dividend of 25 %.

Owing to the dearth of space in the plant Kniestraße/Hannover, the company leases a site on Podbielskistraße. (Before this, the plant had resided in Celler Straße, Groß-Buchholz, Separatorenfabrik Franz Daseking.)

 

1903

DGG buys out its recent competitor International Zonophon Company, Berlin, and divides its supply policy into the upper-price bracket (DG Classics, emblem “the writing angel”) and the lower-price bracket (Zonophon, light and folk music, distribution by wholesale).

 

1904

Theodore B. Birnbaum moves to London as director general of all European gramophone companies. His successor in Berlin is N. M. Rodkinson from the St. Petersburg subsidiary.

The first double-sided records appear.

The retail trade of records is gradually transferred from toy and bicycle shops to those selling music instruments, then the specialist trade.

 

1906

200 presses are at work in Hanover with a daily output of 36,000 records.

 

1907

The Gramophone Co. acquires a site with railway access in Hayes near London, where a new, extensive plant is being built, because worldwide demand had turned the idea of producing records in Hanover alone obsolete.

The first cut of the spade for the head office, the plant and the studios is made by tenor Edward Lloyd in February 1907, the laying of the foundation stone is executed by singer Nellie Melba.

Rodkinson leaves Berlin for India. After him DG AG is directed by Leo B. Cohn. When he marries singer Elisabeth von Endert he changes his family name to “Curt”.

The newest fad at this time are concerts via gramophone performed in large halls. To enhance the sound volume, DG technicians develop an “Auxetophon”, based on pneumatic amplification, but the amount of background noise it creates renders it ephemeral soon.

The first machines without horns appear, integrating the sound guiding devices into the cabinet.

 

1908

The output before World War I is 6.2 million records a year.

The plant site on Podbielskistraße is now made the property of the company, no longer just a lease. The company is given back its original name (see 1900).

At this time, the workshop producing record players in Berlin employs more than 100 people, but drive mechanisms and sound boxers are still imported from the USA.

Arranger and producer Bruno Seidler-Winkler acquires lasting merit by writing instrumentation especially suited for recording.

In Berlin, the two recording engineers and brothers Max and Franz Hampe (Deutsche Grammophon AG) work alongside the recording pioneers Fred Gaisberg, William Sincler Darby, Charles A. Scheuplein and Ivor R. Holmes (The Gramophone Company, Hayes).

 

1909

The emblem “the writing angel” is replaced by “His Master´s Voice”.

To provide business models for the retail trade, the Grammophon Spezialhaus GmbH is founded, opening subsidiaries in Berlin, Breslau, Düsseldorf, Köln, Königsberg, Kiel and Nürnberg.

 

1913

Beethoven´s 5^th Symphony, played by a full orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic under Arthur Nikisch, is recorded for DGG on four double-sided records – a total novelty!

 

1914

When World War I begins, German assets are confiscated in Great Britain. In retaliation, British property is sequestered in Germany and offered for sale, among others the DG AG as subsidiary of a British company.

 

1917

On April 24, Polyphon Musikwerke, founded in Leipzig-Wahren on May 24, 1895, acquires DG AG. PML had produced only musical boxes and orchestrions before this.

 

1918

Both companies trade under the name Polyphon AG and establish their head offices in Markgrafenstraße 76, Berlin, enlarging the recording capacity to three rooms. Bruno Borchardt is made director general, Hugo Wünsch former authorized signatory at PML since 1908, becomes head of the new subsidiary DG AG. Joseph Berliner remains a member of the boards until his retirement in 1921. Leo B. Curth, executive director of DG AG until 1918, takes the wheel at Grammophon Spezialhaus GmbH.

 

1919

The Austrian subsidiary Polyphon-Sprechmaschinen und Schallplatten GmbH is founded in Vienna.

Nordisk Polyphon A. S. is founded in Kopenhagen; in Stockholm the Swedish subsidiary is called Nordisk Polyphon A. B.

As large portions of the world-famous pre-war repertoire cannot be used on account of the divided rights of ownership between the previous British mother company and her German subsidiaries, a new repertoire has to be established as quickly as possible. Karl Holy, director at the Berlin State Opera House, and Hans B. Hasse, conductor and head of the recording department of the newly installed companies, work together with technician Walter Buhre and employees Oskar Blesche, Paul Goile, Fritz Lehmann, Mr. König and Carl Friedrich Ehrich at creating a new, attractive catalog in a very short time. Nevertheless, it persists until the end of World War II. They are ably supported by Maria Ivogün, Emmi Leisner, Heinrich Schlusnus, Tino Pattiera, Wilhelm Kempff, Wilhelm Backhaus, Raoul v. Koczalski, Carl Flesch, Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner, Leo Blech, Herman Abendroth, and others. Recording sessions mostly take place in the music academy in Berlin-Zoo, in the Bach Hall, or the “Liedertafel”, Urbanstraße, in the Alte Jakobstraße, in the Beethoven Hall and in the Cinema Hall on Lützowstraße. These rooms are damped as effectively as possible by carpets and curtains. Until 1946, all insiders in this line of business are convinced that acoustically authentic records must contain no other sounds but those made by the instruments or the voices of the singers (direct sound). But then Keilholz manages to change this habit by introducing the lively acoustic atmosphere he had learnt to create during his years at the Reichsrundfunkgesellschaft by using modern broadband technology.

Robert Blanke is made head of the Hanover plant in his capacity of authorized signatory.

 

1922

Three years prior to the introduction of the electro-acoustic recording and reproduction technologies, engineers of DGG create wax records by using an experimentally developed electro-magnetic cutter head.

 

1924

Berliner sells his GRAM-O-PHONE Co., including the NIPPER trademark, to the Victor Talking Machine Co.

 

1925

DG engineer Buhre writes a lab report on the successful design of an electromagnetic cutter capable of recording 100 to 4500 Hz.

The acousto-mechanical recording and reproduction sysem is gradually replaced by the electro-acoustico-magnetic system in all broadcasting and recording studios worldwide.

 

1926

At DGG Dr. Waldemar Hagemann replaces graphiting of wax discs by electro-chemical silvering to render their surfaces conductive to galvanization.

In Berlin Buhre employs Walter Schindler as precision engineer, then as head of the workshop.

 

1927

The Berlin Philharmonic under Wilhelm Furtwängler playing Beethoven´s 5^th Symphony is recorded for the first time.

A contract on matrix exchange is concluded between DGG and the Brunswick-Balke-Collander Co. in Chicago, not only giving access to the most attractive jazz repertoire of the period, but also enabling the company to import electric record players from the USA.

 

1928

Beethoven´s Missa Solemnis (Berlin Philharmonic, Bruno Kittel) is recorded in its entirety on eleven 30 cm diameter discs. At Christmas a million copies of a 30 cm disc of the “Archangel Gabriel proclaiming the birth of Christ to the shepherds” are sold – an unheard-of success!

In Tokyo Nippon Polydor Chikounki K. K. is founded.

 

1929

Emil Berliner dies in Washington on August 3.

Victor Talking Machine Co. sells all rights and labels acquired from Berliner to RCA.

Under the direction of Herbert Borchardt and Erna Elchlepp, the Societée Phonographique Française Polydor S. A. is founded. Mr. König is instated as the recording engineer in Paris.

At this time the daily output of records in Hannover climbs to 83,000 copies from among a total production of 10 million discs.

DG AG takes an interest in KLANGFILM GmbH, expecting future benefits for their recording business, but due to a negative prognosis they already give up their shares in 1932.

During the twenties, the board of directors at DG AG consists of Dr. Gustav Stresemann, former Imperial Chancellor Fehrenbach, former Imperial Minister of Trade and Commerce Dr. von Raumer, Cyrus Thomas Pott (Union Corp., London), Gerrit Kreyenbroek (Teixeira, Amsterdam), Dr. Curt Sobernheim (Kommerz & Privatbank AG), Hans Arnhold (Gebr. Arnhold, Dresden/Berlin) and Martin Schiff.

 

1930

Due to the World Economic Crisis, which had already made itself felt in 1929, the company´s extensive foreign activities are concentrated in March in a Swiss holding, the Polyphon-Holding AG. In 1932 this holding is renamed Polydor Holding AG.

 

1932

On account of the catastrophic stagnation of the business in their plant, Polyphon Werke AG, Leipzig, merges with Deutschen Grammophon AG, soon to be followed by the total shutdown of the production in Leipzig.

Due to heavy traffic noise, the recording studios are moved from Markgrafenstraße to Lützowstraße 111/112.

 

1933

Deutsche Grammophon AG parts company with Polydor Holding, Basel, selling off all their shares in it.

Under pressure from international copyright companies and technical innovations, such as broadcasting, technical setups for large events, the sound film, later also tape recorders, the record companies form a protective association, the “International Federation of the Phonographic Industry” (IFPI), which soon gains considerable influence. Dr. Walter Betcke, manager at DGG, is its president from 1961 to 1964 (at a much later stage).

 

1934

Due to the depression the prestigious premises in Berlin, Markgrafenstraße, are abandoned in favor of modest offices in Jerusalemer Straße 65-66.

 

1936

Duhme and A. Schaaf (DGG) provide the first systematic classification and quantitative analysis of record noises.

 

1937

DGG´s principal shareholders emigrate to escape growing racial defamation, trying to sell their shares. An interim board of directors manages to bring about a capital merger as a first step towards recovery and enables a consortium of Deutsche Bank and Telefunken Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie mbH to start a re-development programme by liquidating DG AG and by founding Deutsche Grammophon GmbH. Telefunken is interested in this new company because their own Telefunken Platte GmbH, founded in 1932, has no production plant. This cooperation prepares the subsequent re-emergence of DGG mbH, too, especially by adding to it the total production of Telefunken Platte in Hannover. This means that the ultra-modern Telefunken recording technology is there to be shared insofar as it is not curtailed by temporary deficits.

 

1938

Measures to rebuild Berlin (by Albert Speer, among others) induce DG AG to abandon its studios on Lützowstraße 111/112, and to move to the former Zentraltheater in the Alte Jakobstraße. Much better acoustic and technical conditions than in their previous location make up for this change, initially seen as a form of humiliation. This is where a new high-class repertoire is recorded with works played by BPO and the State Opera Orchestra. The number of conductors already under contract (Paul van Kempen, Carl Schuricht, Richard Strauss) is joined by young Herbert von Karajan, who produces his first recordings ever in the new studio. Soloists performing there are Wilhelm Kempff, Elly Ney, Alfred Sittard, Georg Kulenkampff, Erna Berger, Tiana Lemnitz, Viorica Ursuleac, Walther Ludwig, Julius Patzak, Helge Roswaenge, Heinrich Schlusnus, Franz Völker, and others.

These top-flight productions are traded under the label „Grammophon Meisterklasse“.

DGG´s headquarters are soon transferred to larger rooms in the Ringbahnstraße 63 in Berlin-Tempelhof.

 

1941

A major contract between Siemens and AEG assigns all Telefunken shares to AEG, and all DG shares to Siemens, thereby turning Siemens into the sole proprietor of DGG, a move which proves to introduce one of the most successful periods in company history. Dr. Ernst von Siemens and board director Dr. Adolf Lohse subsequently take an avid interest in everything that happens at DGG.

The unabbreviated “St Matthew´s Passion” appears on eighteen 30 cm discs right in the middle of the war, their matrices carried to Japan by a blockade-runner submarine. Until the end of the war, 17,000 copies are sold in Japan.

 

1942

At DGG Dr. Emil Duhme (Siemens) introduces vacuum silvering to replace electro silvering. Following the recommendation of Hans Domizlaff, Siemens' advisor on matters of style and labels, all records produced in this way are given new imprints:

 

1943

Classical music gets pale blue labels, called Siemens Spezial (experimental record, using the new silvering process of the electro-acoustic research lab; light music is given a red label, Siemens Polydor (produced by electro-acoustic methods meant to provide a high degree of purity of sound and an extended frequency response.

Several top-flight productions, such as Beethoven´s 7^th Symphony (State Opera Orchestra Berlin, Karajan) and Don Quixote by and under Richard Strauss, Bavarian State Orchestra, are produced in this manner.

On January 1, Siemens sends qualified engineer Helmut Haertel to DGG to become their deputy manager.

The Berlin studio and large sections of the Hannover plant fall victim to bombing during the last years of the war. Haertel and Blanke organize the work of rebuilding them, so that a makeshift production can soon be resumed by using a number of presses that had remained intact somehow.

 

1945

The British Occupying Council authorizes DGG to employ 50 extra staff for cleaning-up operation. First stopgap earnings are made by direct sale to members of the occupation army. Together with engineer Thieme (Siemens, Hannover), P. K. Burkowitz, newly assigned to the electro-acoustic lab on August 16, 1945 for a wage of 50,- Reichsmark per month (a mere pocketmoney), starts building a makeshift mixing desk to enable the company to record music again. The desk, resembling V35 of RGG, is finished early in 1946, relying on available components, like shielded cables, which have to be extricated at night from deserted flak shelters.

The first recordings are made on magnetic audio tape (German: "Magnetophonband") at the Capitol in Hannover in October.

Heinrich Keilholz contributes his extensive recording experience, which he gathered during his years at RGG (Reichsrundfunkgesellschaft), by taking up the position of head of the recording department at DGG. He will hold the position until 1960.

 

1946

In May, G. Schöttler and A. Schaaf (DGG) introduce their version of extended play (modulation-controlled groove distance, patented on December 28, 1948).

Using the new makeshift mixing desk (3 channel controls, 1 ouput control, level indicator with 10 ms attack time on a 40 dB scale) and two miraculously preserved Neumann “bottles” (a pressure gradient capsule and an M7), he makes his first recordings at the Beethoven Hall in Hannover, and he is quite happy with the result.

When the ban on travelling is lifted, Burkowitz returns to his hometown Berlin on August 31 to work for RIAS as sound engineer. His main contacts there are: Albert Pösniker (Technical Director), Otto Scheffler and Jörg Hinkel (technical development and construction), Prof. Elsa Schiller (head of the classics department), Fried Walter and Hans Carste (heads of the light music department), Werner Müller (conductor of the dance music orchestra), Heinz Opitz, Fritz Ribbentrop, Alfred Schmidt, Helmut Hertlein and Helmut Krüger (sound engineers).

At DGG Biers and A. Schaaf start using pressing materials without any filling or grinding additives.

From this time onwards, DGG produces all its recordings by using magnetic tape (the first post-war models from AEG).

 

1948

The logo “His Master´s Voice”, no longer serviceable in international business, is sold to the previous owner, The Gramophone Co and its German subsidiary Electrola.

Musicologist Dr. Fred Hamel starts building his Archiv Produktion, which will soon gain worldwide attention and fame.

In the USA rival Columbia introduces its first 30 cm 33⅓ rpm longplay records in vinyl. This leads to a format competition with RCA, pinning its hopes on a 17 cm, 45 rpm model.

 

1949

The combination of the company logo Siemens and the record labels, recognized as unsuitable, is abandoned. Following Domizlaff´s suggestion, two new labels are introduced: the yellow label Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft for classical music and the red label Polydor for light music.

 

1950

Dr. Hans-Werner Steinhausen from Telefunken-Platte GmbH becomes managing director of the technical department of DGG.

The production of light music is transferred from Hannover to Hamburg, where it resides on the premises of Studio Hamburg GmbH, with Alfred Schmidt as head of the light music recording activities.

DGG makes its first stereo tape recordings for comparative tests, also testing their usefulness on records.

 

1951

In the meantime the company has managed to gain the cooperation of the following artists: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christel Goltz, Josef Greindl, Elisabeth Höngen, Annelies Kupper, Fritz Lehmann, Wilma Lipp, Max Lorenz, Enrico Meinardi, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Irmgard Seefried, Carl Seemann, Elfriede Trötschel, Hermann Uhde, Wolfgang Windgassen, Wilhelm Kempff, Leopold Ludwig, and Walther Ludwig.

The new synthetic LP with 33⅓ rpm is now marketable in Germany, too.

Twelve new yellow-label releases create quite a stir at the Funkausstellung on account of their superlative quality and the placement of items like Mendelssohn´s A Midsummer Night´s Dream (Berlin PO, Fricsay), Brahms´ 2^nd Symphony (Berlin PO, Jochum), Mozart´s Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Chamber Orchestra of the Bavarian Broadcast, Jochum), Brahms´ Variations on a Theme by Haydn, op. 56 (Württembergisches Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Leitner) – on just one side of an LP!

 

1952

Prof. Elsa Schiller, former head of the music department at RIAS, Berlin, is made product manager for classical music at DGG.

The first complete opera recorded on LP is Lortzing´s “Zar und Zimmermann”, prelude to a long line of such recordings with the yellow label.

Kurt Richter is made head of the light music department.

Heinrich Keilholz, head of the DGG recording department, provides new decorative acoustic elements for the Vienna State Opera, which are highly effective.

 

1953

Dr. Ernst von Siemens is made head of the supervisory board at DGG.

The 17 cm 45 rpm is now introduced throughout the music industry.

 

1954

DGG establishes a subsidiary in London, Polydor UK, Ltd.. Werner Riemer is made its managing director, formerly export division Hannover.

For the first time DGG records a complete work of literature: Goethe´s Faust on LP.

84 % of all deliveries are still 78 shellac discs.

The plant in Hannover is enlarged by 1,000 sqm.

 

1956

The headquarters and the managing board of DGG are transferred from Hannover to Hamburg.

 

1957

The construction works for a new record manufacturing plant are started in Langenhagen near Hannover.

After great success of Goethe´s “Faust I” (Düsseldorf, Gründgens), the „Literary Archive“ (green label) if founded. Dr. Adolf Lohse, member of the board of directors, will take care for this label in the future.

 

1958

DGG releases its first stereo LP record, although already at the industry´s disposal since 1954. Due to the progressive pick-up technology, stereo LPs can be submitted to public use earlier than imagined because they are “mono compatible” (they can also be played on mono sets).

The production of shellac discs is abandoned. The vinyl formats – 33⅓ rpm LPs and 45 rpm singles – are firmly established by this time.

 

1959

Herbert von Karajan is once more taken under a long-term contract by DGG.

The moulding record production starts in Langenhagen, next to the site of the future Emil Berliner Studios. At first the daily output is 40,000 discs, soon to surpass 120,000 ones.

 

1960

The size of the DGG catalogues, containing more than 5,000 titles by renowned artists, achieves a new top position in the music industry worldwide.

The recording department with its studios is physically separated and moved back to Podbielskistraße in Hanover, the production is continued in Hamburg.

 

1961

Dr. W. Betcke, managing director at DGG, is elected president of IFPI for one term of tenure.

Horst Söding, head of the development department at DGG, introduces the first experimental video disc (for internal use only).

 

1962

Siemens AG, München, and Philips Gloeilampen Fabrieken N. V., Eindhoven/Netherlands, decide to merge their subsidiaries DGG und PPI (Philips Phonographische Industrie) ecenomically while both maintaining legally independent. They believe in considerable advantages from this move, DGG having a superlative repertoire, PPI owning branches worldwide. The new company trades under the provisional name “GPG” (in Germany Grammophon-Philips-Gruppe, in Netherlands Gruppe Philips Grammophon). Coen Solleveld is elected president, F & A Johannes van der Velden, Distribution & Sales Kurt Kinkele, Engineering Dr. H. W. Steinhausen, Polydor Int. Dr. Werner Vogelsang, PPI Piet Schellevis, DGG Richard Busch, Philips Reinhard Klaassen.

The group acquires the company and label Mercury (US).

At GPG Hannover Immelmann introduces a fully automatic electronic record control system.

 

1964

At the end of his tenure, Dr. W. Betcke surrenders his IFPI chairmanship to Richard Dawes, EMI.

 

1965

The production of music cassettes (MC) begins in Hannover.

 

1967

Peter K. Burkowitz is made head of Groups Recording Management (GRM) in Hannover, alternatively in Baarn, Netherlands. Technical planning, construction and service capacities are distributed to both facilities, depending on demand and suitability. Coordinating measures are to be initiated on all decision levels. The studios of regional branches are supervised centrally, introducing adequate measures of standardization, modernization and coordination.

There are exploratory talks with Dr. Steinhausen on the transfer of the sound engineering department from Hannover to Langenhagen into a new, yet to be built administrative center. The favored solution of a separate building, especially appropriate for acoustic reasons (close proximity to the highway), cannot be verified, owing to limited resources, but it is not rejected altogether, either.

 

1969

The recording department sound engineering and GRM move to Langenhagen into the new administrative building.

C. Olms, head of Polydor studios, London, describes the principles and solutions of automatic repetition of work routines at the mixing desk.

During a US tour P. K. Burkowitz scouts out halls, studios and recording installation of the most renowned labels in New York, Chicago, Montreal, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Nashville, Memphis, Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The news of an expiring contract between the Boston Symphony Orchestra and RCA, immediately transferred to Kurt Kinkele in Hamburg, initiates a new long-term contract between DGG and the BSO, leading to the establishment of a separate control room for DGG (a novelty in the Symphony Hall), with a modern analog transistor desk from the GPG workshop, audio engineering department Baarn. Local supervision in Boston is assigned to Paul Meister, GPG audio engineering department, Hannover (see picture below).

 

1970

First 4 channel quadrophony discs.

In the Netherlands the first worldwide meeting of Group Recording Managers (heads of regional companies) is arranged. Many participants see their colleagues from other countries for the first time ever. A great need for and real interest in timely technical information becomes apparent, leading to a regular service, including suggestions for practical and economically viable harmonization measures.

 

1971

Siemens and Philips assign GPG to PolyGram.

After many years of international groundwork by Johann L. Ooms (former chief engineer for electro acoustics at PPI) and regional initiatives by P. K. Burkowitz and several technical heads of European companies inside the music industry, there is a first meeting of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) in Europe, convening in Cologne. This event marks the beginnings of a new (and badly needed) international cooperation, providing information on and accounts of experiences with technological inventions. Burkowitz heads the first three meetings: 1971 in Cologne, 1972 in Munich, and 1973 in Rotterdam (see AES History: Background Information – AES Amsterdam 2008 (April 2, 2008)).

On February 8, 1971 the control room at the Boston Symphony Hall is officially opened in the presence of journalists:

 

1972

The classics teams of DGG and Philips (PolyGram) are now serially equipped with 8-channel, soon even 16-channel machines (Studer).

 

1976

The first digital test recordings are made with Sony PCM1 machines. At the same time, everything is still recorded on analogue tape as well.

 

1977

Lothar Schmidt und Gorski, POLYGRAM-AED Hannover, create the first automatic mixing system with inter-track data recording and real-time data recovery.

DECCA London builds proprietary digital tape recorders in their own workshop.

 

1979

PolyGram quickly equips classical music teams and national companies with commercially available digital tape machines and systematically begins the transition to digital recording: Sony PCM 1600 for stereo recordings, 3M and SONY 3324 multitrack machines for multitrack recordings .

 

1980

Under the overall technical supervision of Dr. Hermann R. Franz, PolyGram engineers (production technology - Dieter Soiné, development department - Horst Söding) develop the entire technology of CD record production, based on their own experiences from Hanover laboratories dating back to 1961. The market is supplied from 1982.

 

1981

DGG Tonmeister Karl-August Naegler receives a Grammy Award for his recording of Alban Berg´s Lulu (Orchestre de l'Opéra de Paris, Pierre Boulez) in the category „Best Engineered Album, Classical“.

 

1983

Nach Erreichen des Ruhestandalters und einem weiteren Jahr Beratertätigkeit übergibt Peter K. Burkowitz seinen betrieblichen Aufgabenbereich an Prof. Dr. Hans Hirsch (Chef E-Musik DGG) und seinen technischen Aufgabenbereich an Ing. Han Tendeloo (Chef Group-Adva). Die Leitung des DGG-Aufnahme-Bereichs übernimmt Klaus Hiemann.

 

1984

The first CD-ROMs (reald-only memory) are produced in Hannover.

 

1985

A six-year cooperation between Philips and Dupont Optical begins under the logo PDO.

 

1986

digital delay technology is used for the first time to compensate for time differences between main and spot microphones.

 

1987

The CD-Video with analog picture and digital sound is created.

During the Funkausstellung P. K. Burkowitz, invited for this purpose, explains to interested visitors the principles of recording in the “digital era”. This is followed by an exchange of ideas with Oliver Berliner about the situation and plans of the descendants of Emil Berliner and his views on subsequent developments (see the following pictures).

 

1989

The bit rate for two-channel recordings is increased from 16 to 24 bits.

 

1990

Development of High Capacity Discs (forerunners of the DVD).

 

1991

The remaining production facilities are transferred from Hannover, Podbielskistraße, to Langenhagen.

The first recordings in “4D” technology are carried out, with A/D conversion as close to the microphone as possible, so that only digital signals are carried to the mixing desk via cable. (Resolution during both the recording and the mixing process should exceed the CD standard).

DG producer Hans Weber receives a Grammy Award for his recording of Charles Ives' orchestra works (New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein) in the category „Best Classical Album“. Tonmeister was Klaus Scheibe.

 

1992

DG Tonmeister Gregor Zielinsky receives a Grammy Award for his recording of Leonard Bernstein´s Candide (London Symphony Orchestra, Bernstein) in the category „Best Engineered Album, Classical“.

 

1993

Patenting of the CD recycling technology, a PolyGram Hannover product.

For 2 and 4-track recordings, the resolution is increased from 16 bits to 24 bits (Nagra-D).

 

1994

24-bit technology is also introduced for multi-track recordings (> 4 tracks). For this purpose, the DASH machines (Sony) are modified by the in-house audio engineering department under the direction of Stefan Shibata.

The PolyGram plant Hannover/Langenhagen is renamed PolyGram Manufacturing & Distribution Centres GmbH (PMDC).

DG Tonmeister Rainer Maillard receives a Grammy Award for his recording of Bartók´s The Wooden Prince and Cantata Profana (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, & Chorus, Pierre Boulez) in the category „Best Engineered Album, Classical“.

 

1995

The first functional high-capacity discs are released.

 

1996

The favorable business prospects and the closure of the administrative building in Langenhagen enable Klaus Hiemann to realize the old plan of building a separate accomodation for recording purposes, and also to give it a truly appropriate name, independent from any commercial ups and downs: The Emil Berliner House. After its completion the recording centre of PolyGram Hannover moves into the new building on the company premises in Langenhagen. It is on the ground level throughout. Oliver Berliner is present at the official opening ceremony. Also the street in front of the Langenhagen premises is renamed, so there is now an official Emil-Berliner-Straße in Hannover.

PolyGram Hannover exceeds the mark of one billion CDs.

Production of DVDs with a memory capacity of 7 CD-ROMs (DVD-5).

 

1998

Celebration of “100 years of record technology”.

Seagram (US) acquires the PolyGram shares from Philips and integrates them into its global enterprise, creating the world´s biggest music company inside this new holding.

The DVD-9 (equaling 13 CD-ROMs) is now produced serially.

The first recordings at 96 kHz sampling frequency are produced in the Emil Berliner House.

 

1999

PMDC is renamed Universal Manufacturing & Logistics GmbH (UML). PolyGram Recording Services (PRS) are dubbed Universal Recording Services (URS).

The repertoire is digitalized for the purposes of electronic commerce.

During a URS recording session with Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester (see picture below) both modern condenser microphones and a historic Reisz microphone from the late 1920 are used, the latter borrowed from the museum of Georg Neumann GmbH, restored by Manfred Hibbing (Sennheiser electronic).

 

2000

Emil Berliner Studios is now the name for all services of the previous Recording Centre, such as implementation of recording sessions, recording practice and technology, mastering of tapes and the keeping of archives.

As part of the Cannes Classical Awards, Klaus Hiemann is awarded The Emile Berliner Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The French company Vivendi merges with Universal Music to form Vivendi-Universal.

 

2001

January: Since the end of 1996, more than 5 million DVDs have been produced.

The first DVD-Audio is made at the Emil Berliner Studios, but the first products are released not until 2003 (see examples below).

 

2002/ 2003

The department Media Authoring is a new addition to the existing services of EBS, devoted to authoring the new sound carrier formats DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD. It provides pioneer work and is subsequently complemented by the screen picture, together with the DVD-Video.

Much ado about nothing: The experts and parts of the Hi-Fi/High End scene are at cross purposes over the new recording format DSD, on which the Super Audio CD is based, and possible advantages of this format in comparison to PCM, as it is used for CD and (in its high-resolution variety) for DVD-Audio, the rival format of SACD. Whereas the discussion is marred by the use of unsuitable comparisons and untenable marketing slogans, EBS really undertakes to compare the formats. They are the first (and perhaps the only) team worldwide to do so. During the recording of Mahler´s 2^nd Symphony (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Gilbert Kaplan, released on Deutsche Grammophon CD 474 380-2, SACD 477 594-2) in the Musikvereinssaal, Vienna, the whole recording sequence is carried out by using both PCM and DSD technology following the microphone. To exclude sound variations by different A/D converters, the team uses special converters capable of dealing with both formats. The result of the subsequent listening comparisons by double-blind test is as straight-forward as sobering: There is no difference whatsoever.

 

2005

The Universal-owned plant for optical data carriers on the premises in Hannover/Langenhagen is sold to the American company Entertainment Distribution Company (EDC).

 

2007

Deutsche Grammophon/Universal gives up large portions of its company-owned Emil Berliner Studios for “strategic reasons”. The departments Mastering and Media Authoring are closed down. They carry on as independent companies, managed by their respective executives (Eastside Mastering Studios Berlin GmbH headed by Götz-Michael Rieth and Dirk Niemeier, platin media productions GmbH & Co. KG headed by Harald Gericke). By this time, the extensive company archive has already been disincorporated into a separate branch. Only the recording crew remains, still carrying out assignments for DG and DECCA.

 

2008

By way of a management buy-out Emil Berliner Studios – Deutsche Grammophon GmbH turns into the new independent company EBS Productions GmbH & Co. KG, carrying on under the Emil Berliner Studios with more or less the same crew. In the meantime Hannover/Langenhagen is getting emptier by the day: All tape archive stock is transferred to Arvato Digital Services (previously Sonopress) in Gütersloh, Westfalia.

 

2009

The management of EBS decides to leave Hannover/Langenhagen and to move to Berlin. The premises there in the Köthener Straße 38, close to the Potsdamer Platz, still house the historic Meistersaal and various other companies from the section “media production”. The studios are rebuilt completely, which takes as much as nine months to be completed.

At the same time overdub recordings for actor Ulrich Tukur´s album “Mezzanotte” are underway in the studios in Hannover/Langenhagen, the last recording sessions at the old address.

 

2010

EBS leaves the location Hannover/Langenhagen and moves to Berlin. On October 21 the crew celebrates the start into a new and hopeful era of its outstanding and complex history.

 

Note

The author does not guarantee the correctness of calendar data, as the figures in the sources do not always match.

© 2010 Peter K. Burkowitz †

Additions since 1983 and editing for web presentation: © 2013 Daniel Kemper

We would like to thank Mrs A. Panczel-Lenke for translating this historical survey into English.

Revisions & supplements: © 2020 Rainer Maillard

Revisions & supplements translation: Sidney Claire Meyer

 

Sources (Peter K. Burkowitz)

• Private notes, researches, memories
• Corp. membership: DGG 1945 - 1946, RIAS 1946 - 1953, EMI 1953 - 1967, PolyGram 1967 - 1983.
• Oliver Read, Walter L. Welch: „From Tin Foil to Stereo“; Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc.; The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 2nd edition, Indianapolis, USA. ISBN: 0-672-21505-6
• DGG prints, among others „65 Jahre Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft, 1898 - 1963“, „100 Jahre Schallplatte“ – von Hannover in die Welt (P. Becker, O. Heyne, U. Lencher, J. Popp, K. Schäfer, P. Schulze, D. Tasch, W. Zahn, F. R. Zankl).
• Bruch, Walter „Von der Tonwalze zur Bildplatte“, offprint from the Funkschau, Franzis Verlag München
• Internet, div., e. g. Nipper vor dem Trichter (DIE ZEIT, 2001)
• DVD booklet „Emil Berliner – Von der Schellackplatte bis zur DVD“, Emil Berliner Studios, May 20, 2001
• Report from Walter Schindler (emplyed in Berlin 1926, transferred to Hannover in 1949, retired in 1962), based on a MC recording from September 29, 1976 and conversations from November 5, 1981 and February 21, 1983, summarized in 1982/83 by Ernst Kwoll
• Informations from Lester Smith, Abbey Road Studios
• The Gramophone Archive (Internet)
• Martland, Peter: „Since records began: EMI – The first hundred years“. EMI-Group plc. 1997, Amadeus Press, ISBN 1-57467-033-6

 

Sources (R. Maillard)

• Edwin Hein: „Ein Name macht Geschichte", manuscript, Museum für Energie Geschichte(n), Hanover
• Correspondence between Helmut Haertel & Hugo Wünsch 1945-1946, historic folders DGG, Museum für Energie Geschichte(n), Hanover
• Pensioner interviews (German: "Pensionärsgespräche") 1956 & 1957, tape recordings, DGG tape archive

 

Do you have any comments, criticism or additions? Please write to us. We are looking for further sources and documents about the history of our recording studio.