Instantaneous Recordings

Instantaneous Recordings Records made for nonretail purposes, mostly in the 1930s and 1940s, by a direct to disc process. The material used was typically aluminum, coated with acetate or a nitrate lacquer to make a soft surface. The use of acetate gave the popular name “acetates” to these recordings. Home recording was a popular use of instantaneous records in the U.S. from 1920. (In Britain, the Neophone Co., Ltd., had offered a home disc recorder ca. 1905.) Radio stations made transcription…