From left, Neil Young and Jack White on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show with the Voice-O-Graph. Douglas Gorenstein / NBC / NBCU Photo Bank
From left, Neil Young and Jack White on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show with the Voice-O-Graph. Douglas Gorenstein / NBC / NBCU Photo Bank

A UAE reporter lays down a tune in Nashville with the Voice-O-Graph



Once upon a time, the Voice-O-Graph was a miracle machine, seemingly beamed back in time from the future: a portable ­recording studio, about the size of a phone booth.

Anyone could step inside and lay down a tune, cut directly onto a phonograph record, and take it home on the spot, all for less than a dollar.

In 1950s America, the booths were a hugely popular fairground novelty, primarily used by punters to send short recorded messages to far-flung ­relatives.

I first heard about the Voice-O-Graph when Neil Young, the most contrary of musicians, released A Letter Home, an entire album of scratchy, low-fi, solo, acoustic covers recorded in a restored 1947 record booth belonging to Jack White. The pair made history during a joint appearance on the Tonight Show last May, when Young recorded a song in the booth, pressed live to vinyl in front of host Jimmy Fallon.

On the surface, it was among the most self-indulgent of stunts by two notoriously idiosyncratic, self-indulgent musicians. Yet ­listening to the recordings ­revealed a haunting, ethereal quality, a Quixotic relic dug up from a buried time capsule.

Travelling through the ­American South on a music roots-themed road trip, I couldn’t resist ­stopping off at White’s Third Man Records, the recording studio/concert venue/curio shop/vanity project he runs in Nashville, ­Tennessee. I’d read about the ­embalmed animals and black-red-yellow (not white anymore) colour scheme staff are required to wear. It was too weird to miss.

Pulling up outside, there was a young band entering through the shuttered warehouse doors – were they the next big thing, or some garage kids rehearsing?

Anyone can step inside the main entrance, into the “novelties lounge” – essentially a store/shrine. Framed copies of White’s recordings hang in a row above the till. Items on sale range from bumper stickers to a US$400 (Dh1,469) retro synthesiser or a $500 yellow turntable.

And then there are the records – the bulk of the store is set aside for Third Man’s vinyl catalogue: row upon row of limited-release live recordings made in the studio, alongside carefully curated blues compilations and reissues. A whole rack is set aside for classic Sun Records seven-inch singles, which White bought the rights to.

I picked up a copy of Young's A Letter Home, recorded in that very building – there couldn't be a better souvenir of my visit. Or so I thought.

The conversation that followed went something like this.

Me: “How much is the Neil Young record?”

Store lady: “Twenty dollars.”

Me: “Cool. And it was recorded here, right?”

Store lady: “Yep, it was recorded in that booth right there.”

[Store lady points. I squeal].

Me: “No way! Can I go inside?”

Store lady: “Sure. You can even record a song in it if you like.”

Me: “Ah, man, if only I had my guitar ...”

Store lady: “There’s a guitar you can use there.”

[I squeal, again].

Inside, the booth is tiny and cramped. Even with the shop’s miniature guitar, it’s a tight squeeze. I place three ­plastic ­tokens in the slot and wait. ­Suddenly the thing whirrs into life. It’s noisy – and it smells (of wax?). With nothing prepared – no idea that I’d find myself in a recording booth when I awoke that morning – I begin to play a sketchy, unfinished original. Confused, nervous, sweaty, and aware I’m singing my heart out in the ­middle of a crowded store, with just a thin layer of glass ­between me and the people ­outside.

After what feels like a minute, the magic red light comes on. The archaic machine had been waking up and hadn’t started recording. I start the song again, my eyes glued to a crude digital ­display (a new addition since White’s ­refurbishment) that counts down the 144 seconds I have to record my five-minute song. I skip a verse but then end up with time to burn after the second chorus, so improv a new bit about being in Third Man, or something.

All the while, I can see the clunky machinery etching my warbles directly onto a clear, six-inch, 45rpm polyvinyl ­record (this is another upgrade – the 1947 machine ­originally cut 65-second 78rpms onto ­laminated cardboard discs that only survived a few playbacks).

As I emerged from the booth a stranger high-fived me, as ­gobsmacked as I that such a piece of history was just sitting there, for anyone to play with. He hurried to the till to buy his own plastic tokens.

The whole thing cost me $15 – it was only 35 cents back in the day – for a one-of-a-kind, ­surreal ­experience. I can’t say the garbled, nervy, out-of-tune ­recording is my best work – but it’s a keepsake I’ll treasure ­forever.

And now I can always say: “I laid down a tune in Nashville.”

rgarratt@thenational.ae

Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes explained

Defined Benefit Plan (DB)

A defined benefit plan is where the benefit is defined by a formula, typically length of service to and salary at date of leaving.

Defined Contribution Plan (DC) 

A defined contribution plan is where the benefit depends on the amount of money put into the plan for an employee, and how much investment return is earned on those contributions.

Feeding the thousands for iftar

Six industrial scale vats of 500litres each are used to cook the kanji or broth 

Each vat contains kanji or porridge to feed 1,000 people

The rice porridge is poured into a 500ml plastic box

350 plastic tubs are placed in one container trolley

Each aluminium container trolley weighing 300kg is unloaded by a small crane fitted on a truck

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Iraq negotiating over Iran sanctions impact
  • US sanctions on Iran’s energy industry and exports took effect on Monday, November 5.
  • Washington issued formal waivers to eight buyers of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue limited imports. Iraq did not receive a waiver.
  • Iraq’s government is cooperating with the US to contain Iranian influence in the country, and increased Iraqi oil production is helping to make up for Iranian crude that sanctions are blocking from markets, US officials say.
  • Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped last month at a record 4.78 million barrels a day, former Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Oct. 20. Iraq exported 3.83 million barrels a day last month, according to tanker tracking and data from port agents.
  • Iraq has been working to restore production at its northern Kirkuk oil field. Kirkuk could add 200,000 barrels a day of oil to Iraq’s total output, Hook said.
  • The country stopped trucking Kirkuk oil to Iran about three weeks ago, in line with U.S. sanctions, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak to media.
  • Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest supplier, have slumped since President Donald Trump announced in May that he’d reimpose sanctions. Iran shipped about 1.76 million barrels a day in October out of 3.42 million in total production, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
  • Benchmark Brent crude fell 47 cents to $72.70 a barrel in London trading at 7:26 a.m. local time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was 25 cents lower at $62.85 a barrel in New York. WTI held near the lowest level in seven months as concerns of a tightening market eased after the U.S. granted its waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.