Sounds Of Our Times

Influential US music label, founded by audio engineer and inventor Emory Cook and active between 1950 and 1957 as one of the imprints of his Cook record company. Often regarded as the first "reference" Hi-Fi label, SOUNDS of our TIMES released over 50 titles on 10" and LP records, covering an uncharacteristically broad and eclectic repertoire: from classical music and American jazz to Calypso and field recordings of nature or artificial sounds. In 2006, the Smithsonian Institution launched a Smithsonian Folkways Archival series, re-releasing the most acclaimed albums as digital downloads and custom "on-demand" CD-R editions in deluxe cardboard sleeves. Alongside high-resolution scans of original LP covers, these are currently available on the Smithsonian Folkways website. Emory Cook launched his label soon after the inaugural New York Audio Fair in October 1949, where he presented Cook Laboratories, Inc. and its flagship product, a precision vinyl-cutter head. To his surprise, a white-label "20,000 Hz" demo LP cut merely to showcase its extended frequency range ended up taking the spotlight. As numerous visitors inquired where to buy such a great-sounding album, Cook realized the potential impact a record could have as a marketing vessel. Since the first edition, all releases proudly carried the "another SOUNDS OF OUR TIMES recording by COOK LABORATORIES — STAMFORD, CONN." banner. The sleeves would often have shameless self-promo blasts and overconfident "infomercials" advertising his main business, such as this: "SOUNDS of our TIMES records actually transmit a fuller frequency range than ever before on long playing records. Their superior recording quality is due to the fact that all recordings are engineered exclusively by Cook Laboratories, manufacturers of feedback disc recording cutters and fine recording equipment." Some of Emory Cook's liner notes and press releases were so astute and hilarious that Smithsonian's Center For Folklife And Cultural Heritage, which inherited Cook Records archives in 1999, even used 'Wit and humor' as one of the official indexing Subject Terms. As the label's name suggested, Cook was more concerned with "sound" than "music" per se. In his philosophy, capturing the source precisely and providing listeners with means to reproduce it at home as realistically as possible was paramount; but whether sounds came from musicians on stage, thunderstorms, or a squeaky carousel mechanism, was secondary. That's how recordings of New York Central's locomotives on a rainy night, a provocative striptease show, New Orleans jazz singer La Vergne Smith and Jimmy Carroll's avantgarde/slapstick comedy all organically co-existed in the same catalog. In 1955, Emory opened a second Cook Laboratories pressing plant in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, propelled by his latest invention, a "microfusion" vinyl. The new manufacturing process replaced coarse granules of raw vinyl used at conventional pressing plants with ultra-fine, pulverized PVC particles sprayed directly on the stamper. Even though Cook designed it primarily to reduce surface noise, "microfusion" records were also cheaper to make and utilized portable molds. Thus, Emory Cook could operate his Caribbean plant with a local team while traveling extensively around the islands and recording local steelpan bands, singers and musicians. In a few years, multiple local record shops in Trinidad and Tobago began releasing albums, sending master tapes to Cook Labs, which made metal stampers and supplied PVC powder. In a sense, Cook implemented "on-demand" records long before modern industry embraced the concept. Sounds Of Our Times catalog was partially re-issued in the UK via licensing deal Emory Cook signed with NIXA label in December 1954. Cook also registered the "Sounds Of Our Times" trademark in Australia in July 1958, with Electronic Industries Imports Pty. Ltd., pressing and distributing records on the local market.