What was the Sapphire Group — the gatherings that broke down industry secrecy and paved the way for standardization

What was the "Sapphire Group"?

Question answered on this page: What was the "Sapphire Group" that contributed to standardization in the record industry?

The era of secrecy

Until the early 1940s, recording technology in the record industry was a closely guarded secret at every company.

Technical information about the characteristics of the cutter heads used in recording, groove geometry, stylus specifications, and more was almost never shared between companies. Donald J. Plunkett, chairman of the AES Historical Committee, wrote:

It might be well to note that up until these hard times of dwindling supplies, there was very little communication between company managements. Audio recording was a corporate closed shop. Macy's did not tell Gimbels. Victor did not tell Columbia. Secrecy prevailed… until rationing and shortages forced cooperation. Necessity became the true mother of invention.

Material shortages forced cooperation

Around 1942, shortages of materials essential to recording began to emerge as a result of World War II.

• Shellac (primarily imported from India) — supply cut off
• Montan wax (primarily imported from Central Europe) — supply similarly cut off
• Aluminum (essential for manufacturing lacquer masters) — priority allocated to the military
• Vacuum tubes — subject to wartime requisition

Record labels faced an existential crisis. Under these circumstances, recording engineers from competing companies began holding small meetings and started sharing surplus lacquer discs and vacuum tubes among themselves.

The founding of the New York Sapphire Group

The meetings trace their origin to lunch gatherings in the early 1940s among three individuals: W.H. Rose of Frank L. Capps and Co., G.E. Stewart of the NBC Recording Division, and Vincent Liebler of Columbia Recording Corporation.

The group eventually grew into a dinner meeting held on the third Wednesday of each month at the Atlantic Club in New York, and was named the "Sapphire Group" (also known as the "Sapphire Club") after the material used in recording styli.

The original purpose was to share surplus materials and foster camaraderie, but informal exchanges of technical information naturally followed.

The Hollywood Sapphire Group

On February 13, 1946, eight recording engineers on the West Coast held the first meeting of the Hollywood Sapphire Group at Brittingham's Restaurant in Columbia Square, Hollywood.

The Hollywood group came to place greater emphasis on technical discussion than its New York counterpart. By March 1948, two years later, membership had reached 50, and a Recording Standards Committee with three subcommittees was established.

John Hillard, chief engineer of Altec-Lansing, was elected chairman of the Recording Standards Committee, and topics such as the following were discussed:

• Groove geometry and stylus standards
• Standardization of terminology (creation of a "Proposed List of Preferred Terms for Disc Recording")
• Standardization of various technical parameters in disc recording

The breakdown of secrecy

The most important change brought about by the Sapphire Group's activities was the opening up of technical information about recording.

In November 1946, two articles appeared side by side in Electronic Industries magazine: "Disc Recording" by Howard A. Chinn, chief engineer of CBS, and "Recording Styli" by Isabel L. Capps of Frank L. Capps and Co.

Both disclosed technical information about commercial record manufacturing that had previously been treated as trade secrets. The magazine's editor noted:

In writing this article Mr. Chinn has expressed the hope that the disclosure of trade secrets by the Capps organization in the companion article on the opposite page will encourage others to do likewise with the goal of establishing coordinated industry standards. As long as each manufacturer persists in going his own merry way, disc recording will never come of age. — Editor.

From the Sapphire Group to the founding of AES and EQ curve standardization

The spirit and personal networks of the Sapphire Group led directly to the founding of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) in 1948.

Plunkett wrote:

This corporate camaraderie worked and the Sapphire Group concept spread to another major recording center — Hollywood, California. The nucleus of a new communication network was established and maintained. It really served as the foundation stone for the AES. The Society emerged from those meetings of the Sapphire Group during the war years.

The groove geometry and stylus standards discussed within the Sapphire Group were incorporated into the 1949 NAB standard, and subsequently carried forward into the 1953 NARTB standard and the 1954 RIAA standard. Many of the group's members also served on the NAB Standards Committee and the AES Standards Committee. The Sapphire Group was the starting point of the broader movement toward standardization in recording technology.

→ When was the RIAA standard established?

→ Why did RIAA become the standard?

For details → Pt.16

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