Today is the final side in the 1938 Nutcracker album. The Victrola VX 8-4 that this was played on is called an "electrola," indicating that it was not a wind-up phonograph but that the motor was powered by electricity instead. Regardless, this particular phonograph still used analogue amplification to playback the music. Through trial, error, and mathematics, the Victrola engineers identified that the horn needed to be nine feet in length to properly play back the entire range; they were able to fit a nine foot horn into the cabinet by using interesting and innovative folding techniques. Very shortly after this phonographs began to use the same tube technology for audio playback that radios had and the sound improved even further.
