Oh Groovy, Baby !

In elementary school we had a riddle that went like this: 

Q:   How many grooves are there on a record?

A:   Two - one on each side.

Ortofon (the name of the company) in Nakskov (the name of the Danish town) lives from sound and produces some of the world's best pick-ups for record players. It requires dexterity and deep concentration of 3F union employees (the union I am a member of).

As you may have guessed, this is my loose translation of an article from my monthly 3F union magazine and I am dedicating this story to well known French DJ artist, Esteban. 

But before we go on any further, hit this link and listen to this music in the background while you read this very interesting "you'd be surprised" story.

From Tokyo to New York, the booming beat of dance music entices guests in the dark. In nightclubs - blue, purple and white flashing lights, spinning round the room, momentarily reveal the faces of the guest as they dance to the inciting rhythms.  The disc jockey behind the mixer on the stage is the magic of the music. He does not use hocus-pocus pre-mixed formulas, but instead he uses his hands like "scratching" on vinyl.  The sounds together create an entire orchestra of voices and music.

However, the magic of the night starts not in the clubs, rather, they start at the Ortofon company in Nakskov, Lolland (a medium size island south of Copenhagen and just north of Germany) (we drove across the island 2 blogs ago.  Look for the letters E, F and G on the map.)  It's from this point where the music starts.  It's from here that DJ's from around the world get the world's best pick-ups used to mix their music.

THE WORK REQUIRES FEELING
Ortofon's red brick building reveals nothing of the machine noise that the ear meets as soon as you enter the ground floor.  Here sits the 56-year-old Lone Sunke.  She is the team leader in the magnetic department for 17 full-time employees and 8 young workers. Her team is sitting in rows and concentrate on each their microscopes while their fingers work with tweezers. With surgical precision, they collect the metal thread on a coil roll. 700 copper metal wires are made in the machine, which is among other things, the cause of the noise in the room.

It takes a sense of feeling to work with this because you have to put the coils down over small sticks and the thread is 23 thousandth of a my. (the article does not say what a my is, but I found this: My (Μ μ) is a Greek letter with the sound value [m]. The letter is used  as a symbol of permittivity. It is often seen that the letter u is used instead of "my". This is shown by indicating capacity.)  "It is thinner than a strand of hair", explains Lone Sunke.

In the magnetism department they produce the popular Q-Bert pickup, made especially for scratch and hip-hop. It is designed in collaboration with the American DJ Q-Bert from San Francisco, CA.  "We sell a lot of Q-Bert pickups. There are many different colors and types, such as the OM and 2M model", tells Lone Sunke.

CONSTANT DEVELOPMENT

The company started in 1918 to produce soundtracks for film. Good sound has since been the trademark.  "Our major export markets are USA, Japan and Germany. We provide a lot of customer service and we are constantly working on developing new technologies, products and production methods. We collaborate with Denmark's Technical University and Technology Institute", says Markus Jonsson, Supply Chain Director.

The most exclusive pickup is a handmade MC Anna. It costs 50,000 kroner (about $7,800 or €6,700) and they produce five of a month.

ORTOFON'S JOURNEY WITH GOOD SOUND

Throughout time, Ortofon has focused on developing new products. Today, besides pick-ups, pulse simulators are made.  They are used for first aid doll components in plastic rubber and metal for the pharmaceutical industry and hearing aid components.  Common to all of this is the sound but also that the technology is constantly improving so the products are getting even better.

The photo above shows 58 year old Jane Ploug who has been employed at Ortofon for 25 years.  She is attaching a microscopic diamond on the needle of the pick-up.

So when the music stops, the lights turned off and the DJ packs up his records, 3F employees in Lolland continue to produce sound for the world. 

But did you know that groove can also be found in the heart?   Click here and tune out.

1918

In 1918, Danish engineer Axel Petersen and Arnold Poulsen, founded the Electrical Phono Film Company.  At that time, there was no soundtrack on the filmstrip in cinemas.  These 2 men developed the first synchronized sound and film system which at that time was in high demand world wide.  Today the company is called Ortofon.

1948

In 1948, Ortofon developed the first Mono Pick-Up AB, A and C; a new and bedre sound system which lifted the sound from 5 kHz to 14 kHz.  Within a few years this pick-up became known around the world.

1959

In 1959, the first stereo pick-up was available on the market.  It was called SPU for stereo pick-up.  Stereo pick-ups could function in a sound system with several independent sound channels.  The SPU is characterized by the rich bass.  When this little invention came along, it was a sound that no one had ever heard before.

400,000

400,000 diamonds arrive yearly from Japan and Switzerland to the factory in Lolland.  Real diamonds are used exclusively in the pick-ups such as the Anna for dkk50,000   And others types are used to reach deeper into the groove.  These are good for "scratching".

4,000

And this many pick-ups are made each week and each with a real diamond.

I Was The Ambassador

It's been advertised on facebook for a while now - 2 or 3 months or so.  It's been advertised along with another advertisement of a Russian hooker with huge boobs that wants to "talk" with me. They all seem to want to make love to me but first want to sell me Viagra.  Who told them? 

Anyway...... I wasn't really sure what I was going to do on my free week and at the last minute I asked Jens if he want to go hear Rufus Gifford at the Bella Center.  To my surprise, Jens said yes.

Before we go on, here is a video of who Rufus Gifford is. It's from about 8 years ago.  In the video he was presenting himself as the new and upcoming American Ambassador to Denmark.

So like everything else in this country, I went on-line and ordered tickets.

The Bella Center is just a 9 minute drive from our home.

The Bella Sky hotel (wild and trippy design - looks like the building is gonna fall over) and the Bella Congress Center is the lower building to the right.

We went in good time as the seating was opened.  We could have sat closer but we decided to go for an end spot and not fight the crowd.

We were 40 minutes early.  

We watched the advertising slide-show with music playing again and again....

....and then finally Rufus Gifford was introduced.

He's a very good speaker.  He was good at putting people in a good mood and he had us laughing.

 

 

 

 

 

He talked a lot about how he sees Denmark and gave a very quick briefing on American government.  And he did it all in a very entertaining way.

At the end of his lecture, there was a Q&A secession.  People could ask anything at all he said - from the lecture to his personal life.

I finally got my chance to ask something I have been dying to know.  With a microphone in my hand, I stood up and I told him that Jens and I had celebrated our Silver Anniversary 2 years ago and I was wondering if the invitation we sent to him had by chance made it to his desk.  Everybody laughed.  I knew they would.  "You sent an invitation? Did I answer?" he asked me.  And I said, "That's what I'm asking you", and everybody laughed again.  Then I said, "It was us, waving the American flag from our balcony as you were departing the Union office on Island Brygge."  It took him a second but excitedly he said,  "Oh yes! Yes! I remember that!"

He's the guy in the middle furthest back.

At the lecture, he was also selling his biography. And the end of the lecture, people could line up and have their book signed.  I didn't buy a book.  I had already bought his cookbook from the nearby supermarket several months ago. 

So when the lecture was over, I made a mad dash down to the stage to get in line to get my cookbook signed.  Bummer - the line was forming to the right and I was all the way at the left as far as you could get.  So by the time I got towards the end of the line, I could see that this was going to be an all nighter.  I stood there for about 3 minutes and I just knew that my husband was not going to make it.  That he even came to the lecture was a good challenge for him because he had been to physical therapy earlier in the day.  So he was pretty much wiped out.  

OK, so I step out of line and go get Jens.  I know his health is much more important than an autograph from someone who WAS an ambassador.  We walked down the long flight of stairs and I helped Jens get into the car and we drove home.  While driving home, I got this idea that since the line was so long and moving so slowly, and since we live just 9 minutes away, maybe, just maybe, I can drive back and see if I can get back into the building and get in line again.  

We get to our parking garage and I walked Jens to the elevator.  I gave him a kiss good-by and I zipped back to the Bella Center.  I parked the car, ran into the building, up the stairs, then into the conference hall, then down the stairs to the stage and got back in line at an even further spot than where I was standing the first time I was in line.  Finally it was my turn.

I always thought it could be fun to get his autograph in my cookbook but I knew that would never happen....

- wrong!

All in all, the evening was very informative and fun.  Here are 2 more YouTubes about the ambassador.  There are several but these 2 are a good start to see if you want to know a bit more.

Click this Link 1

 

Click this Link 2