Alex Rosner

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Alex Rosner (* 1935 in Kraków or Warsaw , Poland ) is an American electrical engineer and sound system designer who was particularly important in the field of sound installation for the disco wave of the 1970s. He also invented the first DJ mixer .

Career

childhood

Alex Rosner was the child of Marianne and Henry Rosner, a famous violinist at the time . Because of their Jewish origins, the Rosners were first locked up in the Krakow ghetto and then deported to Auschwitz , where they were employed by Oskar Schindler and thus saved from certain death. Alex was still too young to work at the age of nine, so he was threatened with separation from his parents and further deportation . A guard gave him an accordion so that he could practice and make music with his father. They performed as a duet and also played for the overseers, which ultimately saved the child's life.

The accordion is now part of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington .

Adult

The Rosners survived the Holocaust and came to New York in 1946. Alex Rosner studied electrical engineering in the USA and specialized in hi-fi sound. At the World's Fair New York World's Fair of 1964-65, he was instrumental in building the discos for the Canada-A-Go-Go and the Carnival-A-Go-Go involved.

On December 31, 1967 Alex Rosner announced his employment contract and set out with his company Rosner Custom Sound Inc. independently. In the following years, especially in the 1970s, he supplied the emerging clubs and discos of New York City with sound systems, including Max's Kansas City , the Limelight , the Tambourine and the Tamburlaine . Here he worked with the sound designer Richard "Dick" Long, who later built his own systems for Studio 54 and the warehouse in Chicago . By the end of the 1970s, Rosner had developed and maintained over 300 loudspeaker systems for discos. It was Rosner of David Mancuso , the DJ and musical host of the Loftpartys , the Cornwall speaker of Klipschhorn sold and installed later, separate tweeter.

Mr. Rosner now lives in Long Island City, Queens .

DJ mixer "Rosie"

Alex Rosner invented and built the first DJ mixer in history. The mixer made it possible to switch between the signals of two turntables. Rosner had developed the device for Francis Grasso , the resident DJ of the "Haven Club". The prototype was painted red and was named "Rosie" after its inventor. "Rosie" was a palm-sized unit with only three sliders, offered two inputs for phono signals, a tape input and a cue section.

literature

  • Tim Lawrence: Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979. Duke University Press 2004, ISBN 978-0-8223-3198-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Janosch Delcker: The red accordion: A Holocaust survivor and his doubts about the memory of contemporary witnesses. (PDF) on: Deutschlandfunk, April 29, 2015.
  2. ↑ Eliza Macdonald: Holocaust survivor Alex Rosner inspires community in: The Bucknellian of April 21, 2011.
  3. ↑ DJ Rick Ski: The 10 most important DJ mixers in history on: bonedo. The musician portal .
  4. ↑ Janosch Delcker: The red accordion: A Holocaust survivor and his doubts. on: Deutschlandfunk from April 29, 2015.
  5. ↑ Aileen Jacobson: Helping Holocaust Artifacts Tell Their Stories. In: The New York Times . 2nd January 2015.
  6. ↑ Tim Lawrence: Love Saves the Day. P. 88.
  7. ↑ Bodo Mrozek et al. a .: Pop history Volume 2: Contemporary case studies 1958–1988. P. 191.
  8. ↑ Tim Lawrence: Love Saves the Day. Pp. 89-90.
  9. ↑ DJ Rick Ski: The 10 most important DJ mixers in history on: bonedo. The musician portal .
personal data
SURNAME Rosner, Alex
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American electrical engineer
DATE OF BIRTH 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw or Krakow , Poland