When I pause to think when DJs really got started with the craft as we know it now, maybe I’d start with 70s nightclubs but I really go directly to hip hop and onward to the current club scene. Feeding two songs together so the music is continuous is how a DJ keeps people on the dance floor – generally a primary goal at dance clubs.

I don’t think of 1910, yet the tables above were in use then.

French engineer Leon Gaumont patented his invention, two tables that played disks with loudspeakers to project the sound, in 1903.

The Gaumont Chronophone System synchronised sound and film at the Gaumont Palace in Paris. The volume was enough for an audience of 4000. Initially the longest film which could have synchronised sound was 200ft due to the limited playing time of a record. Gaumont surmounted this problem by having two record decks; a skilled operator could switch between them to give a more or less continuous soundtrack.

Cross faders? He had them, albeit rudimentary, and his sound projection was built in. I wish these could be played today because I’d love to see a video of modern DJ-ing on the Gaumont Chronophone.

- via Retronaut