Re: [Rollei] What did you do in the war? (long)

[Jerry Lehrer <jerryleh >]

Richard

Nah! There were two track stereo LPs which came out shortly
after the LP was introduced.  Loooong before the Westrex
system.  It required a TWO HEADED TONE ARM!.  The
Westrex system was shown at the NY Audio Fair in 1953.   And
again in 1954.  Both at the Hotel New Yorker.

BTW, I have one of those 2 track blue LPs.  Bagpipe music.

Jerry

Richard Knoppow wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Marc James Small" <msmall  >
> To: <rollei  
> Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 3:56 PM
> Subject: Re: [Rollei] What did you do in the war? (long)
>
> > At 02:15 PM 5/17/03 -0700, Richard Knoppow wrote:
> > >I've heard one of the few existing
> > >recordings, its excellent.
> >
> > Richard
> >
> > It seems that almost all classical recordings made after
> 1953 or so were
> > done on stereophonic tape;  after 1962 or so, this seems
> to have included
> > all Pop and Country music as well.  Thus, when CD's came
> out in the later
> > 1980's, there were a large number of recordings in all of
> this areas
> > released in magnificent stereo recordings which had never
> before been
> > availalbe save in mono.  Many of the classical recordings
> are so detailed
> > as to now include the rustlings of the paper pages of the
> score as the
> > musicians turned them.  THAT sort of detail was not
> available on a 1959 LP!
> >
> > Marc
>
>   My memory is not clear any more on when the first
> multi-track machines became available. I first heard stereo
> as "binaural" at an audio show here in LA in the mid or late
> 1950's. The reproduction was from a staggered head tape
> machine through headphones. I can hear it now: choral music:
> an ephiphany.
>   Stereo recording for discs was introduced about 1960 when
> Westrex, the company formed to take over Western Electric
> disc and film sound equipment, came out with the model 3D
> cutter head. FM radio became a paying business as a result
> of  this and the development of a method of transmitting
> compatible stereo by multiplexing it.
>   Multi track recording actually has its roots in motion
> picture sound. The assembly of the final sound track from
> several "stems" of music, dialogue, and effects, was in
> operation from shortly after the introduction of sound. The
> tracks were recorded individually but played back on an
> battery of synchonized playback machines, a process still in
> use today.
>   A curiosity of CD release of old recordings is that many
> 78 RPM records are being transferred by playing back the
> metal work. This is in the form or the matrices, the metal
> positive record made to plate "stampers" the nectative molds
> used to make the records. Actually, the stampers can also be
> played back. The most modern method is to use an optical
> scanner rather than a stylus. The metal is much closer to
> the original wax record (destroyed in the process of making
> the first metal matrix) and is much lower in noise than the
> pressed records. It is amazing what is on some of these. RCA
> in particular, was doing quite high quality recording even
> in the mid 1930's. Curiously, Columbia records sometimes
> have poorer quality because they used an advanced (for the
> time) method of making original records. Instead of
> recording directly onto the wax blank they begain to use 16"
> transcription type records. These were later used to cut the
> 78 original. These transcriptions exist and are used for
> some CD versions of old recordings. However, they had
> problems because they were acetate and sometimes the
> problems are quite audible.
>   However, one can certainly hear the hall acoustics of many
> of the Columbia big band recordings made at Liedercrantz
> Hall (sp?) in New York city. Listen to the Benny Goodman
> stuff from the late 1930's and 1940's. That's not added
> reverberation, its the sound of an excellent concert hall.
>   RCA tended to record in radio style studios, close up, dry
> as dust, but the fidelity is astounding especially if you
> are used to hearing the noisy 78's (noisy even when new).
>   The most amazing recordings for quality are the
> transcription service stuff from Standard and United which
> are showing up on CD. These were supplied to radio stations
> who subscribed to the service at a time when record labels
> were reluctant to allow air play of records. Also, the
> length of the performances could be a lot longer than the
> 3-1/2 minutes on a 10" record (and not much longer on a
> 12"). Standard used the then brand new Western Electric
> feedback vertical cutter and did very careful recording in
> excellent studios. These recordings are absolutely
> astounding in quality.
>   Enough off topic stuff.
>   Well not quite enough. Does anyone out there have an
> instruction book for a General Electric Mascot (Model PR-30)
> exposure meter. This is an economy model. It does not appear
> to have any method of setting film speed. I am curious how
> it was supposed to be used.
> ---
> Richard Knoppow
> Los Angeles, CA, USA
> dickburk  

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