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montesquieu
10-02-2019, 12:40
Fascinating link this
http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/first-year-of-stereo-records

Not sure if anyone has posted before.

What’s most amusing is what’s on some of the earliest disks ... Johnny Puleo and his Harmonica Gang ... Railroad Sounds ... Bullring music ... the Dukes of Dixieland marching band.

Can certainly understand why some industry luminaries like Walter Legge considered stereo nothing but a gimmick.

Reading the news reports of the time reminds a bit of the commentary around the early internet - I was a columnist myself in 1995-1996 on a Sunday newspaper - with commentators only slightly ahead in their knowledge trying to describe something that the public were intrigued by but for the most part weren’t quite able to grasp until they had experienced it themselves.


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pU7PbgEnBT4/VkuNhaUpGNI/AAAAAAAAMvE/RKf9Ni8ahJQ/s1600/Audiio-Fidelitty-March-58.gif

Barry
10-02-2019, 19:12
Probably apocryphal, but I read somewhere that Decca's first stereo recordings were done in secret as they were afraid the musicians would want to be paid double the rate!

WESTLOWER
10-02-2019, 19:24
Excellent post Tom
Very interesting and full of nuggets

Edward
10-02-2019, 20:49
Thanks for sharing Tom. Fascinating stuff. Quite gimmicky to start with and understandable that there was such hard left or right panning which sadly persisted for quite a few years afterwards. It's gonna take ages to read all the materials you found.

Mono is still good to hear though. Your (and Adam's) demo of mono recordings (using mono cartridges) was breathtaking. In many ways gave a greater sense of room acoustics that the music was recorded in.

dave2010
10-02-2019, 23:34
Probably apocryphal, but I read somewhere that Decca's first stereo recordings were done in secret as they were afraid the musicians would want to be paid double the rate!Love it!

What about surround sound .....???

WESTLOWER
11-02-2019, 09:54
I was particularly interested in a snippet from one of the newspaper clippings.
The reference to Rudy Van Gelder's Stereo channel arrangement from as early as 1958!
Using 11 different channels on his stereo recording for the 'ultimate' flexibility.

This puts to bed widespread misinformation on the tinternet that RVG manipulated Mono tapes to create
false stereo output, mirroring the use of Mono printed cover jackets with a Stereo sticker slapped on it over the Mono print.

So it would appear RVG's Blue Note offerings of that period were recorded simultaneously in Mono and Stereo.
Using different mic arrangements, channel seperation and different tape machines.
Incredible from an independent recording studio, not affiliated to the big record labels at the time.

He is indeed one of my heroes.

So much great stuff in this link :clap:

Wegamus
12-02-2019, 09:37
I was particularly interested in a snippet from one of the newspaper clippings.
The reference to Rudy Van Gelder's Stereo channel arrangement from as early as 1958!
Using 11 different channels on his stereo recording for the 'ultimate' flexibility.

This puts to bed widespread misinformation on the tinternet that RVG manipulated Mono tapes to create
false stereo output, mirroring the use of Mono printed cover jackets with a Stereo sticker slapped on it over the Mono print.

So it would appear RVG's Blue Note offerings of that period were recorded simultaneously in Mono and Stereo.
Using different mic arrangements, channel seperation and different tape machines.
Incredible from an independent recording studio, not affiliated to the big record labels at the time.

He is indeed one of my heroes.

So much great stuff in this link :clap:

When Music Matters researched this and after handling the original tapes they found that RVG began recording in Stereo in March 1957, and until October 1958 he ran both Mono and Stereo session tapes. After that he recorded strictly in Stereo. All Mono RVG masters produced after October 1958 were derived from Stereo fold downs. Alfred Lion’s handwritten notes on the tape boxes confirm this.