I do think they pioneered this, going back to SONAR training equipment in WWII.
Speaking of half-speed cutting, I have never understood how this is pulled off in a modern context,
especially with Dolby-encoded master tapes. I guess it's possible to make the NAB or CCIR tape EQ
de-emphasis work at half-speed, and the RIAA emphasis at the lathe, but doesn't Dolby get screwed up
when frequency bands are lowered?
Today, I think one can listen to recent LP cuts by Bernie Grundman or Ryan Smith or Sean Magee and
hear that there's no need for half-speed if the cutting engineer and his cutting chain are
top-notch. I've heard arguments about fitting more bass energy on a disk at half-speed, but again I
can't understand how that's true since the disk will be played back at full-speed and hence won't
track on normal-priced systems if the grooves are too wide and deep.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Pultz" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 8:18 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Decca FFRR "backwards" disk-cutting -- likely a MYTH
> Decca did do some half-speed cutting - am I remembering that right?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 7:57 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Decca FFRR "backwards" disk-cutting -- likely a MYTH
>
> I asked the folks at Decca Classics, including the guys who just put
> together the excellent new "Mono Years 1944-1956" box set. All of them said,
> in essence, no way. The technical guys said it's not possible to cut
> 20-minute LP sides this way and there was no reason to do it, given Decca's
> advanced cutting techniques developed during WWII, many of which were ported
> over to microgrooves.
> For 78's, they said again there was no reason to cut a disk backwards since
> they could easily accomodate FFRR cutting forward like everyone else. Unless
> someone can come up with some documentation saying otherwise, I would say
> this is a MYTH and should be nipped in the bud here.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
>
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