Tom,

Thanks. I use digital recording every day, and would prefer to know more
about its background.

Dave Lewis
Lebanon, OH

On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 11:36 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Hi Dave:
>
> See my ARSCJ article:
> http://www.aes.org/aeshc/pdf/**fine_dawn-of-digital.pdf<http://www.aes.org/aeshc/pdf/fine_dawn-of-digital.pdf>
>
> I found no evidence of the Cheap Trick album being digitally recorded in
> its original incarnation. Japanese recordings from that period tend to
> sound bright to American ears. The early CD of that album was not good, a
> lousy mastering job. The original LP doesn't sound over-bright or
> "metallic" (except for the hard-rocking music) to my ears. I have the
> deluxe reissue CD from maybe 10 years back and it sounds more compressed
> and more bassy than the LP, but not especially "early digital" like for
> instance "Tusk" or Ry Cooder's "Bop 'Til You Drop."
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Lewis" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2012 5:03 PM
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Digital History Query
>
>
>
>  Found a remaindered copy of a later Epic CD incarntaion of "Cheap Trick at
>> Budokan" which I have been listening to in the car. Apart from the fact
>> that I feel that
>> it is one of the best albums ever to go triple-platinum, there are some
>> questions about its recording that I'm hoping the combined wisdom here
>> might help illuminate.
>>
>> When the import release arrived in the little store that was my haunt in
>> late 1978 there were several things about it that were waaaaay unusual.
>> The
>> quality of the
>> photography -- even though shot in the dark, and somewhat enhanced because
>> of that -- and of the album jacket printing was a king's mile above the
>> average, and
>> the later US version kind of darkened and blurred both by comparison.
>> However, the sound of the disc was realistic in a way I had never before
>> experienced; it was
>> so good that it still took me additional years to notice that the music
>> was
>> good also.
>>
>> The earlier LP versions stated that "Cheap Trick at Budokan" was in SONY
>> STEREO. I remember a record store clerk excitedly telling me that Sony
>> stereo was
>> better than regular stereo and my bullcrap detector going off as a result.
>> Now, though, I wonder if he was in some way -- correct?
>>
>> Is it possible that digital was somewhere in the chain of "Cheap Trick at
>> Budokan." Historically it is possible:
>>
>> http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/**CorporateInfo/History/**
>> SonyHistory/2-07.html<http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/SonyHistory/2-07.html>
>>
>> The PCM-1 was in use and already being marketed by April of 1978 when
>> the Budokan concerts were recorded. At that time, Sony was using 2"
>> Betamax
>> tapes;
>> the disc was being developed, but was not putting out acceptable results
>> yet as either a recording or playback format. However, April 1978 is a bit
>> before the
>> fateful meeting with Karajan mentioned in this corporate history.
>>
>> In my car, the recording sounds digital, but it is after all being played
>> back from a CD. Elsewhere I've read that the first digital recording in
>> the
>> US was the Zubin
>> Mehta/NYP recording of Stravinsky's "Petrushka" from June 1979. But I also
>> recall that Fleetwood Mac's album "Tusk" was at least partly digital and
>> it
>> was on the
>> market by the fall of '79. That was on the WB, not CBS.
>>
>> Uncle Dave Lewis
>> Lebanon, OH
>>
>>