My understanding of the German technique was that the omni mics weren't spaced as far apart as in
the Mercury technique, but I have heard the AES CD that includes some of the German stereo-to-tape
recordings from WWII era and they are very interesting.
I think Thomas Stern's point was, would it be likely that a commercial recording of that genre be
recorded in stereo in 1949, and I would say the answer is definitely no. Aside from a few widely
scattered experimental rigs, the only multi-channel recording devices you'd find in the US in 1949
would have been sync'd optical film recorders in a movie-sound studio. I _think_ but don't know for
a fact that Westrex had developed a magnetic-film recorder at that time, so it _may_ have been
possible to place two or more simultaneously-recorded tracks on a single film, but there was no
2-track tape or anything like it in the U.S. in 1949 that I know of, and why would a commercial
venture like a record company mess with something that had no consumer playback medium?
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Goran Finnberg" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 6:21 PM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Ealy Stereo was John Charles Thomas - final recordings (1949) reply
Thomas Stern:
> I doubt anyone would be making
> STEREO recordings in 1949.
Recording engineer Helmut Krüger at the RRG, Reichs Rundfunk Gesellschaft,
in Berlin, Germany, started making Stereo tape recordings in early 1943
using the Stereo tape version of the AEG tape recorder.
At the end of the war nearly 300 true Stereo recordings had been done by
Helmut Krüger and the complete Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5 Walter
Gieseking/Großes Berliner Rundfunkorchester directed by Arthur Rother can be
heard on Music & Arts CD 637.
Of interest is the anti-aircraft guns firing off outside of the recording
hall several times during the first movement telling us that Berlin was
under aircraft attack as the recording progressed.
BTW, the recording technique of Helmut Krüger used three omnidirectional
microphones suspended across the width of the orchestra later on to be used
by Robert Fine of Mercury records as his preferred recording technique.
--
Best regards,
Goran Finnberg
The Mastering Room AB
Goteborg
Sweden
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Learn from the mistakes of others, you can never live long enough to
make them all yourself. - John Luther
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