From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad
Hello Don,
well, you can see my reply to Tom. But I disagree with Wikipedia in this
statement, unless you define "life-like" very carefully:
"Although controversial, the
> technique is capable of producing remarkably life-like results -
> particularly for recordings made "acoustically" prior to the
> arrival of studio microphones in 1925."
The problem is that - for better or for worse - the "ordinary" 1910-1920s
acoustic reproduction would mollify some of the resonances (and anti-
resonances) that were recorded on the records. In particular if you followed
Victor's advice to play the records at 78 rpm although they were recorded at
76 rpm. The "old" acoustic reproduction sounded acceptable and it was
certainly commercial, or the record industry would never have taken off.
However, the giant horn was ideal, it provided no compensating coloring of
its own. The thorn needles performed a severe treble cut, so what remained
was a very "horny" reproduction, namely the "horny" version that was recorded
in the grooves. NIMBUS recorded in a reverberant hall, which made for a very
reverberant and seemingly full sound, but the frequency range that is
commonly used to distinguish good operatic voices from bad ones was entirely
missing: the range from 2.5 to 3.5 kHz. In some Prima Voce reissues they
tried to put some shine into the voice by increasing the level at around 800
Hz. That was the "life" or "live-ness" they "liked". I am sure that for
listening in the car they would do fine at high speed.
Kind regards,
George
----------------------------
> On 04/01/2011, Tom Fine wrote:
> > George, do you have a copy of Gramophone magazine's anniversary CD,
> > where they recorded the old stuff to digital by playing it out a
> > massive horn-acoustic player? It was kinda quaint, I think their point
> > is that this is how our editors heard this music back in the days when
> > it was made.
> >
> Nimbus Records in Wales used to do this. A quote from the Wikipedia
> entry:
>
> "A large sub-label of Nimbus Records is the vocal series Prima
> Voce. This label specialises in the transfer of vocal records on
> 78 rpm disc dating from 1900. The method of transfer involves
> the use of thorn needles and a giant acoustic horn on a
> carefully-restored gramophone. No electronic processing is
> used: instead, the gramophone is placed in a living room
> environment and recorded ambisonically, in surround-sound,
> from a typical listening position. Although controversial, the
> technique is capable of producing remarkably life-like results -
> particularly for recordings made "acoustically" prior to the
> arrival of studio microphones in1925."
>
>
> Regards
> --
> Don Cox
> [log in to unmask]
|