LISTSERV mailing list manager LISTSERV 16.0

Help for ARSCLIST Archives


ARSCLIST Archives

ARSCLIST Archives


[email protected]


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

ARSCLIST Home

ARSCLIST Home

ARSCLIST  January 2011

ARSCLIST January 2011

Subject:

Re: Nimbus [was: Technics apparently really has discontinued their turntables]

From:

Music Hunter <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Wed, 5 Jan 2011 15:08:14 -0500

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (130 lines)

In the early days of CDs, pressing plant time was very dear as there were 
only a couple of manufacturing plants. Nimbus ( in England ) was one of 
them. Nimbus had many high claims about their quality but working with 
ancient recordings was something they never really overcame.

However, their reissues did sell pretty well for us & to some degree still 
do, especially at the lower price points.

Your search for sound & video ends here!

Jay Sonin, General Manager
Music Hunter Distributing Company
25-58 34th Street, Suite # 2
Astoria, NY 11103-4902
[log in to unmask]
718-777-1949

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Biel" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 2:38 PM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Nimbus [was: Technics apparently really has discontinued 
their turntables]


> When the Nimbus Prime Voce samplers came out I used to carry them around 
> with me to collectors meetings.  I called them the Nimbus Laughing Record 
> because they always elicited laughter far heavier than The OKeh Laughing 
> Record.  Beyond acoustical recordings, they also used this process on 
> electrical records even through post-war years.  They made fine electrical 
> records sound old and wheezy -- how in the world could that be considered 
> lifelike unless your hearing is seriously impaired?  I issued a challenge 
> that they record a voice they all knew well, that of the Crazy Count who 
> owned the company and recorded for Nimbus, transfer it to a 78, and see 
> how "lifelike"it was.
>
> They used tricks to make it "lifelike".  They recorded in the crazy 
> count's dining room -- a highly reverberant room -- using an "Ambesonic" 
> surround sound microphone and encoded them in UHJ Quad which folded all 
> the distant rear reverb into the front channels.  The UHJ Decoder was 
> never marketed in the U.S. at all, never giving anybody a chance to remove 
> the rear reverb out of the sound.  Here's a trick you can try at home if 
> you have an acoustical machine.  Listen to it playing when you are in the 
> next room -- you will find it more lifelike when you are not near it 
> especially playing a vocal record.  They introduced the first release in a 
> large reverberant ballroom and took their advertising quotes before 
> critics had a chance to really hear the discs properly.  If they now take 
> their praise back they would have to explain -- and a few did but not 
> necessarily in print because Nimbus was known to threaten suit under the 
> British libel laws.
>
> Mike Biel  [log in to unmask]
>
> On 1/5/2011 6:04 AM, George Brock-Nannestad wrote:
>> 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]
>>
> 

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

Advanced Options


Options

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password


Search Archives

Search Archives


Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003

ATOM RSS1 RSS2



LISTSERV.LOC.GOV

CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager