Roger
Would 1953-54 be about the last that they were used?
Roger
________________________________
From: [Richard A Kaplan] <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, October 7, 2012 6:56 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Howard Scott Dies
Hi Dennis,
How long was it until tape rendered the 16-inch lacquers obsolete? For
example, when the Philadelphia Orchestra resumed recording in April, 1949 after
the strike, would those recordings have been mastered on tape, or was tape
used as a backup for the discs for some time? I believe that was the case
in Europe.
Rich Kaplan
In a message dated 10/7/2012 1:46:54 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Dear Tom,
Of course Columbia and CBS engineers knew of developments in magnetic tape;
however, in keeping with their general conservative attitude about
innovations, they were not convinced that tape offered comparable audio
quality to disc, as well as mechanical reliability. Dub-editing was well
understood in broadcasting and the Columbia engineers were experienced in
it. Tape waited until 1949 to begin to be used as a mastering medium at
Columbia. That decision may seem perplexing to you but there it is. In
1947-48 when Howard's team made the first 100 Lp masters disc-to-disc,
their technique produced superior results, particularly respecting s/n, to
what would have been achieved disc-to-tape.
DDR
On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 1:18 PM, Tom Fine
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> I don't understand something about the obit and the story of the LP dawn
> that it told.
>
> Jack Mullin was out west in 1947 holding demonstrations and using his
> Magnetophones with the Bing Crosby radio program. The concept of magnetic
> tape was well known in the broadcast world. In fact, the Edward R. Murrow
> album "I Can Hear It Now" was produced using tape editing and the 78RPM
> album includes a lengthy production note describing this newfangled (at
CBS
> News) editing technique.
>
> So none of this trickled over to Bridgeport CT? They really were doing
> disk-to-disk dubs in 1948? Why??? The Ampex 200 came out that year, the
> 200A soon afterward. Surely Bill Paley's empire could afford a few tape
> machines. Closer to Bridgeport, Fairchild was making tape machines by
1948
> and perhaps earlier (I don't have a clear timeframe as to when Fairchild
> first produced magnetic recorders, but a 1948 article about Reeves
Studios
> in NYC shows Fairchild's "new" tape machines in service and one is
pictured
> on the magazine cover).
>
> So again, why the complex machinations of disk-to-disk dubbing? BTW, RIP
> Howard Scott and he did indeed come up with an ingenius if hardest way
> possible to solve the problem of matching up the 78RPM sides.
>
> Ironically, the man who INVENTED the magnetic tape splicing block, at
> least the US iteration of the concept, was CBS News producer/editor Joel
> Tall (EdiTall).
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> PS -- Mullin wasn't the only guy to bring a working Magnetophone home.
The
> BBC captured some of them and did detailed dissections, and Col. Ranger
> brought home at least one. My bet is Fairchild's engineers got their
hands
> on one very soon after the war or else how could their development keep a
> similar pace to Mullin/Ampex? There were at least dozens of Magetophones
> made during WWII, if not hundreds, perhaps more. The whole story of
> disk-dubbing for the new LP medium would make more sense if Columbia had
> been a little company not connected to a broadcast network and not
located
> in what was then the East Coast industrial corridor. I'm not doubting the
> disk-dubbing happened, I just have trouble believing no one at Columbia
> knew about tape or had access to tape machines before the dawn of the LP.
> And if they knew and had access, why would they do a complex disk-to-disk
> dubbing method?
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis Rooney" <
> [log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2012 11:43 AM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Howard Scott Dies
>
>
> Howard's death is no surprise. He was failing for some time.
Nevertheless,
>> his contribution to the birth of the Lp makes him one of the important
>> players in the success of Columbia Masterworks and worthy of
remembrance.
>> He liked to tell the story of moving a cot into a studio where he could
>> nap
>> in between supervising dub editing lacquer cuts into Lp masters, and it
>> was
>> all true, including having to re-make a majority of what had been
produced
>> after technical problems in manufacturing caused them all to be
scrapped.
>> Despite that setback, he and his engineering team began again and met
>> their
>> deadline in time for the spring 1948 launch of the new format.
>>
>> In the decade before 1961 he supervised many of the Masterworks
recordings
>> that allowed Columbia to lead the U.S. market. I have a photo of Howard
>> auditioning a test pressing sometime in the early fifties. He is young,
>> balding and clean shaven, attired in a dress shirt and tie. Like his
>> mentor, Goddard Lieberson, he set great store by dressing well. I worked
>> on
>> many recordings that he supervised when they were reissued on CD, and
>> admired his preparation and disciplined approach.
>>
>> What isn't mentioned in that NY TIMES obit is that he was born Shapiro
>> but,
>> according to the assimilationist impulse of his day, changed it to Scott
>> in
>> the late forties. It was a privilege to have known him. *Requiescat in
>> pace*
>> .
>>
>> DDR
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 11:03 AM, David Lewis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/**10/07/arts/music/howard-h-**
>>>
scott-a-developer-of-the-lp-**dies-at-92.html?_r=1<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/arts/music/howard-h-scott-a-developer-of-the-lp-dies-at-92.htm
l?_r=1>
>>>
>>> Funny, he was mentioned here not long ago.
>>>
>>> Uncle Dave Lewis
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dennis D. Rooney
>> 303 W. 66th Street, 9HE
>> New York, NY 10023
>> 212.874.9626
>>
>>
--
Dennis D. Rooney
303 W. 66th Street, 9HE
New York, NY 10023
212.874.9626
|