On 10/02/2013, Tom Fine wrote:
> BTW, anyone who thinks ANY analog recording chain was "transparent" or
> output equalled input has tin ears or is in denial. All sorts of
> things happen with disk recording and even with the best tape
> recorders, and both media are far from "silent" or "transparent."
> Eye-opening at ARSC Rochester was Nick Bergh's demonstration of how
> good the audio was going to a Victor cutterhead in the 1930s. Find me
> a pressed 78 or even most laquers or metal parts from that era that
> have that kind of fidelity.
Lots of distortion in the cutter, and more in the pickup cartridge.
But even so, a well made transfer from a clean copy of a 1930-ish Victor
can be remarkably good. There is a real impression of live musicians
playing together in a well-defined space.
For example, the first recording session of McKinney's Cotton Pickers in
July 1928. These have the same punch and immediacy as Mercury recordings
from 30 years later.
Regards
--
Don Cox
[log in to unmask]
|