That was all a long time ago, Dennis!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dennis Rooney" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2015 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] a piece of Minneapolis Symphony and Mercury Records history


> Yes, Tom, AM was quite different than it is today. WCCO is a clear-channel
> station licensed as such by the FCC.WNYC [AM] was its secondary and had to
> conclude broadcast at local sunset through the fifties.  WCCO did not have
> a directional array. Frequency response was wide in the thirties and
> forties, and the ground wave from its Anoka, MN transmitter ensured
> coverage throughout MN, NDAK, SDAK and WI. Classical music was a daily
> feature after 10:15PM until the late fifties until an "easy listening"
> format replaced it.
>
> DDR
>
> On Mon, Sep 28, 2015 at 9:37 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> AM must have been something very different back then. I can't imagine ANY
>> music, much less symphonic music over the typical AM radio station today.
>> My cellphone has better fidelity than the nearly non-understandable palaver
>> broadcast by the talk-radio stations in NYC these days. WCBS, Newsradio 88
>> is often so crunched and distorted, and confined to about 1000 hz of
>> frequency bandwidth, that I can't understand it in my car unless I am
>> parked on a quiet street and listen very carefully. I've transferred oral
>> history tapes made by a recorder placed across an echo-y kitchen that sound
>> clearer. Their webcast signal is actually slightly more audible than what
>> goes over-air, but notice how everything is distorted and super-compressed,
>> and full of digital artifacts, yuk!.
>> http://player.radio.com/listen/station/wcbs-newsradio-880
>>
>> -- Tom Fine
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Durenberger" <
>> [log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 9:28 PM
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] a piece of Minneapolis Symphony and Mercury
>> Records history
>>
>>
>> WCCO was an AM station, so, single-mike mono.  I recall a pretty nice
>>> fight when I asked Master Control to disable the CBS (tube-type) Audimax
>>> during the concert.  WCCO's 50 kilowatt big stick allowed for a good deal
>>> of quieting so we got away with it <g>.
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Mark Durenberger
>>>
>>> -----Original Message----- From: Tom Fine
>>> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 4:47 PM
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] a piece of Minneapolis Symphony and Mercury
>>> Records history
>>>
>>> Hi Mark:
>>>
>>> First of, kewl story about the broadcast audio. So you set up 1-mic mono
>>> pickup, or 3-mic stereo?
>>>
>>> Also, you are spot-on about Collins. I found a photo of the one Mercury
>>> recording session in
>>> Louisville in 1950. That mixer and those early Ampex 300 machines were
>>> used there, too. And there's
>>> a front view of the mixer, showing the Collins insignia. I think that
>>> mixer was used in the first
>>> iteration of the recording van, feeding the two Fairchild machines. The
>>> Fairchilds, by the way,
>>> theoretically would print less audible scrape-flutter because the tape
>>> path was a loop around the
>>> heads with rolling guides on each side of the loop (thus less length of
>>> "string" to vibrate between
>>> the roller and heads).
>>>
>>> -- Tom Fine
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Durenberger" <
>>> [log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 3:53 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] a piece of Minneapolis Symphony and Mercury
>>> Records history
>>>
>>>
>>> ...And now that I blow up that photo it seems those are the original
>>>> fader knobs; sorry...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> Mark Durenberger
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message----- From: Mark Durenberger
>>>> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 2:50 PM
>>>> To: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
>>>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] a piece of Minneapolis Symphony and Mercury
>>>> Records history
>>>>
>>>> Mixer is almost certainly a Collins.  But it has RCA fader knobs (known
>>>> for
>>>> better tactile feedback).
>>>>
>>>> Shortly after Tom's Dad established the miking for that room I was
>>>> fortunate
>>>> to do one of the first live MSO remote broadcasts for WCCO Radio, using
>>>> CRF's mike technique...and a mixer by RCA (OP-6/OP-7 series).
>>>>
>>>> It was a "thrill" getting up into the catwalk to hang that broadcast mike
>>>> (an Altec IIRC).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> Mark Durenberger
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message----- From: Tom Fine
>>>> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 1:14 PM
>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>> Subject: [ARSCLIST] a piece of Minneapolis Symphony and Mercury Records
>>>> history
>>>>
>>>> A long-time MLP fan tipped me off to this photo being for sale on eBay. I
>>>> jumped right on it!
>>>>
>>>> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55748706/Minneapolis%20Tribute%20520120%20First%20MLP%20session.jpg
>>>>
>>>> this is from the very first Mercury recording session in Minneapolis,
>>>> January 19-20, 1952. Dorati
>>>> made his first recordings of Borodin's 2nd, Stravinsky's compete
>>>> "Firebird",
>>>> Berlioz "Roman
>>>> Carnival" and pieces by Ravel and Debussy. The tape machines shown are
>>>> "portable" Ampex 300's (they
>>>> still weighed about 100lbs each, whether or not in portable cases). David
>>>> Hall is using what I think
>>>> is a Gates portable mixer/mic preamp (it might be RCA or Collins). The
>>>> recordings were made with a
>>>> single Neumann U-47, and the
>>>> Gates unit probably was used to provide a gain stage after the mic and to
>>>> distribute the signal to
>>>> both tape recorders. David Hall is probably working with Dorati and the
>>>> assistant conductor to
>>>> gather approved takes he can edit together. The next time Mercury visited
>>>> Minneapolis, fall 1952, my
>>>> father had built his recording truck.
>>>>
>>>> -- Tom Fine
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
> -- 
> 1006 Langer Way
> Delray Beach, FL 33483
> 212.874.9626
>
>