I don't know if Parth is still around, but I do know that he sold Document to a couple of people in England several years ago. Many years before that, Parth had begun releasing a series of pre-war hillbilly re-issues, alongside the blues and gospel series, which continues to this day.
Jim Nelson
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brewster Kahle
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2017 5:33 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Great 78 Project
Johnny Parth sounds amazing. I have the Dixon book on my shelf, and my shelf is bending because of it-- it lists a very large number of recordings.
Is he still around? a translation of
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Parth is a bit confusing (but better than my german).
-brewster
On 5/13/17 9:52 AM, Malcolm wrote:
> I think what Maddie is describing, inclusivity over exclusivity, is
> what's known in some circles as the Johnny Parth model. He had (has? I
> don't know if he's still alive) Document Records and one of his stated
> desires was to find and release every record in Dixon & Godrich's
> "Blues & Gospel Records" discography, some of which are extremely rare
> and hard to impossible to find. A detailed history of the label can be
> found on the Document website at http://document-records.com/ Click on
> News and then The History of Document Records - Part 1.
> In any case he'd accept what he found and release it in no matter what
> condition thinking, no doubt, that first issues of the rarer sides
> could be replaced on later LPs or CDs. Restoration was absent or
> spotty at best but he's pretty much legendary in his field for his
> efforts.
> Congratulations, Brewster, and good luck!
> Malcolm
>
> *******
>
> On 5/12/2017 7:48 PM, Maddie Dietrich wrote:
>> All, I think this is all EXCELLENT and I applaud your work! My only
>> thought, in terms of building a reference (listening) collection, is
>> to err on the side of inclusivity of content over exclusivity due to
>> quality of transfer. Obviously your prescribed recommended tech
>> standards are STRONGLY preferred, but I wonder if something is better
>> than nothing. This is surely more a philosophical consideration, and
>> I am sensitive to the very real concerns about poor and/or dubious
>> fidelity diminishing the value of the collection as a viable and
>> reputable resource. And as I dig myself ever deeper here, I think
>> I'll stop and step out this hole and listen and learn from your
>> comments. Regardless, the project very exciting indeed.
>> CONGRATULATIONS ALL!
>>
>> Maddie
>>
>>
>> On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 17:47 Clark Johnsen <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Right. The over-processed problem. I had forgotten that very
>>> conspicuous and horrid accretion. My primary concern, however, is
>>> what happens after the needle hits the groove. In two words, the
>>> playback quality. . .
>>> before
>>> a signal hits the processors. I've been working on this situation,
>>> creating a veritable taxonomy of proper playback, for several
>>> decades. But as with noise reduction, everyone has his own fixed
>>> ideas.
>>>
>>> On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 12:47 PM, Mint Records
>>> <[log in to unmask]
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> What a great project. Whilst the George Blood LP transfers are
>>>> obviously well done, there does need to be some sort of quality
>>>> control for
>>> material
>>>> sent by others. For instance I have looked for recordings on
>>>> Archive.org
>>> in
>>>> the past and found some horrible transfers often with the note "78
>>>> RPM record GRINDING noises is removed (with Goldwave) so that we
>>>> can hear
>>> what
>>>> went onto the record instead of nearly a century of misuse". These
>>>> recordings have had ridiculous amounts of noise reduction applied
>>>> and
>>> sound
>>>> appalling. Searching http://archive.org/details/78rpm links to
>>>> many of these, along with low quality MP3's etc.
>>>>
>>>> The minimum standard should be 44/16 flac with no restoration.
>>>> although
>>>> archival 96/24 is preferable.So I think what Clark was saying is
>>>> very valid.
>>>>
>>>> I applaud your idea, but if not transferred professionally by
>>>> someone who knows and understands the medium to the proper standard
>>>> then you run the risk of devaluing the whole project (in my
>>>> opinion)
>>>>
>>>> Take these two - taken at random. Both appalling transfers with all
>>>> the life sucked out of them by heavy handed noise reduction and
>>>> covered in artifacts.
>>>>
>>>> https://archive.org/details/GloomySunday-theFamousHungarianSuicideS
>>>> ong
>>>>
>>>> https://archive.org/details/FredAstaire-31-33
>>>>
>>>> Richard
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 12 May 2017 at 13:32, Brewster Kahle <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Clark--
>>>>>
>>>>> If you are talking about the transfers quality on archive.org, may
>>>>> I suggest you look at the ones here:
>>>>>
>>>>> https://archive.org/details/georgeblood?sort=-publicdate
>>>>> these are the ones we have transferred with George Blood and
>>>>> listed in most recently archived first.
>>>>>
>>>>> These are 96KHz, 24bit deep monster FLAC files, with both EQ and Flat
>>>>> versions, and with 4 different styli. This is to make it so we
>>>>> have
>>>>> alot to work with, and I hope there will be debates in the reviews
>>>>> as
>>> to
>>>>> which is better for which disc.
>>>>> They are all recorded at 78.16rpm (I think), but if others would
>>>>> like
>>> it
>>>>> we can make the player adjustable to make it so there can be
>>>>> runtime adjustments.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> If you are talking more philosophically about digital v physical,
>>>>> I think of this as a reference collection, not as a full-on substitute.
>>> I
>>>>> hope we can use this project to research transfer techniques,
>>>>> discover 78's and experience them in new ways, and show the value
>>>>> in these discs so encourage physical AND digital preservation.
>>>>>
>>>>> -brewster
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 5/11/17 10:53 PM, Clark Johnsen wrote:
>>>>>> A noble project indeed. Just two caveats. There are various ways
>>>>>> to
>>>> play
>>>>>> the discs, some better than others, some very poor indeed. Are
>>>>>> the
>>>> latter
>>>>>> to stand as the permanent representations? And then one must ask
>>>>>> what digital medium is utterly trustworthy? And/or which "cloud"?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> These questions have bothered me for several decades. To my mind
>>>>>> they remain unanswered.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 12:45 AM, Brewster Kahle <
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Today at the ARSC meeting we announced "The Great 78 Project" to
>>>>>>> encourage preservation, research and discovery of 78rpm records.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The Internet Archive, working with the Archive of Contemporary
>>>>>>> Music
>>>> (B
>>>>>>> George), George Blood LP, and Coast Mastering (Jessica
>>>>>>> Thompson), we
>>>> now
>>>>>>> have a project website:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://great78.archive.org/ and
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://archive.org/details/78rpm where users have uploaded
>>>> 57,000
>>>>>>> 78's and cylinder transfers, and
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> we have started digitizing donated collections.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The idea is to make this a community project to help bring all
>>>>>>> of
>>> our
>>>>>>> collections to light and weave them into the web.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Please give feedback and please join!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> * *Share knowledge.* Help us improve metadata, curate the
>>>> collection,
>>>>>>> contact collectors, do research on the corpus, etc.
>>>>>>> * *Include your digitized collection.* If you have already
>>> digitized
>>>>>>> 78s or related books or media, we’d like to include your
>>>>>>> work in
>>>> the
>>>>>>> collection.
>>>>>>> * *Digitize your collection.* We’ve worked hard to make
>>>> digitization
>>>>>>> safe, fast and affordable, so if you’d like to digitize your
>>>>>>> collection we can help.
>>>>>>> * *Donate 78s.* We will digitize your collection and
>>>>>>> preserve the
>>>>>>> physical discs for the long term.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Any ideas or questions: [log in to unmask]
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -brewster
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Digital Librarian
>>>>>>> Internet Archive
>>>>>>>
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