Dear Paul,
Many ideas about speed have been offered, but the fact is that there is no
absolute speed for either acoustic or electrical recordings made before
1932. Turntable speed and pitch were adjusted in mastering for various
reasons. The only reliable guide is the pitch of the recording. Vocalists
often used transpositions that favored them. This introduces a guessing
game that is resolved only with some expertise. Practically no instrumental
recordings are played in other than score pitch, the principal exception
being dance band arrangements. Unless your investigations produce an
extremely high or low speed, if it sounds right then that's the correct
playback speed.
Ciao,
DDR
On Tue, Feb 9, 2021 at 1:30 AM Paul Stamler <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi folks:
>
> May I tap the collective wisdom once more?
>
> It's pretty well-known among the restoration community that Victor made
> their acoustical recordings at 76.6 rpm (or close). But I've also been
> told, by people who seem to know what they're talking about, that the
> earliest Victors were cut at a slower speed, approximately 72 rpm. I had
> the occasion to work on a 1901 recording, and I did it first st 76.6,
> then again at 72, and I must say that the slower ob\ne sounded more
> natural; the voice has less of a Donald Duck effect.
>
> So my questions are two:
>
> 1. Is this at all accurate? Were those early Victors truly cut at about
> 72 rpm?
>
> 2. If so, then can anyone suggest an approximate date for the changeover
> to 76.6 rpm? In other words, up to what recording date should I assume,
> for my first efforts, a speed of about 72 rpm?
>
> Peace,
> Paul
>
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