Hello Paul, 

I will second what Dennis Rooney states. There are no definitive dates
of speed change and must be done by score and ear (with assisted tuning
fork or tuner).  This is easier done with Classical as transcription is
no where near as vast as in the Jazz/Blues/Folk world.  But then you
still have the question of "where does "A" actually live with this
recording"?  A few years ago when we were at the AES conference at
Library of Congress, there was a great example of this exact dilemma.
The two opening E-flat chords of Beethoven Symphony No.3 was played back
for us from over 2 dozen recordings throughout recorded history.  "A"
varied lower than 432Hz to over 448Hz, without correlation to ensemble
or time period.  So the real question is, what is blue? 

Best, 

Andreas 

On 2021-02-09 09:49, Dennis Rooney wrote:

> 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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