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The RCA two tracks are heavily pursued and collected, *especially* the paper leader versions that didn't have the album art on the box. The sonics are wonderful on the tapes if you can get past the hiss. I must be lucky though, as my tapes are in quite good condition. Only a few are brittle. The four tracks aren't as good but are still passable. Perhaps I have tin ears; for recordings issued during the Dynagroove era I find the four tracks to sound substantially better. -----Original Message----- From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of phillip holmes Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2007 4:07 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [ARSCLIST] RCA tapes...Re: [ARSCLIST] Fwd: [ARSCLIST] Living Stereo? Don't make me laugh The 2 track tapes were (still are) amazingly good. The only problem is the tape stock (don't look at it, it might break) and the fairly high levels of hiss. From what I've been told (and this may be total BS), ECS-1, Reiner's first stereo version of Also Sprach Zarathustra, was dubbed directly from the 15ips master tape (it was a 2 microphone recording). I wondered why the reissues sounded so bad, and supposedly, the tape is worn out from all the dubbing. Is this true? Anyway, ECS-1 was preceded by an even earlier version of the tape with a different catalog number, but both were the same performance. I can't seem to get my hands on one. I even bid $200 three different times and was outbid by someone at the last moment. Oh well. Maybe I'll luck out and find one at an estate sale (would have to be a dead doctor or lawyer or drug dealer since these were VERY EXPENSIVE when new). Phillip Don Tait wrote: > Since I have trouble with such things, I hope that David Lennick's message > about the Gilels/Reiner Tchaikovsky Concerto #1 will be forwarded with this. I > agree with David about the sonic problems of the stereo versions of this > recording and perhaps I can shed some light upon it. > > The recording was made on October 29, 1955 in Orchestra Hall. As was > customary then, it was recorded in stereo; the mono version was edited down from the > stereo master. (The last Victor CSO recording to be made with separate > mono/stereo setups was the Heifetz/Reiner Brahms Concerto on February 21 and 22, > 1955.) As David wrote, the mono LP, LM-1969, had excellent sound -- clean and > well-focused. There was never a stereo Red Seal equivalent of LM-1969, but there > was a two-track stereo tape (ECS-8). I own one, and the sound is excellent. > > The first stereo disc version was Victrola VICS-1039 around 1963/4. There > might also have been a later Victor LP version in the late seventies. The sound > was dreadful; David described it well. It was so muffled that it sounded as > if it had been recorded with the microphones under the floor of the hall. Then > came the "Living Stereo" CD (09026-68530-2), and I must say that I disagree > with David a little -- it sounds pretty good to me, at least as good as my > stereo tape. So... > > I was told by a good and trustworthy friend who worked at BMG for years, > and was involved in reissues, that the stereo master tape of the recording had > been lost for decades and that the "Living Stereo" CD was mastered from the > two-track tape, ECS-8. Anyway, as I recall the CD does sound fairly close to the > tape, which might now be the best (only?) stereo source we have for this > recording. > > Don Tait > > > > >