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That's what it was. I wasn't questioning the technique; I was questioning whether, as it says, Sony has discontinued this kind of restoration work. The results are quite convincing. David "Uncle Dave" Lewis Assistant Editor, Classical Rovi Corporation -----Original Message----- From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mike Gray Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 11:43 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Sony and Binaural For "left" / "right" to produce 'binaural' would require two entirely independent microphone mixers feeding two separate disc-cutters. Anything else is a fantasy. Mike Gray Dave Lewis wrote: > Edward Johnson, in his notes for Cala 551, "Stokowski Beethoven Symphony > No. 7 and Other First Stereo Releases on CD" states: > > > > "In 2004, Anthony Fountain, Classical Archivist at Sony Music Studios in > New York, found many lacquer masters that Stokowski and the All American > Youth Orchestra had recorded in Hollywood after their 1941 summer tour. > The most significant part of the discovery was that all the recordings > were made in duplicate, with each pair of discs labeled "Left" and > "Right" respectively. [...] It was an exciting discovery and the Leopold > Stokowski Society wished to license a complete CD of these AAYO > 'binaural' recordings. However, the Sony powers-that-be decided that > such a discovery should appear on their own label instead, along with > any other records of the period that had been recorded binaurally. These > included the Stravinsky/New York Philharmonic sets of the early 1940s in > which the composer conducted his own 'Rite of Spring' and other works > [...] However, it all came to nought in 2006 when the senior executives > in charge were dismissed due to the poor sales of both their new and > historic releases. The Stokowski/AAYO lacquers were sent off for storage > and the transferring equipment dismantled, so it seems that the > opportunity for hearing more of these historic recordings binaurally > has, tragically, now gone." > > > > Okay - I'm assuming that these notes, published with the final Stokowski > Society release that appeared in November, speak the truth. But just > last week I heard a Sony producer protesting on NPR that "people should > not take it on themselves and reissue classic recordings. First we have > to locate the original master recording, then we have to find the legal > holder of the performance rights, etc." The NPR commentator added that > Sony has transferred about 10,000 classic recordings since 1994 or so, > but is doing so in the face of the realization that only minimal > financial gain is likely to be made in such endeavor. > > > > However, if they have "dismantled" [...] "the transferring equipment" > then all that the Sony producer said is mere bluster; one has to assume > that they aren't doing any of that kind of work now, based on what is > said in the Stokowski notes. Who is telling the truth? > > > > David "Uncle Dave" Lewis > > Assistant Editor, Classical > > Rovi Corporation > > >