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Tom, No not too late! And thanks. That sheds a lot of light on the topic. The vinyl sounds excellent also. Dave Lewis On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 7:23 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > Following up on a previous thread here ... > > This album was definitely an early stereophonic pop-album recording, but it > was not made in the early 50's. Ruppli lists one song, "A Gliss To Remember" > (unless I'm remembering incorrectly) as recorded in 1956. The studio setup > described would match a 1956-era stereo session with mono-compatibility > built in via the mic techniques. Basically, the instruments were close-mic'd > and somewhat isolated and then stereo "bridge" mics were hung above the > ensemble to use room-tone and leakage to make a stereo field. There's still > a somewhat weak center, but this worked well when done in a nice room like > Universal Studios in Chicago and engineered by an expert like Bill Putnam. > > Ruppli also lists other songs recorded in 1957. The original 2-track reel > has a different song sequence but the same songs as listed on the LP: > http://microgroove.jp/mercury/**SR60001.shtml<http://microgroove.jp/mercury/SR60001.shtml> > > The later quarter-track reel has the same sequence as the LP. > > On LP, this was first released in mono, MG20281, may have had the same > sequence as the early 2-track reel (I don't have a copy of MG20281 but the > microgroove.jp website refers to a slightly different sequence on the mono > LP. > > As noted on the page linked above, the original stereo LP was mastered at > Fine Recording (the FR- tag in the deadwax) and pressed by RCA Indianapolis > (the I in the deadwax). Mercury did this with most or all of their earliest > pop and jazz titles, probably through 1959. These records were > premium-priced and only an elite band of audiophiles had the newfangled > stereo cartridges and two-channel playback systems, so Mercury wanted to > offer an excellent-quality product, including premium pressings on RCA's > quiet vinyl. Mercury Living Presence had used RCA for years, and continued > to do so until Philips eliminated the practice in 1963. > > Sorry to post this late. I didn't have time to look into it deeply when the > original thread was active. Today I dug out Ruppli and my stereo LP, 2-track > reel and quarter-track reel to gather facts. I played the 2-track and it > still sounded very good. Bill Putnam was a master engineer for these sorts > of albums. > > -- Tom Fine