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Tom, Thanks. I use digital recording every day, and would prefer to know more about its background. Dave Lewis Lebanon, OH On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 11:36 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > Hi Dave: > > See my ARSCJ article: > http://www.aes.org/aeshc/pdf/**fine_dawn-of-digital.pdf<http://www.aes.org/aeshc/pdf/fine_dawn-of-digital.pdf> > > I found no evidence of the Cheap Trick album being digitally recorded in > its original incarnation. Japanese recordings from that period tend to > sound bright to American ears. The early CD of that album was not good, a > lousy mastering job. The original LP doesn't sound over-bright or > "metallic" (except for the hard-rocking music) to my ears. I have the > deluxe reissue CD from maybe 10 years back and it sounds more compressed > and more bassy than the LP, but not especially "early digital" like for > instance "Tusk" or Ry Cooder's "Bop 'Til You Drop." > > -- Tom Fine > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Lewis" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2012 5:03 PM > Subject: [ARSCLIST] Digital History Query > > > > Found a remaindered copy of a later Epic CD incarntaion of "Cheap Trick at >> Budokan" which I have been listening to in the car. Apart from the fact >> that I feel that >> it is one of the best albums ever to go triple-platinum, there are some >> questions about its recording that I'm hoping the combined wisdom here >> might help illuminate. >> >> When the import release arrived in the little store that was my haunt in >> late 1978 there were several things about it that were waaaaay unusual. >> The >> quality of the >> photography -- even though shot in the dark, and somewhat enhanced because >> of that -- and of the album jacket printing was a king's mile above the >> average, and >> the later US version kind of darkened and blurred both by comparison. >> However, the sound of the disc was realistic in a way I had never before >> experienced; it was >> so good that it still took me additional years to notice that the music >> was >> good also. >> >> The earlier LP versions stated that "Cheap Trick at Budokan" was in SONY >> STEREO. I remember a record store clerk excitedly telling me that Sony >> stereo was >> better than regular stereo and my bullcrap detector going off as a result. >> Now, though, I wonder if he was in some way -- correct? >> >> Is it possible that digital was somewhere in the chain of "Cheap Trick at >> Budokan." Historically it is possible: >> >> http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/**CorporateInfo/History/** >> SonyHistory/2-07.html<http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/SonyHistory/2-07.html> >> >> The PCM-1 was in use and already being marketed by April of 1978 when >> the Budokan concerts were recorded. At that time, Sony was using 2" >> Betamax >> tapes; >> the disc was being developed, but was not putting out acceptable results >> yet as either a recording or playback format. However, April 1978 is a bit >> before the >> fateful meeting with Karajan mentioned in this corporate history. >> >> In my car, the recording sounds digital, but it is after all being played >> back from a CD. Elsewhere I've read that the first digital recording in >> the >> US was the Zubin >> Mehta/NYP recording of Stravinsky's "Petrushka" from June 1979. But I also >> recall that Fleetwood Mac's album "Tusk" was at least partly digital and >> it >> was on the >> market by the fall of '79. That was on the WB, not CBS. >> >> Uncle Dave Lewis >> Lebanon, OH >> >>