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Hi Tom,

I must second that statement. 
The Ford Auditorium had one of the worst acoustics 
it has ever been my (dis)pleasure to experience. 
No real music lover was saddened at the news of its demolition a couple years ago. 
I used to joke that the best sounding concert I ever attended there was Marcel Marceau :-)

Meanwhile, a couple miles away on Woodward is the magnificent Orchestra Hall, 
which has one of the best acoustics of any hall anywhere, 
and it was built in a matter of 5 months - probably not to any 'scientific' principles!

In between these two extremes, the excellent auditorium (and entire building) 
of Cass Technical High School is now demolished.
Perhaps you have some info on the recording session for Berlioz' 
Symphonie Fantastique that Paul Paray and the DSO did there for Mercury? 
Despite my hometown bias, this is still one of my favorite versions of that work.


-- Leo Gillis



--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 3/18/14, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Old Mercury recording venue gets a rebuild
 To: [log in to unmask]
 Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2014, 7:11 PM
 
...

 As bad as Northrop was as a recording venue, the absolute
 worst was the Edsel Ford Auditorium in Detroit. This was
 another "modern" venue designed by "science." It was almost
 unusable for stereo recording and barely usable for mono
 recording. Mercury ended up using the old orchestra hall,
 then called the Paradise Theatre and used at other times by
 a local evangelical church. Then Cass Technical High
 School's wonderful auditorium was "discovered," just in time
 for 35mm recording and improved stereo cutting.
 
 -- Tom Fine