Re: [ARSCLIST] Sibilance removal

[D Basson <wdbasson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Mike

I'm doing the work for the local university's music library (University of
Stellenbosch).  They don't want to make the LP available to students in
order to preserve it.  Hence the digitalization of the LP.

Diederick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Richter" <mrichter@xxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 5:01 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Sibilance removal


> At 04:11 PM 6/17/2004 +0200, D Basson wrote:
> >Hi, Mike
> >
> >Thanks very much for a very interesting reply!  The recordings were made
in
> >MONO.   The album, which was released by Columbia, consists of Weill's
> >Berlin and American Theater Songs.
>
> >  AFAIK, only the
> > > Dreigroschenoper was recorded in stereo.
>
> Yes, I have the two original issues on monaural LP - in fact, have
> digitized them for my own enjoyment. IIRC, they will just about squeeze
> into 80 minutes together. I do not recall the reissue, which I assume was
> on LP. I phrased my observation about stereo as I did because I do not
know
> when Columbia began recording in stereo - other studios discovered only
> decades after release that masters of monaural issues had been in stereo.
>
> There has been a tendency on both LP and CD reissues to attempt to
> 'correct' the high-frequency limitations of typical LPs by peaking the
> treble just beyond the rolloff. The result looks great when fed with sine
> waves but is often disastrous with the human voice. (Decca/London has been
> the worst in my experience, turning some of the great classical recordings
> of the early stereo era into brittle, unlistenable trash.) If you want to
> know whether that is a factor, send me your snailmail address privately
and
> I'll make you a copy of my digitizing. I will not suggest that it is of
the
> quality you need, but at least it is true to the sound of her voice on the
> original LPs. Incidentally, any attempt to remove that peaking exacerbates
> the problem since at best it corrects only amplitude.
>
> You have not indicated for whom you are doing the work; I assume that it
is
> not Columbia or they would have provided master tapes, not LPs (surely,
> they have kept those). Working from a reissue means that a second engineer
> has had an opportunity to "improve" the recording.
>
>
> Mike
> --
> mrichter@xxxxxxx
> http://www.mrichter.com/
>
>