Re: [ARSCLIST] National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB) Study

[Mike Richter <mrichter@xxxxxxx>]

David Lennick wrote:
> Mike Richter wrote:
>
>  Tom Fine wrote:
>  > Well, one question immediately comes to mind. Who CARES about 78's
>  > issued after the advent of tape (1947-48), unless the tape master has
>  > been lost? Even if only a good-condition LP exists (post-1948), it is
>  > almost guaranteed to sound better and have a wider frequency/dynamic
>  > range than the 78. So I ask again, who cares about what's gotta be the
>  > vast majority of late-era 78's? I mean, they might make a nice novelty,
>  > but they have little or no historical value since they're a
>  > worst-case/obsolete-technology version of something.

> Matter of fact, this argument is ludicrous. The only good-sounding 
> original issue of "South Pacific" was the 45-RPM set. The 78s are 
> overmodulated, the first LP pressings sound like short wave, the 
> subsequent ones keep adding layers of echo, the CD issues were a 
> disaster, proving that Sony may own the rights and the original master 
> but doesn't know its acetates from a hole in the ground about what to do 
> with them. Anyone want to challenge me on this, meet me out back.

I think David means that Tom Fine's position is ludicrous - since David 
and I are in agreement. <G>

There is no reason to assume that the source materials still exist. I 
know of at least one case in which there are no masters for a series of 
substantial opera recordings and that the publisher does not even have 
clean copies of many of the LPs. (I've not yet determined whether they 
are without any copy of some titles.)

The record companies (and film companies) have a shameful record of 
failing to keep master materials. Those that have been retained may not 
have been stored adequately. I have often been called on to supply 
transfers from my own copies for performers who have been told that the 
publisher has nothing from which to provide a copy.

So it may well be that the reason recent issues of "South Pacific" have 
had poor sound is that the publishers no longer have copies of the 45s 
or of the tape from which they were made.

Mike
--
mrichter@xxxxxxx
http://www.mrichter.com/