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Re: [ARSCLIST] National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB) Study
Peter,
I know EMI mastered to disc and to tape at the same time, gradually changing
to all-tape as money and time to upgrade became available.
Has anyone figured out a clue in the matrix codes which tells us if this was
done on tape and there is therefore no generational loss on later issues or
was originally on a lacquer and is therefore one generation earlier on the
78?
The only hint I've been able to reason out is to assume that if any part of
a set is take two or later, it is of a 78 original, assuming tapes would
have been edited and its 78 iteration was always take 1.
This is reasoning, not real life. What's the gen on your side?
Off to ARSC this afternoon.
Steve Smolian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Copeland, Peter" <Peter.Copeland@xxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:15 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB) Study
Dear All,
I'd like to add one halfpennyworth to Tom Fine's comment. Here in
Britain, the 78 versions incorporated "original" matrix-numbers, which
now that both E.M.I and (UK) Decca have bitten the dust, provide the
only way to date a commercial sound-recording. And because this side of
the pond was about five years behind your side of the pond, that is a
very significant tool.
Peter Copeland
Former Conservation Manager,
British Library Sound Archive.
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
Sent: 16 May 2006 11:10
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB)
Study
No, I think he was saying your argument is ludicrous since the 45RPM LP
is what he says is the best
source. Therefore proving my point about late-era 78's, that in most
cases they will be the
worst-case/worst-quality example and therefore are needed only as an
absolutely last resort.
In any case, I wasn't advocating dumpstering anything, just saying that
the late-era 78 material
would not be what I'd take to a desert island or care about very much
unless, as I clearly stated
has been the case a couple of times, that was the only extant source for
something.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Richter" <mrichter@xxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 2:11 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB)
Study
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/
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