Re: [ARSCLIST] Early stereo mass market tapes

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Roger:

Yes, I totally forgot Omegatapes and Audiophile. The record labels don't "count" in my interest 
because of course they all got into the tape game. I'm more interested in these little companies 
that sprang up to do tapes only. Some did morph into record labels but it seems like most just died 
out after an initial "hifi bug" craze.

Here's a for instance. Bel Canto did original recordings back in the mid-50's, before they became 
one of the major duping houses in the 60's. One of their tapes is "That Geller Feller" by Herb 
Geller. I think it was recorded while Geller was under contract to Mercury/Emarcy but the material 
was never issued on Mercury to my knowledge. It's a good album, along the lines of Geller's mid-50's 
Emarcy records, which were all mono. So, what happened to the Bel Canto masters and was this stuff 
ever reissued? That's the kind of info I'm seeking.

Another thing I'd love to know is what ever became of some of those crazy stereo demo tapes like 
"Sound in the Round"? I have the quarter-track version, which is vastly inferior to the little 
snippet of the 2-track version that's on Ampex's original 2-track stereo demo tape they included 
with their first consumer tape machines.

There were some funny, interesting and creative stereophony tricks and gimmicks going on in this 
very early tape era that never made it to the stereo LP era two years later. By the time 
quarter-track became the consumer format, the tape business seemed to be much more just an adjunct 
to the LP business like 8-tracks and then cassettes would later be. The next time tape was king was 
the very end of the LP era, right before CD's became the mass format. The two years between LPs and 
CD's, if memory serves, cassettes outsold LPs because the Walkman was king and the boombox was still 
a very strong presence.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger and Allison Kulp" <thorenstd124@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 12:51 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Early stereo mass market tapes


> When you go around picking through junk to sell on
> eBay,tou find all sorts of stuff.I have found m number
> of tapes over the years,that I have sold.I can supply
> sme names of companies,but no specifics about
> history.There was Omegatape,who was initially set up
> as a tape-only label.They put out a bunch of
> titles,that were later issued on Lp.The ones I sold
> were by Ataufo Arghenta,later released,by Omega on
> Lp,and Art pepper,released by blue Note,on LP,in
> 1980.These tapes dated from 1957-58.There was also
> Audiophile,who put out tapes of traditional/dixieland
> jazz,early on.RCA,and Westminster,put out tapes,in
> 19556-56.These are easily spotted,as they have
> different box designs,than the Lp covers.
>
>   I think the early history of this would be
> facinating,where would you learn more about it ?
>                                 Roger Kulp
>
> --- Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Hi All:
> >
> > I'm trying to find out some history of the early
> > stereo hifi era, specifically the handful of
> > companies that sprang up to make and market stereo
> > tapes. This would be circa 1955-56, when the
> > first commercial mass-duped 2-tracks were out. What
> > was the business model for a company like
> > Livingston or Bel Canto? Were they basically run
> > like boutique record labels or differently? Aside
> > from those two and Stereotapes, who else was making
> > original recordings as opposed to licensing and
> > releasing stuff from major labels or European
> > sources?
> >
> > Also, we talked about Emory Cook and I believe
> > there's someone on-list here who actually worked
> > with
> > Cook. Did he jump into stereo tapes or stick with
> > his two-cartridge grooved disks?
> >
> > Finally, does anyone have any sales estimates on the
> > first generation of tapes? I know they were
> > priced a bit higher than mono LP records and the
> > playback decks were expensive by mid-50s standards,
> > so it was a niche market. But, reel to reel tape
> > obviously caught on enough that by the
> > quarter-track era (1958 or so onward), there was
> > enough demand to allow for a lot of catalog variety
> > and many duping operations around the country. By
> > the late 60's, I think it was down to Bel Canto,
> > Ampex Tapes and a handful of smaller dupers but I
> > might be wrong on that.
> >
> > OK, thanks in advance for any facts anyone can
> > share.
> >
> > -- Tom Fine
>
>
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