Re: [ARSCLIST] commerical reels history (was Boston Pops question)

[Steve Abrams <steveabrams@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

What I am saying is that the Mercury Living Presence CD issued in 1996 of 
"Ma Vlast" does not sound good.  I remember the LPs sounding better though I 
only had them on a cheap reissue in the UK on the Wing label.  The stereo 
issue of "Tabor" that I know came out last year on Music & Arts and was 
restored by Mark Obert-Thorne.  It sounds much better than the mono version.

Steve Abrams

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 3:02 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] commerical reels history (was Boston Pops question)


> Hi Steve:
>
> Thanks for the RCA clarification. It was the same set of sessions I 
> thought but different works.
>
> Yes, Bert Whyte was permitted by Mercury to bring his 2-track Magnecorder 
> and place a pair of U-47 mics at the Kubelik session. Some of the tapes 
> were issued on a small label CD in recent years and sound terrible to my 
> ears. Could be the tape is deteriorated, could be the playback or transfer 
> equipment wasn't good. Could be the engineer didn't properly line up the 
> staggered tracks, etc. They definitely over-used digital noise-zapping 
> tools so there are digi-artifacts galore. I imagine the tapes sounded 
> better when they were new and played back on that Magnecorder.
>
> Bert's tapes were a personal experiment. Never intended for release. Not 
> particularly praised or lauded by the professionals involved in the 
> session. In fairness to Bert, this was pioneering in many respects, as was 
> his pioneering use of magnetic film recording for Everest.  Bert wrote a 
> really nice column for Radio & TV News in 1956 about the day he was 
> invited to the studio to hear the first Mercury 3-track tapes that were 
> ready for release. He was treated to a full-monty 3-speaker extravaganza.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Steve Abrams" <steveabrams@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 8:18 AM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] commerical reels history (was Boston Pops 
> question)
>
>
> > Not quite.  The Munch Damnation of Faust in February 1954 was recorded in 
> > stereo but only issued in mono. Something happened to the stereo tapes. 
> > The Reiner recordings of  Heldenleben and Salome's dance were recorded on 
> > March 6th.  Zarathustra came two days later on the 8th.  However - and 
> > you should be able to shed some light on this - some stereo recordings 
> > were made by Bert Whyte at the December 1952 sessions of the Chicago 
> > Symphony recording Ma Vlast under Kubelik.  'Tabor' recorded on December 
> > 6th has recently been issued on Music and Arts in a transfer by 
> > Obert-Thorne. The very unpleasant overload distortion on the Mercury 
> > Living Presence mono set, very evident on the CD issue, is not evident in 
> > the stereo version.
> >
> > Steve Abrams
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 12:10 PM
> > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] commerical reels history (was Boston Pops 
> > question)
> >
> >
> > > I'd be interested to know what's on them and who released them. I do not 
> > > believe you'll find that they are in fact 2T stereo. They are likely 
> > > half-track (2-sided) mono. If they are stereo, it would be very 
> > > interesting to know who put them out as in 1952 only a few people were 
> > > experimenting with 2-channel stereo recording of music. No major labels 
> > > yet, although I believe RCA started making 2T masters in 1954 or even 
> > > 1953 -- I think Zarathustra with Reiner was the first 2T session.
> > >
> > > -- Tom Fine
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > > From: "Jack Palmer" <vdalhart@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > > To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > > Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 12:29 AM
> > > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] commerical reels history (was Boston Pops 
> > > question)
> > >
> > >
> > > >    I bought my first 2 track tapes for my reel recorder/player in the 
> > > > Base Exchange in Sidi-Slimane, Morocco in 1952.  I still have a couple 
> > > > of them in fact.   Jack
> > > >
> > > > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > > > From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > > > To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > > > Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 9:40 AM
> > > > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] commerical reels history (was Boston Pops 
> > > > question)
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > Ampex developed their own, was developed by Leon Wortman in NY and 
> > > > > detailed in a 1951 Radio & TV News article. Wortman's line made 
> > > > > full-track or half-track tapes. Commercial half-track tapes were 
> > > > > available as early as 1951 or 1952, but there was only a very small 
> > > > > consumer market for reel to reel machines at that point. > Because 
> > > > > this was a new format sold at a premium price, a lot of QC attention 
> > > > > was paid by the reputable companies in this era, so the net quality is 
> > > > > very high. Akin to what happened when stereo LPs came along.
> > > > .
> > > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
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> > > 07/04/2007 22:57
>
>
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