Re: [ARSCLIST] Manhattan street-noise recordings, 1906 to 1908 - any l eads?

[Adrian <acosentini@xxxxxxxx>]

If any of these cylinders survived it'll be a miracle. However my experience with cylinders of that time period, they have a horrible signal to noise ratio (S/N). Also the dynamic range is almost as horrible. Even with the best digital modern noise reduction software one would hardly be able to hear the detail in the sound. Frankly I doubt they heard much even back in 1906. But it was a new toy and everybody was thrilled by it considering nothing like that ever existed before. Also it's highly unlikely that these cylinders were transferred to disc and if they were the S/N ratio go up another step, not to mention, odds are the discs most likely didn't survive. Good thing we can read about this.

Adrian Cosentini
Audio Preservation Manager
The New York Philharmonic