Re: [ARSCLIST] LP pressing question

[David Gnau <DPGnau@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The company that distributed the LP that had the first half for channel
A and the second half for channel B was Cook and they called it
binaural. The tone arm looked like a tuning fork with 2 styli. It was
great when it worked and terrible when it was off one groove.

>>> olh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 7/6/2007 11:31 AM >>>
-----Original Message-----
>From Matthew Barton: "...I don't think that the magnetic recording and
patent situation explains the emergence of independent recording
companies
in the 1940s entirely..."

I'm trying to remember the name of the person Tom Dowd told me created
the
cutter that allowed indi labels to operate without leased equipment
and
royalties. He was famous later for an early stereo disk system that
used two
parallel grooves and a cartridge with two styli. Tape recording was far
more
practical economically than disks. The fact that it made editing easy
also
permitted the use of less skilled and lots less expensive musicians.

The other part of the equation was that the major labels had dropped
most
artists who weren't movie stars. This led to people leaving the majors
and
setting up independent distribution companies and labels to handle
niches
that they knew from experience could be profitable. 

The rise of independent distribution enabled both independent labels
and
genre-specific dedicated record stores because the traditional music
and
department store outlets tended to only handle major label records
along
with the same company's record players.


Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
615.385.8051 http://www.hyperback.com