[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[ARSCLIST] Fwd: [ARSCLIST] Pristine Audio (?!)
I'm very late, but may I comment about this topic? It has interested me for
a long time.
As I'm sure we all know, Capitol-Telefunken records were all dubbings made
by Capitol from Telefunken originals. I no longer remember the full story
(perhaps another member does: Steve Smolian?), but recall being told that Capitol
was sent test pressings, probably vinyl, of Telefunken sides from the company
in West Germany around 1948 and/or '49. Tape had come into use then, and the
Capitol people taped the pressings and mastered them for 78, 45, and LP use.
The Capitol-Telefunken releases, then, were never pressed from the original
matrices. LP matrices were made from the dubbed matrices, too.
They have a somewhat clouded, distant sonic character. During the 1960s an
English friend who had some copies of both Capitol and Telefunken Mengelberg
78s described the former as sounding "through a glass darkly." They certainly
don't sound like real Telefunkens.
I know. For many years I had Mengelberg's famous recording of the 1812
Overture on Capitol 78s and LP and the Mercury LP. Stunning. Then I got a mint
copy of the Telefunken 78s. I was astounded. The sound was/is far more vivid,
clear, and colorful than any of the American transfers. They just don't compare.
I have no words to describe how spectacular is the sound on these 1941 or '42
Telefunken 78s except that it's high fidelity.
Another thing about Capitol-Telefunkens: I am convinced that each dubbing
for each speed was separately done. For instance, the Eroica. On the 78s, the
penultimate chord of the fourth movement's coda is at a much lower level than
the music immediately surrounding it. Not so on the 45s or LP. And I seem to
recall that the 45 release of Mengelberg's Beethoven Creatures of Prometheus
Overture is missing one of its isolated first chords. Not so the
Capitol-Telefunken 78 or LP.
An interesting topic.
Don Tait
**************************************
See AOL's top rated recipes
(http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)
Haven't checked any of those old Mengelbergs for years (or any of the others,
now that you mention it) but Capitol's issue of some Joseph Schmidt records was
good enough for Telefunken to press from the Capitol stampers. Seems to me
their dubs to 78 were also good. (Mercury's dubs of similar material, on the
other hand....anyone remember the needle drop they left in on the Shostakovich
piano LP?)
dl
Steven Smolian wrote:
Stragely enough I recall decent 78 sound on some of the the brown-cover
Caoitol reissues from Telefunken.
Steve Smolian
----- Original Message ----- From: "David Lennick" <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 7:57 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Pristine Audio (?!)
Marcos Sueiro Bal wrote:
Having said that, I always say that any transfer is usually better
than no transfer (unless you damage the original, of course).
Bullshit. Sorry. Bad transfers are bad transfers and do nothing to
convert the very people we want to get to listen to something other
than the latest hotshot tenor or headbanger. Most early LP transfers
of 78s were holy horrors (wow, bad joins, level flux), even when they
were dubbed from the 16-inch originals (Columbia's early LP transfers
from English and European 78s are unspeakably bad by any standards)
and these were followed by attempts to "modernize" them with reverb
and bad EQ and then squeeze 33 minutes onto a twelve-inch side.
Camdens for the most part were even worse. It's no wonder that a
generation or two had no respect for the previous 25 years of recorded
sound when it was presented to them in that manner.
dl