[ARSCLIST] Early stereo

[Dave Weiner <djwein@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey all,

I just rejoined the list after awhile away and was reading some 
recent postings about the Blumlein early stereo experiments at 
EMI.  Don't know if this has been posted, but one of the other 
recordings mentioned has been issued on CD - hope this is of 
interest.

Dave Weiner
---------
 Records made at Abbey Road with Binaural Gear (11th & 12th 
Jan 34)
 
 TT.1557-2 Dance band with microphones approximately 45 ft 
distant.
 TT.1557-1 Microphones as above.

---------

Here are the details from the Guild website: :
THE GOLDEN AGE OF LIGHT MUSIC
In Town Tonight - The 1930s Volume II
Guild GLCD 5116 

 "Mr. Whittington" - Selection (John W. Green, Jack Waller,  
Joseph Tunbridge) intro: Oceans Of Time,Whoops For The Derby 
Day, Weep No More My Baby, Who Do You Think You Are, The 
Sun Is Round The Corner,What A Pleasant Surprise, Finale. 
NEW MAYFAIR ORCHESTRA Conducted by RAY NOBLE - 
HMV C 2647 1934
 7:41
 
 BONUS TRACK: RARE EXPERIMENTAL STEREO FROM 1934
Excerpt from "Mr. Whittington" intro: The Sun Is Round The 
Corner, What A Pleasant Surprise, Finale. NEW MAYFAIR 
ORCHESTRA Conducted by RAY NOBLE - (Binaural) EMI TT 
1557-1 Recorded 11 January 1934
 2:55
 
And now we come to the historical technical comments on these 
last two tracks of our second 1930s collection. Alan Blumlein 
joined the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1929 with a brief 
to improve the then fledgling electrical recording process, which 
he did with notable success. By 1931 Columbia had merged with 
The Gramophone Company to form EMI (Electrical and Musical 
Industries) and Blumlein began experimenting with stereophonic 
recording (then known as "binaural") at their Hayes research 
laboratories. By 1934 these experiments were proving so 
successful that a complete binaural cutting system was installed 
in one of the studios at Abbey Road to enable recordings of 
orchestral and other music to be made and assessed.

Most of the results of these experiments - the "walking and 
talking" and classical music recordings - have already appeared 
on various LPs and CDs but it is not generally known that some 
light music was also recorded. In fact the very first Abbey Road 
binaural recording was made on the 11th of January 1934 by Ray 
Noble and The New Mayfair Orchestra (called "Ray Noble´s 
Dance Band" in the documentation).  The music chosen was part 
of a selection from the musical "Mr. Whittington" and the complete 
mono recording, made at the same time, is featured on track 19 
while the binaural version forms the finale of this CD. 

The sound is rather distant as the microphones were placed 
approximately 45 feet from the orchestra and the lack of 
additional `spot´ microphones (and the absence of a stereo mixing 
desk to accommodate them), means that certain instruments do 
not have the same prominence as on the mono recording. Even 
so, the resulting sound is quite exciting, perhaps giving the 
impression of sitting near the rear of a concert hall or theatre. 

It is a pity that the economic climate and the obvious problems of 
playing such recordings domestically at that time meant that the 
experiments were abandoned, and the introduction of stereo 
discs into the home had to wait another 23 years. However Alan 
Blumlein was responsible for developing the disc cutting 
principles eventually adopted by the recording industry, although 
his patents expired in 1952, having never been commercially 
exploited by EMI. His system was "re-invented" by Westrex, and 
became the universal standard for stereo LPs.                                                                                                                                       
David Ades