[78-L] Dubbed contemporary matrix questions (Columbia related).

[David Lennick]

The files (i.e. the Columbia Books) explain WHAT was done but not why. Quote:

NOTE:- Matrix 149158 was rejected as such on all three takes [there were 3], 
but each was dubbed onto a new master, numbered 194379 in sequence (so 149158-1 
became 194379-1, 149158-2 became 194379-2, 149158-3 became 194379-3). No 
explanation was given.

End quote. I don't know if this was done with other masters. I do know that 
there were other instances of Columbia dubbing foreign masters, for no apparent 
reason..some sides in the set of Glazunov conducting "The Seasons" are dubs, 
and very poor ones, but an Italian pressing I picked up a few years ago is all 
master pressings and the sides in question sound great, don't run onto the 
label or start outside the normal perimeter or display any physical reasons for 
needing to be rerecorded. One possible explanation is that the masters didn't 
pass the "wear test", i.e. survive 20 playings without displaying unusual wear. 
Some over-recorded or over-bassy discs had to be transferred with the bass 
rolled off. Some recordings have been transferred because of physical problems 
(grooves starting too near the edge), others because the turntable was varying 
in speed and they hoped to correct this. In any case, because issues were 
pressed from the dub, Columbia probably didn't retain the original takes.

That "unique piece of filtering equipment developed in the Columbia 
laboratories" makde the old recordings sound worse than they ever did before, 
as anyone with ears noticed.

RCA also reissued from a dub in one infuriating instance, and presumably the 
original should have existed (maybe not)..the version of "You Took Advantage of 
Me" by Paul Whiteman with Bix 'n' Bing in the Bix Memorial Album is a dub, and 
that's what was used for LP reissues in the 60s.

dl

Royal Pemberton wrote:
> I'm not asking here about instances where Columbia (whether or not in
> the ARC period) dubbed an items either from a foreign source (such as
> in the case of 3114-D I asked about recently; they may have not
> received metal parts and had to dub from pressings) or when a dub made
> in, say, 1937, is of an item recorded in 1928, where the motives can
> include giving the record lead in grooves, or an eccentric stop
> groove, or perhaps just preservation of the metal originals.
> 
> It looks to me, beginning around mid-1929, that Columbia occasionally
> began dubbing from one contemporary master to another, giving the dubs
> either 'control numbers' (those 100XXX series etc.) or those 'dubbed
> series' 194XXX numbers.  This practice seemed to be indulged in much
> more frequently with the Diva/Harmony/Velvet Tone/Clarion items, and
> began to be much more frequent after the start of 1930.
> 
> Do the master files give the reasons for this practice, where done?
> 
> Here's a case in point, that sparked me to ask about this.  I just got
> a copy of the 1968 LP PAUL WHITEMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA FEATURING BING
> CROSBY [Columbia CL 2830] and the title 'A bunch of old love letters'
> is shown as being recorded 18 October 1929, matrix W 149158-3 but
> 'remastered and released as W 194379-3' on 2047-D.   (Why this was
> done at the time is not explained.)
> 
> The sound quality of this track is definitely poorer than any other
> track (much more wow), leading me to believe they used a disc pressed
> from 194379-3 rather than 149158-3 as their source.  I can appreciate
> the use of 194379-3 in the LP for historical accuracy, but I have to
> wonder why was 149158-3 both not used originally for the 78, nor used
> as the dubbing source for the LP.
> 
> I would think, if 149158-3 still existed in 1968 in such a condition
> that a good vinyl pressing could have been made from it, they should
> have used it instead, with an explanation of this being the take, but
> not strictly speaking the actual originally issued master, being at
> last made available on this album,  particularly since they did have
> some blurb on the LP regarding use of a 'unique piece of filtering
> equipment developed in the Columbia laboratories' to make the old
> recordings sound better than they ever could have before.
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