[78-L] unstable records, was CV records

[Taylor Bowie]

I have several sides on late Broadway (1931-32) where there was clearly some 
problem with keeping the recording turntable at a constant speed.  The Sig 
Heller Orch. of "Tired" is a terrifying reminder of how an ordinary record 
can become memorably bad due to screw-ups by the engineer.

Taylor B



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sammy Jones" <sjones69 at bellsouth.net>
To: <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 12:35 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] unstable records, was CV records


> Gallagher and Shean's recording of "Positively, Mr. Gallagher?/Absolutely,
> Mr. Shean!" on Victor 18941 appears to change keys at the side change.  I
> have no idea which is correct!
>
> Sammy
>
> David Lennick Wrote:
>
> There's a Paderewski electrical that is a major economy sized pain to keep
> on
> pitch. Two-sided piece..as I recall, I had to do a pitch adjustment of 
> close
> to
> 5 percent in the first few seconds.
>
> There are also some two-part recordings where the pitch is entirely
> different
> between the two sides. One is Respighi's "Aria di Corte" on Victor
> (Barbirolli,
> New York Philharmonic). Another is Hovhaness' "Mihr" on Disc..that one 
> drove
> me
> crazy 30 years ago when I had no frame of reference or proper key-checking
> equipment and couldn't tell which side was in the correct key, if any.
>
> dl
>
> joe at salerno.com wrote:
>> Speed instability is not limited to minor labels or very early records.
>> We could probably start a new thread of unstable 78s.
>>
>> Rachmaninoff's "One Lives but Once" (Strauss) 78 is horrible for speed
>> stability IIRC. There's one early piano recording on Gramophone (it's on
>> APR but I'm too lazy to go look it up) where the artist starts playing
>> before the platter is rotating up to speed. These were careless things,
>> or machine malfunctions. It's more surprising that they allowed such a
>> thing to be released, but in a new industry, who cares? CV records were
>> an attempt to bring new technology to the market. I don't know if they
>> played longer, but the sound quality would be more consistent through
>> out the record, and I assume, surface noise as well.
>>
>> joe salerno
>>
>>
>> yves francois wrote:
>>>   ...so a CV record is doing the opposite on purpose what the Gennett
> 6089 did by accident, probably due to faulty mechanisms, very interesting,
> guess my obsession with jazz does not take me to certain avenues of 78's
>>> thanks, I think I got it now
>>> Yves
>>>
>>>
>>> --- On Sat, 3/21/09, Royal Pemberton <ampex354 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> From: Royal Pemberton <ampex354 at gmail.com>
>>> No.  A CV record (assuming an outside-start cut) played
>>>> back on a
>>>> regular turntable will either start out at a very high
>>>> pitch, much
>>>> faster than normal, gradually seeming to slow down toward
>>>> normalcy
>>>> toward the end, or if started at a speed where things sound
>>>> normal, it
>>>> will gradually sound slower and slower, as if things are
>>>> running down.
>>>> ____________________
>>>
>>>> Subject: Re: [78-L] constant velocity records, was Value of 78's
>>>> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
>>>> Date: Saturday, March 21, 2009, 2:07 PM
>>>> On 3/21/09, yves francois <aprestitine at yahoo.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>    ... are we aware of one of the very rare records
>>>> Gennett 6089 (Vicksburg
>>>>> Blowers, reissued on Herw> in LP 109, Joe Bussard let
>>>> the Herwin record label
>>>>> use his disc for the LP reissue, I of course, never
>>>> seen this 78), it plays
>>>>> progressively faster on the last minute or so of the
>>>> record, is this similar
>>>>> to the concept you are talking about (though it sounds
>>>> like an error in the
>>>>> machinery on that record, both sides)? Too bad it is
>>>> not corrected, it is a
>>>>> reasonable performance (though not as good as the King
>>>> Brady's Clarinet Band
>>>>> on Black Patti of similar heritage)
>>>>> Yves Francois
>
>
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