[78-L] stereo, ca. 1932

[Michael Shoshani]

On Wed, 2009-07-08 at 18:34 +0100, lastofthebarons wrote:
> There is, of course, the well known 3 Feb 1932 stereo recordings of   
> Duke Ellington and His Orchestra by RCA Victor. What were previously  
> thought to be two takes are in fact separate recordings of the same  
> take, which provide the left and right channels. I don't know if the  
> original intent was to produce a stereo  or whether the result was a  
> lucky by-product of making two recordings in case one master was  
> damaged. Whatever, the results speak for themselves.

It was neither, actually. Victor was testing two different recording
systems simultaneously. One recording used a Western Electric
microphone, amplifier, mixer and cutting lathe, which were the current
standard but which also incurred costly royalty payments. The other
recording used a mic-amp-mixer-lathe chain developed by RCA, and was a
test to see if the quality was equal. (Apparently, it was not; RCA
equipment came into use two or three years later, its usage signified by
the letters VE enclosed within a diamond rather than an ellipse.)

Michael Shoshani
Chicago