[78-L] Stereo half-track tapes

[David Lennick]

Just to clarify..

Michael Biel wrote:
>  From: "Robert M. Bratcher Jr." <bratcher at pdq.net>
>> None of the 2 track tapes I own or have dubs of are fake stereo
>> however I haven't heard your concerto so perhaps it is fake stereo. 
> 
> No, it's real stereo, all right.  It is rather famous because it was out
> of print on LP by the time stereo discs came out, so RCA didn't bother
> putting it out on a stereo LP at the time.  The other thing to remember
> is that nobody did fake stereo until the three Toscanini LME LPs.  They
> did add fake reverb and echo in the 50s to both mono and stereo, but
> there was such a backlog of things they had stereo masters of that they
> didn't start with fake stereo until after the era of 2-track
> pre-recorded tape was over.  I do think the Toscanini LMEs were put out
> on 4-track open reel. 

As far as I know, the only fake stereo on open reel came along in the sixties 
when fake stereo LPs were the norm as well, and it was on things like Philips' 
Missa Luba (I'm just guessing at that one but as I recall, it was something 
from that Connoisseur series).

> 
>>From David Lennick

No, from David Burnham. But I found many mono RCAs to be way better than their 
stereo versions as well.
>>> I have often found that RCA's mono versions are sonically
>>> superior to their stereo counterparts. One particular
>>> example which comes to mind is the 1954 Also Spach
>>> Zarathustra by Reiner and CSO.
> 
> There were many critics in the early stereo LP years which commented on
> the superior fidelity of some mono releases -- something that the
> vinylphools don't like being told about.  Remember that the early
> pre-1957 stereo was largely experimental at RCA and many of the other
> labels.  John Pfeiffer ran the stereo equipment separately from the mono
> as just an afterthought.  Again I highly recommend the 2-CD set The Age
> of Living Stereo: A Tribute to John Pfeiffer, 09026-68524-2.
> 
One of the worst early stereo LPs I've ever heard is a Westminster disc derived 
from Sweden (Discofil?) of Alvfen conducting Midsommarvaka. The thing sounds 
glorious on the original ten-inch LP but because a stereo tape existed, 
Westminster used it. Awful. And they edited the companion piece.

dl