[78-L] 78-L Digest, Vol 11, Issue 59

[Malcolm Smith]

Not so easy to adjust the speed to help the singer with high notes.  
Remember that there is typically a piano accompaniment.

There was more singing of operatic works in lowered or raised keys in  
the early period. The opera companies often had scores for arias and  
parts that were transposed.

  On early records, the reality is that the speeds are all over the  
map. Pitch is not always based on 440 and the turntables were not  
well regulated. A fair number of early records change speed as one  
listens to them.

We refer to 78s, but outside the US, this was not a standard speed  
for acoustic records. It's very unfortunate that collections are  
being issued with little trouble being taken to pitch the originals  
correctly.

Malcolm Smith.


On Aug 28, 2009, at 8:27 PM, 78-l-request at klickitat.78online.com wrote:

>  Question on G & T recording speed from 1902