[78-L] Fred Waring Christmas Album

[David Lennick]

If the matrix numbers end in A or AA, they're master pressings..if there are 
other letters including a T, they'll be dubs but as I said, Decca didn't begin 
using 33RPM lacquers as original source material till during the AFM ban when 
they'd acquired World Program Service. From that point on they could dub a new 
master as required. (Note..Decca sometimes did have to dub a 78 master in the 
30s, maybe because of level or overmodulation problems.)

And yes, Deccas could be pretty noisy. First pressings on the Personality label 
aren't too bad if the discs aren't too worn. Albums that sold well probably got 
progressively noisier as the stampers wore out and the shellac varied, and for 
some reason they were using worse shellac for the 23000s and 18000s after 1946, 
stuff that was noisier than what they used for blue label. Really good sellers 
sometimes were transferred into the higher-priced lines and pressed on 
Deccalite (except that in Canada, they never bothered to provide newer 
stampers). The best sounding issue of this set might be the early 45 version, 
if it was carefully dubbed from good 78 parts. The dubs will also have to be 
played at around 80RPM..don't know why Decca never seemed to notice this problem.

dl

Sammy Jones wrote:
> Thanks.  That actually sounds a little better.  Is there a way to tell if
> these are master pressed?  They're in the black label Decca Personality
> Series and have lead in and eccentric lead out grooves.  Even though they're
> in E condition, they sure are noisy as hell!  Pretty fragile too, by the
> looks of them...
> 
> Sammy
> 
> dl wrote:
>> Don't forget to "pitch" it up about 2.4%! Even the 45 and LP issues will
> run 
>> slow if they were transferred from pre-1943 78 masters. As for curve, the
> ear 
>> is still the final arbiter.
> 
> Sammy Jones wrote:
>> I am look for the recording dates and recommended EQ playback curve for
> the
>> Fred Waring Christmas album: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Decca
> Album
>> No. 480.  I'd like to transfer this to CD to play around the house over
> the
>> next few days...
>>
>> Record # (Matrix #s)
>> 23642    (71252AA/71282A)
>> 23643    (71166AA/71078B)
>> 23644    (71167A/71177AA)
>> 23645    (71076A/71251A)
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Sammy Jones
> 
>