[78-L] Que?

[David Lennick]

Why do you think we call it WackyPackia?

"16" and 20" discs — Broadcasting studios made use of 16" and 20" 78rpm acetate 
"transcriptions"; these were used for time-delay programs and for prerecorded 
broadcasts. These could provide up to 20 minutes of unbroken program material 
with very good fidelity (indistinguishable from live to casual, but not to 
critical listeners). Early classical LP recordings were in fact initially 
recorded on 20" 78-rpm acetates for later transfer to LP. 16" turntables are 
still seen in professional broadcast equipment, although it is probably very 
rare that any disk larger than 12" is ever played on them."

AAAAAAAAAAAAK!

No radio station ever used 20-inch discs.

Les Paul recorded at 78 on 16-inch discs, and I've had one 16-inch where 
someone fooled around with various speeds including 78, but you're not going to 
find too many more examples. 17-inch lacquers were used to record 16-inch discs 
that were to be processed and pressed.

I have in fact encountered 16-inch discs with 20 minute programs recorded on 
them at the CBC, but only as reference copies, and the fidelity was horrible 
towards the center.

To get back to Milan's question, Columbia began recording everything at 33rpm 
on 16-inch discs in 1940, and dubbing the selected takes to 78 masters. When 
they developed the LP, they worked from these same sources, since tape wasn't 
in use and wouldn't be until 1948-9..even then they continued to record new 
material simultaneously on tape and on lacquers. According to one source, only 
the outer inch of the 16-incher was used, to maintain high fidelity, but I've 
heard many 78 album sets where you can tell they were recording more than one 
4-minute track per side. And entire sessions and multiple takes and breakdowns 
of pop and jazz material were recorded on 16-inch safeties, giving us rare 
material for later issue.


"The Dutch company, Philips introduced a constant linear velocity format prior 
to the standardised '78' where the RPM changed as the stylus traversed the 
record (unusually) from the inside to the outside. The actual playing speed was 
shown as a letter between 'A' and 'D'."

Oh yeah? Philips? Not World, which DID use A-D as speed indicators on its 
constant velocity records in the 20s? Philips, you say?

It's too bad there are such howlers, because there's some fascinating stuff in 
here as well, like this:

"Later picture discs included liquid light show style fluids between the vinyl, 
Rowlux 3D effect film, defraction rainbow film, metal flake, (examples can be 
found in the lenticular printing section of Wikipedia) pressure sensitive 
liquid crystals that changed color when the record was picked up, a real 
holographic record (the first ever), and even a real "live album." Made as a 
demonstration for Stevie Wonder's "Journey through the Secret Life of Plants", 
it featured a layer of blotting paper between the clear vinyl layers that 
contained Alfalfa seeds. A tag of the blotting paper protruded below the 
record, and resting the disc on a glass of water with the paper in the water 
allowed the seeds to germinate and grow inside the record. When the prototype 
was taken through customs in Canada it was seized by the Department of 
Agriculture, making it not only the only real live album but the only record 
ever banned by the Department of Agriculture (alfalfa being a prohibited import)."

(I wonder if I still have that Split Enz laser-etched LP?)

dl

Milan P Milovanovic wrote:
> Hello to all members,
> 
> I always thought that 20" sized record often was connected with Pathe company and that these are quite rare.
> 
> Today I've heard something unusual (here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unusual_types_of_gramophone_records):
> 
>  "Early classical LP recordings were in fact initially recorded on 20" 78-rpm acetates for later transfer to LP"
> 
> I've always thought that early LP recordings were recorded direct to cutter head, or, that some were dubs from magnetic tape (I'm not quite sure) and 16" lacquers?
> 
> But 20" acetates for later transfer to LP? Never heard of that.
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> Best,
> 
> Milan
> ____________________________________