[78-L] Que?

[Jeff Sultanof]

One of the important things about Wikipedia is that if there is
misinformation, they rely on others to correct it. Is anyone going to fix
this so that others are not led astray?

BTW, in several colleges, students are told that citations from Wikipedia
will no longer be acceptable. I wonder why??????

Jeff Sultanof

On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 10:54 PM, David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>wrote:

> 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
> > ____________________________________
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