[78-L] Changing speeds [was: Newly-pressed Bix Beiderbecke 78]

[Ken "Silver Showcase"]

David Lennick wrote:

> Meanwhile, I can think of a few records where the speed is deliberately changed 
> at one point, for comic effect. Danny Kaye's "The Babbit And The Bromide" and 
> Paul Nero's "Hot Canary" play normally up to a point, and then the remainder of 
> the track is a 33 played at 78. This will probably lead to an entirely 
> different thread (Mel Blanc's "Woody Woodpecker", Gene Carroll's Animal 
> Records, The Chipmunks etc).

Does anyone know how Warner Bros. recorded sound for their cartoons of 
the early 30s?  Was it Vitaphone or had they gone to sound on film by 
that time?  I've got a 16mm print of "Freddie the Freshman," (1932).  At 
one point in the title song the accompaniment stops while some tiny 
animals, with voices that are obviously sped up, sing an unaccompanied 
line in the song.  Their tempo is slightly faster than the rest of the 
number making the moment more awkward than cute.  I'm guessing that this 
line was inserted in to the track instead of dubbed over it and that's 
why the accompaniment suddenly stops.  But if they were still using 
Vitaphone them I'm stuck because you can't "cut" into a disc.  Also, I'm 
guessing that the reason the tempo changes is that they didn't listen to 
the original track at a slower speed when they recorded that one line.


And in another reply David Lennick also wrote:
> Bob and Ray once did an entire sketch that was played back at high speed. Not 
> doubling the tape speed, which is easy but difficult to listen to..this was 
> more like recording it at 33 and playing it back at 45, and then presenting it 
> as "the kids" doing today's soap opera. This was around 1956.
>   
Isn't this how the kid's voices in "South Park" are done, sped up a 
little but not too much?  Certainly its done digitally and not from 33 
/13 to 45.  But the concept is the same.

-- Ken