[78-L] various forms of stereo.

[Steve Williams]

Message: 5
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:53:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Dan Van Landingham <danvanlandingham at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [78-L] Beach Boys 78s
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Message-ID: <301105.48334.qm at web56604.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
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What IS the difference between "Duo-Phonic" and stereo?Which brings to 
mind,what's the difference between stereo and binaural recording.I mention
this 
because I owned the VHS
copy of Disney's "Fantasia" many years ago and that recording was said to
have 
been recorded in
stereo back in 1940.


	"Binaural" refers to a method of recording that mimics the human
ear. - "Two Sounds." The microphones are literally mounted on a Styrofoam
head in some cases, or a single crossed-8 cardoid stereo mic is used.  The
listener wears headphones.  "Stereo" or stereophonic refers to trying to
create sound in a room that mimics the experience of being in the concert
hall or nightcub, whatever.  "Stereo" is `Greek for "Solid" or
"Three-dimensional" and the term has been used in such context since the
16th century. Remember stereoptic slides? "Duophonic" is simply a marketing
name meaning two channels.

	Fantasia is in a form of stereo that was intended to be reproduced
using many speakers.  The microphones were placed around the orchestra and
essentially the speakers in the cinema roughly approximate the mic
locations. It can be mixed to stereo or 5.1, but for the DVD and Bluray
release they did a bad job.  I have a tape of a private mix of Fantasia done
in the fifties from the stems, and it is gorgeous, some of the loveliest
music reproduction I've ever heard.  One just ignores the crackles and pops
of deteriorating nitrate film.

	Finally "Stems".. all major film studios since the early thirties
have recorded music, voice, and effects on separate channels on film, with
the orchestra generally getting multiple mics so that the sound can be
balanced to the most pleasing mono mix.  Rhino records has done a god job of
releasing surviving stems in true stereo.  The Glenn Miller films were an
early example, though not all the songs survive in multitrack.  The earliest
true stereo mixdown I've heard is from the 1933 film "meet the Baron."  Fox
has the best surviving archive of original stems, and several of their DVDs
provide a real treat, complete tracks in true stereo of performances that
are actually only in the background or partially heard onscreen. Thus we can
hear Tommy Dorsey and Harry James "Live."  I don't have the DVDs at hand but
when I find them I'll let you know the titles involved, if there's interest.
Unfortunately the stems of "The Gangs all Here" have NOT survived, so
Goodman is in mono only.

Pathe had binaural in the mid-teens, using double sided discs.  Victor as is
well known was experimenting with stereo on two discs, with the Duke
Ellington 1933 recording the only known surviving example.  Nat Shilkret and
Leonard Joy as Victor house bands were also supposed to have done two-disc
recordings.

Steve Williams  .