[78-L] What off the press?

[David Lennick]

I believe test pressings are 3-stage, or before new generations of positives 
and negatives were made for use in manufacturing the crap doled out to us 
peasants. And as Alan notes, sometimes on better material..although Columbia's 
mid 40s test pressings of pop 78s are unlaminated and on stuff that self 
destructs as you look at it. (On the other hand, I had a set of test pressings 
of Stravinsky conducting his Symphony in C and even though each disc had a lam 
crack, they were so quiet I used them for a CD.)

dl

On 11/3/2011 2:07 PM, Alan Bunting wrote:
> Can't provide a definitive answer for this but I do know from my experiences with many of UK Decca's MW Music While You Work series from the 1940s that the test pressings always sounded better and had noticeably less surface noise than the released version.
>
> I assume that this was because they were pressed on a higher grade of shellac i.e. less filler so that, although they would wear quicker, it enabled a more accurate assessment of the recorded sound.
>
> Alan Bunting
>
>
>> ________________________________
>> Just been browsing through the October 1939 issue of "The Gramophone"
>> and the jazz reviews. At the end there is an indication of reproduction
>> quality. For some it says: "Reviewed from test pressing, so little
>> indication of surface was available."
>>
>> So what was different about the test pressings?
>>
>>        Julian Vein
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
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