[78-L] fake stereo

[Michael Biel]

From: Randy Watts <rew1014 at yahoo.com>
> Some rechanneled stereo folds down to mono reasonably well and some doesn't.
> If all they did was emphasize the treble in one channel and the bass in other,
> you can often get listenable results, albeit usually with extra reverb.
> Other processes--not so much. Capitol's "Duophonic" process is pretty much hopeless.
> At least I've never been able to get the things to sound like mono.
> Same with RCA Victor's process.    Randy  

During that era some companies were also adding reverb to their mono
issues as well, so those are likewise hopeless.  I remember a couple of
Duophonic records which combined to mono very well but can't remember
which ones now.  The processes most labels used would differ from album
to album and sometimes from track to track.  RCA usually filtered the
highs to the left and put a triple echo and the bass to the right.  The
left channel can sometimes be used alone with some added bass.  I have
some Perry Como and Belafonte albums that are the Perry Como Quartet and
Belefonte Quartet. The re-echoing of the already echoed Elvis recordings
was truly amazing.  It was the Elvis Quartet and the Stamps Octet.

The biggest irony is back in the early days of CDs, RCA issued a group
of Elvis albums with an electronic stereo logo included on the covers,
and the critics EXPLODED!  So RCA apologized and redid the CDs from the
original mono studio tapes, and sold off the first issues as cut-outs. 
They were the very first drilled cheap CDs I ever saw so I bought them
as historic relics.  They were pure perfect MONO, recorded from some
good condition early work tapes made at the time the masters were new
and in good condition.  Then I heard the mono replacements and found
that they had been played incorrectly from badly warped acetate original
studio tapes with the highs swishing in and out.  

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com




From: Christopher Steward <chris.1picc at yahoo.co.uk>

> This is not quite on topic, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who can give some information/advice. 
>   I'm interested in restoring an 'electronic stereo' disc to decent mono sound; clearly I need to reverse whatever original processing was applied, if possible, but I don't know what that would have been. Were there different approaches? Can anyone advise how I can go about investigating this?
Thanks,  Chris
_______