[78-L] Fwd: Violin 78 acousticals

[Michael Biel]

This should be easy.  There is a working acoustical disc recording
machine in the EMI Archive, probably in Hayes, Middlesex.  It was used
to make the 100th anniversary Berliner/HMV recording in 1998.  The major
problems might be the turmoil at EMI and the status of the EMI Archive,
as well as getting the violin and the machine together.  The video of
the recording session had been on youtube but I can't find it now. 

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [78-L] Fwd: Violin 78 acousticals
From: AllenAmet at aol.com
Date: Tue, December 20, 2011 3:34 pm
To: 78-l at 78online.com

FYI: Fwd:
 
Greetings.

I have been asked by a representative of the Violin Society of America
to 
assist with an experimental acoustical research project involving the 
musical-instrument collection of the United States Library of Congress.

Our goal is to make a high-resolution digital recording of an excellent 
violinist playing the 1742 Guarneri del Gèsu violin that was once the
concert 
instrument of Fritz Kreisler.

In addition, the principal investigator hopes to make an
acoustically-cut 
78 rpm recording, which could then be played back on a Victrola, and
that 
sound would then be recorded in high-definition digital sound. We would
then 
hope to derive the transfer function of the acoustical recording
process, 
end-to-end.

Our reason for wishing for this is that Fritz Kreisler himself believed 
that the recording process that was most true to his tone was the
acoustical 
process, and that after the advent of electrical recording, things got 
worse and not better.

Right now, our difficulty is that while there are many well-preserved 
Edison Cylinder recorders, we have been unable to locate a working 78
rpm disc 
recorder, master lathe, or whatever the proper term is. We hope that you

will be able to assist us in this regard.

My tentative explanation is that upon the development of electrical 
recording, the existing acoustical disc recorders were converted,
because their 
turntables and motors were the same.

In any event, we will appreciate any help you can give us.

Cordially,

John Marks

Senior Contributing Editor and Columnist, Stereophile magazine 
www.stereophile.com 
Audio Columnist, Listen magazine www.listenmusicmag.com
Record Producer, www.jmrcds.com 
Hear my two minutes of NPR “All Things Considered” fame,
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17035346 
Visit my YouTube Channel, www.youtube.com/user/cremonaguy

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