[78-L] Old Geezers

Fri Mar 23 14:25:48 PDT 2012

I personally want to hear the music (or whatever) as close as possible 
to whatever the musicians heard in the studio when the record was being 
made.

But Philip brings up a good point to consider, that most records had 
more sound recorded in them than could be reproduced on contemporary 
playback machines.

joe salerno

On 3/23/2012 1:12 PM, Philip Carli wrote:
> Also, sometimes you can hear _too much_ listening to early records on modern machines.  Interesting as it is, do I really want to hear W. H. Squire banging the microphone in his recording of the Saint-Saens concerto with Harty only slightly (on the Credenza) or very loudly (with modern equalization or on an all-out transfer).  Engineers depended on contemporary playback helping them out, to a certain extent. PC
> ________________________________________
> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com [78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] on behalf of David Lennick [dlennick at sympatico.ca]
> Sent: Friday, March 23, 2012 2:00 PM
> To: 78-L Mail List
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Old Geezers
>
> But many electricals sound wonderful when played on a Credenza. and many
> acousticals turn up looking pretty clean if the original owner was diligent
> about changing the needles.
>
> dl
>
> On 3/23/2012 1:53 PM, neechevoneeznayou at gmail.com wrote:
>> I guess it really depends on your objective. Do you want to hear as much
>> of the sound of the records as possible? Play on a modern phonograph
>> with proper equalization. If you want to hear the sound of the
>> phonographs themselves, play on those.
>>
>> Steel needles tend to wear the records out and track at very high
>> weights. The records wear faster than when played on a modern
>> lightweight player.
>>
>> Stop using steel needles when you want to make your records last as long
>> as possible. If they are old worn out records anyway and you want to
>> show off the phonos, or if you want to buy records just for that
>> purpose, proceed. Back when I had some machines I played anything on
>> them that I did not perceive as being a valuable record.
>>
>> Also, electrically recorded records will not realize their full
>> potential played on an acoustical machine.
>>
>> joe salerno
>>
>>
>> On 3/22/2012 9:48 PM, Matthew Balcerak wrote:
>>> I'm 25, and definitely a lurker.  I am full of "stupid questions" but I
>>> usually try to get them answered elsewhere before I bother this esteemed
>>> body.
>>>
>>> On that note, I have one for you all.  I have not discovered a definitive
>>> answer about steel needles.  I have a variety of different gramophone, and
>>> of course a modern turntable.  I've read: acoustic recordings sound better
>>> with medium tone needles, electric recordings with soft tone, and if you
>>> want you can mix and match for loudness however you want.  Using that as a
>>> rule of thumb has been great for all my early records.  However, when do I
>>> have to stop using steel needles and only use an electric pickup?  Thus
>>> far, if the record hasn't been orthophonic (or one of their breed) or
>>> before, I've kept it off a gramophone.  Everything afterword, I've used a
>>> modern turntable.  I know they produced gramophones well into the forties,
>>> and in some countries into the sixties.  Does this mean I can throw my
>>> later Chinese records onto a gramophone and be OK?
>>>
>>> Also, is it different for different labels?  Do bluebirds handle better on
>>> gramophones than okehs?  I have read that records have a grinding agent in
>>> the opening grooves to make the steel needles ideal for the individual
>>> record.  When did they stop doing this?  Will this grinding agent effect a
>>> modern turntable stylus?
>>>
>>> Essentially, with at least fifty years of play time ahead of me, I don't
>>> want to leave my grand kids with a bunch of old coasters.
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>>
>
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-- 
Joe Salerno