[78-L] Soundstream Caruso sources.

[Ryan Wolfe]

If they used commercial pressings, I'd like to know how they did such a good job mitigating the end of side shrillness / inner groove distortion that some of those records seem to always have, like the long (with recitative) Celeste Aida, or when Caruso ends on a big note.   The side ends sound virtually as clean as the opening grooves, which is something I appreciate.

I have the Legendary Performer Caruso LP as well the John McCormack one that used Soundstream, and found little real technical detail in either.


________________________________
 From: Royal Pemberton <ampex354 at gmail.com>
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com> 
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 11:44 AM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Soundstream Caruso sources.
 
I have the A LEGENDARY PERFORMER LP that used Stockham/Soundstream
transfers.  There's a photo of lots of the equipment used (but nothing is
listed); one item I recognise is a Dynaco PAS 3X tube preamp.  For those
here not familiar with it, there are three high-gain inputs, one designated
'phono' which is RIAA for magnetic cartridges, one designated 'tape head'
for NAB 7 1/2 ips playback of pre-recorded reels from tape transports with
only a repro head but no internal electronics, and the third, called
'special', which (depending on how the builder wires it) can be configured
as a second RIAA input, a flat input for microphones, or with a '78'
equalisation (so they described it).

Makes me wonder how they wired and used it....too much rumble may have been
from using the RIAA inputs in addition to wrong-headed EQ after the fact....

On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 7:10 PM, Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com> wrote:

> Thomas Stockham began the project completely independent of RCA in the
> early 70s.  I agree with Michael Shoshani that most recordings seem to
> be sourced from shellac pressings, not metals or vinyl test pressings.
> The REAL shocker is the one demo of the process where the comparison is
> made to a copy that appears to have been used for 50 years as a paving
> stone, but it is obvious that this is not the copy that was used for
> processing.
>
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Soundstream Caruso sources.
> From: Ryan Wolfe <nextset4 at yahoo.com>
> Date: Thu, February 28, 2013 1:58 pm
> To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
>
> Yes, there is still plenty of surface noise on a lot of them.   But some
> are really clean  and also have this slight metallic scrape that could
> also be just the effect of the processing I suppose.
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: Michael Shoshani <michael.shoshani at gmail.com>
> To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 10:43 AM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Soundstream Caruso sources.
>
> On 02/28/2013 12:30 PM, Ryan Wolfe wrote:
> > The Caruso subjects here have led to something that I have long been
> wondering about.
> >
> > What were the  sources used for the bulk of the Victor material in the
> 1976 Thomas Stockham / Soundstream restorations?
> >
> >  I've heard  that they used metal masters and I've heard that they  just
> used regular commercial pressings.  The CD box set claims 'Original Victor
> Talking Machine Co. Master Recordings.'
> >
>
>
> One would presume that even in the various purgings of metal parts over
> the decades that Victor and successors would have kept and preserved any
>
> metals they had from Caruso. And if they didn't, certainly the metal
> parts that were sent to HMV would have been preserved.
>
> That being said, there's so much scratch on the Soundstream versions
> that I'm almost 100% certain that they were sourced from commercial
> pressings.
>
> Michael Shoshani
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