[78-L] Fake stereo

[Randy Watts]

If compact discs did nothing else, at least they prompted the eradication (well, mostly) of fake stereo. Fake stereo had become so pervasive before then that it was almost impossible to avoid it if you listened to material originally recorded in mono. Someone I used to know who worked for MCA in the '70s and early '80s told me it was company policy there at the time that, with rare exceptions, all mono masters were to be electronically rechanneled prior to release.
 
I can't tell that fake stereo ever had much sales appeal to the general public. In 1962-63, when the majors all began debuting electronic stereo, there were a fair number of releases from all of them. Back catalog mono titles reintroduced in fake stereo. By the mid '60s, though, the number of such releases had slowed way down, leading me to suspect that plastering "electronically re-recorded to simulate stereo" across the top of the cover wasn't motivating all that many people to rush out and re-buy these things, even though new reissues of mono material often got a fake stereo equivalent. Releases surged in 1967-68, though, when mono LPs were being deleted and companies were rushing to get fake stereo equivalents of top-selling mono catalog titles into print.
 
Funny what got chosen for rechanneling. In the early-mid '60s it seemed to have been a priority at Columbia that they rechannel as many Ken Griffin albums as possible. Go figure.
 
Some rechanneled stereo LPs can be made listenable. Others can't. Capitol's Duophonics are generally beyond redemption. Most fake stereo RCA's aren't far behind. Some rechanneled Mercury's, on the other hand, were thoughtful enough to restrict all the processing to a single channel, leaving the other in unmarred mono.
 
Not long ago I read an article in an early '60s issue of "High Fidelity" about fake stereo processors you could buy and plug into your system. One of them was branded "Duophonic." Why wait for Capitol's engineers to mutilate your favorite mono recordings when you can do it yourself, in the privacy of your own living room?
 
I once transferred an album for a friend. An RCA Victor Rudy Vallee, I believe, that was in electronic stereo. I had a mono copy of the album and transferred that, but didn't tell him. He was so impressed by how much better the CD-R sounded than the LP. There was still enough reverb on that LP for three albums, but at least it was mono.
 
Randy