78s

[tom ball <havaball@xxxxxxx>]

>
>>   Im not an expert but recording at the "wrong " speed can produce the out of
>>   tune effect..or does it just alter the key?  I have heard recordings that
>>   are in say " Eb and a 1/2"..
>>

______________

Some pre-WWII 78s were actually recorded for (and
meant to be played back on) machines from 66-90 RPM (although usually
68-84.)  And since most folks' turntables are not capable of
accurately revolving at those speeds, the resultant musical keys can
be way off.  But since this is a postwar list, it should be noted
that most postwar 78s were designed to be played at 78RPM.

IMHO the problems more often occur in remastering the music for
another format -- i.e. when an engineer is attempting to convert 78s
to LP, CD, etc.  Of course there are folks out there who are
brilliant at this (John R.T. Davies comes to mind,) and equipment
that can be quite helpful when operated by knowledgeable engineers
(CEDAR, NoNoise, etc,) but in many cases the new engineer either a)
fails to reference the recording properly to its' exact original key;
or b) EQs the crap out of the high and low musical information by
heavy-handed blanket filtration; or c) fails to use the proper stylii
(ie truncated) when playing the 78 for remastering.

As a result, some new CD reissues feature songs that are not only in
ambiguous (and in some cases impossible) keys, but also are sonically
hampered by unnecessary compression, limitation and/or gating -- or
just plain incompetence.

But then, like everything else, it's a learning curve <shrug>  -- I
reckon in most cases the CD reissues of 2003 are far superior
sonically to the reissue LPs from the 50s.

Perhaps in the future somebody will actually figure out a way to even
make a CD that sounds as good as a 78?  :)

cheers,

Tom Ball
Santa Babs

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