Re: [ARSCLIST] Sibilance removal

["Thomas H. Stern" <sternth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

why don't they buy the CD reissue?


D Basson wrote:

> Hi, Mike
>
> I'm doing the work for the local university's music library (University of
> Stellenbosch).  They don't want to make the LP available to students in
> order to preserve it.  Hence the digitalization of the LP.
>
> Diederick
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Richter" <mrichter@xxxxxxx>
> To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 5:01 PM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Sibilance removal
>
> > At 04:11 PM 6/17/2004 +0200, D Basson wrote:
> > >Hi, Mike
> > >
> > >Thanks very much for a very interesting reply!  The recordings were made
> in
> > >MONO.   The album, which was released by Columbia, consists of Weill's
> > >Berlin and American Theater Songs.
> >
> > >  AFAIK, only the
> > > > Dreigroschenoper was recorded in stereo.
> >
> > Yes, I have the two original issues on monaural LP - in fact, have
> > digitized them for my own enjoyment. IIRC, they will just about squeeze
> > into 80 minutes together. I do not recall the reissue, which I assume was
> > on LP. I phrased my observation about stereo as I did because I do not
> know
> > when Columbia began recording in stereo - other studios discovered only
> > decades after release that masters of monaural issues had been in stereo.
> >
> > There has been a tendency on both LP and CD reissues to attempt to
> > 'correct' the high-frequency limitations of typical LPs by peaking the
> > treble just beyond the rolloff. The result looks great when fed with sine
> > waves but is often disastrous with the human voice. (Decca/London has been
> > the worst in my experience, turning some of the great classical recordings
> > of the early stereo era into brittle, unlistenable trash.) If you want to
> > know whether that is a factor, send me your snailmail address privately
> and
> > I'll make you a copy of my digitizing. I will not suggest that it is of
> the
> > quality you need, but at least it is true to the sound of her voice on the
> > original LPs. Incidentally, any attempt to remove that peaking exacerbates
> > the problem since at best it corrects only amplitude.
> >
> > You have not indicated for whom you are doing the work; I assume that it
> is
> > not Columbia or they would have provided master tapes, not LPs (surely,
> > they have kept those). Working from a reissue means that a second engineer
> > has had an opportunity to "improve" the recording.
> >
> >
> > Mike
> > --
> > mrichter@xxxxxxx
> > http://www.mrichter.com/
> >
> >