Re: [ARSCLIST] Stereo records.

[steven c <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Olhsson" <olh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> phillip holmes <insuranceman@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >Many mastering engineers would sum the low bass to mono.  The good ones
also
> >have an oscilloscope to look out for hot out of phase signals.
>
> I'd like to correct this because I see it turning into a common
misconception about how vinyl records were mastered.
>
> I have attended numerous mastering sessions with the handful of engineers
who accounted for 90% of the titles on the Billboard charts between 1970 and
1990. I can't remember a single instance that this technique was employed.
Yes, Neumann mastering consoles had a switch that sums the low-end at
several frequencies however this doesn't mean that people used it very
often. Also stock Neumann mastering consoles didn't have a very good
reputation for sound quality so in many cases all of the active circuitry
had been replaced. Finally, virtually everybody mixing and mastering major
label releases had a scope running by 1970 and most of us still use one
every day.
>
> The reason we made "hot" 45s in the '60s was exactly the same reason we
are seeing "hot" CDs today.
>
> The biggest challenge to every record company has always been getting
records into the stores and then getting people into those stores to buy
them. This almost always entails a series of meetings where the first 15 to
thirty seconds of a large stack of new releases gets played and immediately
added to the "keepers" or tossed in the wastebasket. Levels that are "too
low" relative to the competition put your record at a huge disadvantage in
this process.
>
As well, the primary medium for promoting 45's were AM-radio "Top 20" (later
Top 40) stations...who preferred "ear-catching" recordings (IIRC, there may
have been some FCC interest into how this was being done?).

These days, the average (young) CD buyer wants the overpowering bass that
can be heard for a few hundred feet away from his (usually) "tuned" motor
car...with the windows rolled up! I would assume "pop" CD's are equalized
accordingly?

However, when we wind up with an entire generation of middle-agers who
are as deaf as posts...

Steven C. Barr