[ARSCLIST] Fwd: [ARSCLIST] Can 78s sound better than LPs?

[Don Tait <Dontaitchicago@xxxxxxx>]

  Regarding mid-twenties 78s and their recording venues, I came across some 
remarkable things a few years ago.

  Someone told me, or I read, that some Paul Whiteman and orchestra Victor 
78s had been made in Chicago's Orchestra Hall on the same day (December 21 or 
22, 1926) that Victor had made some records with Frederick Stock and the Chicago 
Symphony. Three ten-inch Victor sides. Then by a coincidence, Kurt Nauck 
offered them on his list and I got them.

  They are astounding sonically. This is Orchestra Hall (before the 1966 
catastrophic "renovation," which wrecked it sonically). The sound is similar to 
the CSO sides recorded the same day in 1926, just more spacious.

  Don Tait

On Friday 25 August 2006 23.34, steven c wrote:

> During virtually all of the "78 era," recording studios were designed in
> such a way as to virtually eliminate echo and reverberation...which
> produced an acoustically "dead" sound (though that few who noticed had
> no idea why!). This leaves our minds with the idea "this doesn't sound
> right!" since even echo-free stereo is lacking a dimension!
>
> As a comparison...locate and play a copy of "Freshie" by Waring's
> Pennsylvanians c.1925-26! For whatever reason, this was recorded
> in a studio that was acoustically "live" (echoes were allowed!).
> When I first played this record, I was almost convinced it was
> stereo...the difference is that striking!

I believe there was a period in the mid 1920s in which records were made in 
more acoustically "live" studios, just because a) they *could*, and b) to 
give a more "lifelike" reproduction through the exponential horn acoustic 
machines of the day.

Waring's Pennsylvanians recorded for Victor during that period, and if that 
record is "live" it was most likely recorded at Liederkranz Hall, which was 
known for its reverberant acoustics. Victor used that studio extensively in 
the 1920s and early 30s, but rival Columbia later bought the building.

Victor 20675 featured an A side with Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra 
playing "Me And My Shadow", featuring a vocal chorus by Johnny Marvin, and a 
B side with Jean Goldkette and his Orchestra playing "I'm Gonna Meet My 
Sweetie Now". The former side is awash in echo and I believe it was probably 
a Liederkranz recording; the second side is very "close" and dead, and was 
probably done in Victor's main studio complex in New York.

Michael Shoshani
Chicago