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Re: [ARSCLIST] Sound--real vs. recorded--was: discography of "direct-to-disk revival"?
At 02:48 AM 9/24/2006, phillip holmes wrote:
As you state in the second article, the noise floor is surprisingly
low on this one recording I've listened to carefully. The whole
thing is startling that it worked so well (noise floor, speed
stability both seem very good). Frequency response seemed better
than the specs given by AEG. They sound as full range as early
American tape recordings. Did you look and see how high the
overtones went (and the lowest fundamentals present)?
Hello, Phillip,
As you know the signal-to-noise ratio is determined by the maximum
output level and the noise floor. The early tapes had very low
maximum output level but also very low self noise. It was a challenge
to set up a Sony APR-5000 to record on Magentophonband Typ L -- I had
a 2 dB trough in the mid-band I couldn't get out with the machine's
controls, so I just made a complementary curve in Samplitude. It was
really an odd feeling:
Playback started from Samplitude, recorded on a Sony APR-5000,
arguably the last great tape recorder to be designed (no relative
judgment of the APR vs. some of its predecessors, other than it falls
into the great tape recorder class) recording on the second major
tape type to be made, circa 1944.
The results were good, except the Magnetophonband Typ L would not
stand up to daily use--pinholes developed where oxide would literally
fall out of the PVC matrix. Too bad as we had wanted the Mullin
Magnetophon at the Pavek to play the 1947-10-01 "Philco Radio Time
With Bing Crosby" Show that was the first to air that had been
recorded and edited on tape in the U.S. -- playback from vintage tape
on one of the two machines that recorded it.
As to the frequency response, I checked some spectrum plots in a
PowerPoint I sometimes give
The 1944-09-29 stereo recording of the finale from the Bruckner 8th
Symphony in C minor recorded by Orchester der Berliner Staatsoper
conducted by von Karajan shows approximately 80-8K response. A 1946
recording, second generation shows about 63 - 10K response, with a
spike at 50 Hz due to ummm...you know. This is Robert Lawrence and
Lawrence Tibbett in Stuttgart 1946-07-19 mono. The Crosby tapes show
roughly the same 63-10K response (1947-10-01). Burl Ives from the
same period shows 50-12k5 response.
My next example of Gaite Parisienne from 1954 shows 20-20K -- Boston
Pops/RCA/Fiedler.
Interesting, 1958-03-03 Eastman Wind Ensemble, Fennel recording of
Leroy Anderson's Syncopated Clock shows 50-16K, but an excerpt from
the 1958 London "Ring" - Entry of the Gods into Valhalla shows a good
20-20K. 1963 Judy Collins #3 shows 63-16K but with some energy at 20 and 20K.
In addition to the Engel-Hammar article I've referred to,
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/history/Engel_Hammar--Magnetic_Tape_History.pdf
You might also enjoy looking at my AES paper on the transfers of
the first group of tapes.
http://www.aes.org/journal/suppmat/hess_2001_7.pdf
Cheers,
Richard
Richard L. Hess email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.