Re: [ARSCLIST] Robert Johnson RPM debate

[Malcolm Rockwell <malcolm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

James -
I've read the arguments and heard the pitch shifted samples and say it's 
possible the recordings are pitched high. This would mean one of three 
things: 1) Robert really sang that way; 2) the material was recorded too 
slow; and/or 3) the final pitch was modified by dubbing prior to 
manufacture.

I tend to go with #1, mostly because I've always heard him the way he 
has been presented on LPs and CDs and my ear is used to that. The 
samples are interesting food for thought, though!

#2 is possible mostly because machines do run slow (there's very little 
homogenity of 78rpm recording speeds company to company, and session to 
session within the same company. Add that to playback speed variations 
and, well...). What was the power source in Dallas? 110 VAC? 120 VAC? Or 
was it DC voltage? If AC, was the frequency (usually 60 Hz) solid, or 
did it wander? What kind of motor did the portable recording lathe 
use... AC, DC or counter-weighted (mechanical)? There are just too many 
variables here.

#3 requires forethought and since there was seemingly so little of it in 
#2, I doubt this scenario. Producers are not going to agonize about this 
kind of thing; to them Robert was just another blues picker. But who 
knew what he'd become 60 years later or that any of this would matter?

Good luck with your research!
Mal Rockwell

*******

james mendenhall wrote:
> Hi, Arsclist
> I am doing research about the rpm debate of the Robert Johnson 
> recordings.
> Does anyone have any information for me?
> And, is this all speculation or has there been proof found that they 
> are indeed too fast?
>
> thanks
>
> james