From: IainNG@kolumbus.fi
"John Byrns" wrote in message
news:byrnsj-F7C384.13364215062011@news.giganews.com...
> In article ,
> "Iain Churches" wrote:
>
>> "Phil Allison" wrote in message
>> news:95qqa3Fl6lU1@mid.individual.net...
>>
>> Flipper
>> >>and a 40's transcription disc is NOT an 'LP' nor is it an LP master.
>> >
>> Phil
>> > ** But it is virtually the same and so has the same qualities.
>>
>> As different as chalk and cheese. Cutter head technology was
>> then still fairly primitive, most transcription discs (at least the
>> ones I have seen) were cut at fixed pitch with no radius compensation
>> so the sound quality deteriorated towards the centre of the disc.
>
> I'm not a disk cutting expert and don't know precisely what you mean by
> "radius
> compensation", however here in the USA at least RCA offered an accessory
> for
> their transcription lathes that changed the equalization towards the inner
> grooves, increasing the high frequencies to eliminate the high frequency
> losses
> at the inner grooves.
Hello John. Yes, that's what is known as radius compensation.
>
> Which reminds me that in all this talk about 1930s and 40s transcriptions
> vs.
> LPs it hasn't been mentioned that transcriptions were cut with "standard"
> grooves, while LPs were cut with "microgrooves".
I certainly metioned it.
Not only were they standard groove but fixed pitch too.
One can't be adamant as there were probably many different
ways of working around the world, but in the UK, transcriptions
made in the era we are talking about were either 33 1/3 or 16 rpm.
Variable pitch only really became standard practice with the
advent of tape machines with an advance playback head to feed
the servo motor.
On smaller earlier lathes, like the MSS I owned when a student,
it was possible to "open up" the pitch, manually by rotating a
small handle rather like the one fitted to wind-up gramophones.
It meant that you had to listen to the recording first, and, with
the aid of a stopwatch make a note of the loud passages.
In those days, most students of what we now call recording arts,
could read music, so if a score of the work was available,
it was quicker to mark it up in red pencil. Halcyon days!
> Also it is my understanding that for a number of years before the
> introduction
> of the LP, Columbia ran a transcription lathe in parallel with the
> mastering
> lathe for their 78s, and that many of the first LPs were cut from these
> transcription disks.
Interesting.
The big problem with transcriptions and masters is that they
had such a limited shelf life. At Decca, LP disk masters
were collected twice a day to be taken strasight to
the factory. No more master cutting was done after the 5pm
collection. We used to do practice and trial cuts in the
evenings in preparation for the next day. So there was always
considerable pressure to meet the schedules, and make sure
that the masters were ready, packed and "caught the van"
>
> Since Bing Crosby has been mentioned several times in connection with the
> development of tape technology, it is worth noting that the first year or
> so of
> Crosby's Philco Radio Time show, 1946 IIRC, was done on transcription
> disks
> while the tape machine was under development.
The story as I have always understood it, is that
Bing was always keen to embrace the latest technology.
He requested the use of transcription discs by NBC
for his broadcasts, and when his request was denied he
too a temporary respite from broadcasting.
Then, as a result of his work with Alexander Poniatov, the
founder of Ampex, Bing, now with ABC ,wanted to end
the use of transcription discs and use tape instead. At this
stage, only a very few machines had been built, but then
Crosby himself placed the initial large order which got
Ampex going as a commercial tape machine manufacturer.
He was not only a fine singer, but a very perceptive man.
Regards
Iain
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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