SH Spotlight Difference in early 1930's recording techniques. Isham Jones & his Orchestra BRUNSWICK vs. VICTOR

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Jan 3, 2018.

  1. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Yes, probably the hottest recording of 1926. (Hottest in two meanings!)
     
  2. onlyacanvasky

    onlyacanvasky Your guess is as good as mine.

    Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Fred Astaire was pounding a platform with his feet in a recording that still rattles the windows today.



    Unfortunately I can’t find a really good transfer on YT, this was recorded in London for Columbia using the Western Electric system but not released in the USA. There’s a good transfer on Pearl if anyone’s interested.

    Enjoy the little chat with George Gershwin too!
     
  3. onlyacanvasky

    onlyacanvasky Your guess is as good as mine.

    That mirror must have been pegged right at the back of its enclosure during that and the Erskine Tate sides!
     
  4. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Brunswick/Vocalion quickly got rid of the LIGHT RAY system in 1927 when they could get the Western Electric system in their "Recording Labs." At least they got a volume control.
     
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  5. onlyacanvasky

    onlyacanvasky Your guess is as good as mine.

    By mid-1928 their system was working quite well - but they still couldn’t quite contain Gene Krupa! This is another one I’ve got on an Aussie laminated pressing from the original Brunswick metal, superb stuff.

     
  6. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    The alternate take.
     
  7. onlyacanvasky

    onlyacanvasky Your guess is as good as mine.

    There was an alternate?
     
  8. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    3 of each number recorded. Always.
     
  9. onlyacanvasky

    onlyacanvasky Your guess is as good as mine.

    Oh yes, safety takes etc, but I didn’t know that an alternate of that one had made it into the wild as it were!
     
  10. crispi

    crispi Vinyl Archaeologist

    Location:
    Berlin
    Are those two-track stereo, even?
     
  11. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    That's what I read, as hard as it is to believe! Of course, there are experimental stereo recordings from war-torn Berlin, in which distant artillery can be heard.

    In the cadenza and some quiet passages you can hear the artillery from outside the RRG-building (2´30"+, 5´40"+). For me this is just unbelievable, a historical document and an impressive testimonial against war. Historic Stereo-Recording from 1944 with Walter Gieseking as soloist and Arthur Rother and the Großes Berliner Rundfunkorchester. 2009 we can celebrate the 65th anniversary of stereophonic tape recordings. So I thought it might be interesting to upload a few recordings that Mr. Helmut Krüger made at the RRG in Berlin in the early 40´s with the AEG-Telefunken K7 stereo tape recoder (Krüger was nicknamed by his radio colleagues Krüger-Krüger, in witty reference to his habit to record everything in stereo). After the soviets brought the complete RGG-archive to Moscow in 1945 unfortunately from the hundreds of Stereo recordings only a handful found their way back to Berlin. And in a very bad condition. The over 60 years old tape was transfered directly to digital equipment w i t h o u t any processing.

     
  12. RobCos02330

    RobCos02330 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mass
    Thank you for this! How could anyone not love this stuff? These are historical documents!
     
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  13. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Try it with headphones, you will be amazed. WWII in stereo.
     
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  14. crispi

    crispi Vinyl Archaeologist

    Location:
    Berlin
    I know that recording. Goosebump stuff. Real stereo from 1944.

    In talking to a friend of mine who's a big classical music connoisseur, he told me he thinks that the claim that “hundreds” of stereo recordings have been made in Berlin 1944-1945 is implausible. The reason being that if there would have been money to be made from those recordings by the Soviets, they would have definitely surfaced. Improper storage and/or destruction of the tapes is also plausible, but why? I'm not sure what the story is here. It would have meant also hundreds of tapes made over hundreds of days. Not sure how likely that was/is during a time of war.

    Here is another source claiming the same number:
    Missing German stereo tapes from World War II - Anton Bruckner
     
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  15. adad

    adad Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego
    That WWII video linked me to this 1932 recording. Is this true stereo? If so, how was it done?
    That WWII recording sounds great.
     
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  16. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Two wax turntables each with a different microphone. Sync'd up a zillion years later.
     
  17. thrivingonariff

    thrivingonariff Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    Say what?! :tiphat:
     
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2018
  18. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    In other words, an optical soundtrack.
     
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  19. thrivingonariff

    thrivingonariff Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    That's some cool $#!+ for 1920s recording tech!
     
  20. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Fox Film Co. started using the same process in 1927 for Fox Movietone News. Sound on Film, eventually all studios switched to it by 1930. The Vitaphone sound on disk method was forever obsolete.
     
  21. PooreBoy

    PooreBoy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lake City, TN
    I really love the history of recorded music. It really gives you a better appreciation of all the hard work and effort that went into these older recordings.
    I remember from watching the Tom Dowd documentary when he first got into recording. They were only using one mic at the time, and he said he couldn't hear the bass if I remember correctly. So he came in and started adding mics for each of the instruments so they could be heard.
    I find it all fascinating.
     
  22. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Yes, a perfect example of going too far in the opposite direction.
     
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  23. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    Ellington collector/expert Steven Lasker discovered in the early '80s that there was more than one disc of the same performance, and that the balances of the two recordings were very different. He synced them - in the analog domain! - and created a stereo effect. I'm pretty sure it has since been re-done with digital technology.

    This is the original 1984 LP release, which I have:

    [​IMG]
     
  24. The Wanderer

    The Wanderer Seeker of Truth

    Location:
    NYC
    1931 - I love this sound so very much
     
  25. stereoguy

    stereoguy Its Gotta Be True Stereo!

    Location:
    NYC


    I believe it was Theodore Case who invented the process and licensed it to Fox.
     

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