Al Jolson remasters, old recording studio thoughts and TECHNICOLOR!

8 thousand cycles? That is less fidelity than a cutter head from the 1930's could offer.

 

Ang, thats what he said. I think I still have the interview, it was in BOMP magazine, 99% sure I still have it.

 

Steve , would that have been a Westrex head? Or maybe a Grampion?

 

Wow. This I did not know.

Those guys were very "Hands On" at Goldstar, werent they?

You know, I was wondering. Besides the brief shots of Phil in Goldstar rehearsing Darlene that were in that Tv special, are there any more revealing videos or films of Goldstar in the 60s? Maybe some home movies
taken by the Stan or Larry? Would you know of any?

 

Well, yea, Steve, but it IS an interesting conversation!!

As for the Gold Star Movies, Holy Mackerall!! Please tell Stan and Dave and Larry that if they dump them to DVD, this kid from Brooklyn will pay any amount to buy a copy. I'd really like to see the console, the tape decks and all that. True history.

Does the 3 track console still exist?

And Stan is writing a book? when will that come out?

sorry to be such a pest! I love this "Recording History" stuff.....

 

Thank you Boss!!!


Boy, movies of Gold Star........I wont sleep tonight.

Mikey

 

Just wanted to add that although I have little interest in Al Jolson (never really cared for him actually), this thread has been a most fascinating read.

Hijack away!

 

I love Al Jolson, and wish for better reissues! The cheapo Laserlight was "produced by Rod McKuen," oddly...

 

That Jolson Story/Jolson Sings Again DVD news is fabulous! I've been waiting foever for them to make an appearance...

 

More thread hijacking

John Palladino remembered a little bit about the custom made for Capitol 201's. He said there were basically two changes. One was a modified head gap compared to a 200. I don't think he quite remembered the 2nd mod, but from what he was trying to tell me, what Mikey said above makes sense for the other modification.

John said that Capitol kept using the 201's for quite a while. He couldn't remember exactly when they changed to the 300, but seemed to think it was around the time Capitol moved into the (then new) Tower, though he wouldn't swear to it.

 

I have the Al Jolson Cee Dee below...not a bad track selection sound is OK...Not much available on Cee Dee from the Decca years...

 

Updated answer from the very helpful and friendly Jolson Society. Do MCA UK still hold the rights to Jolson stuff, I can t find any reference to him on their website ?

"Six of the eleven albums that we've digitally re-mastered are the Decca
albums released after the premier of the "Jolson Story". Unfortunately,
those had that reverb added by Decca to simulate stereo. (We did not use
any of the old 78s issued in the late 1940s.) We've eliminated that
"simulated stereo" effect, so the recordings sound as close to mono as
we're going to get using current technology.

Two of the other discs we've worked on, "Al Jolson with Oscar Levant at
the Piano" and "Overseas" were compiled from Kraft Music Hall radio
broadcasts. Those were not tampered with by the recording company by
adding reverb, so eliminating it was never an issue for us. Those are
mono.

I don't have an answer for you regarding the "World's Greatest
Entertainer", "The Immortal Jolson", and "Jolie". What I CAN tell you is
that if any of those recordings were ever doctored with by the record
companies that originally released them, Paul Bowers has worked hard to
make the songs sound as clean and pure as possible. The bottom line is
that some of the source materials we used were only available with that
reverb. Some of them were mono. We've removed the phony stereo sound
from those that had it (if not completely, as much as possible without
compromising the recordings in other ways) and made the original mono
sound as close to "live" as we can.
I hope these are better answers for you. They're the best answers I can
offer. If you like, send in an order for one of the CDs (or order
through the IAJS website) and hear how good they sound for yourself.
Anything else, let me know"

 

Thia one sounds pretty good and mono too ! Listen to the samples

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/prod...roduct_id=1586831&path=0:4104:4115:5079:22774

 

I'm an Al Jolson fan as well.

 

Al Jolson's recordings fall under the "50-year rule" in the UK, so in England, his material is in the public domain.

 

Which means that even if you buy an Al Jolson CD on labels such as ASV and Pearl Flapper, you will get the original recordings, John.

 

Sadly I purchased the above CD. It sounded fine over the internet , but the actual CD is noise reduced very heavily. SH said earlier stick to the mono records, and that's what I'm doing. There are items regularly on Ebay. I just bought 4 10inch Lp's made in 1949, and the sound is better than the CD.
Cheers
John

 

Another way to get very little NR if any is to get the UK PD CDs. I haven't been stung on one at all although the ASV Ernest Tubb CD does use NR quite a bit but still acceptable to me.

 

Not to thread hijack here, but wasn't The Godfather Part II the last major film to be shot using the three-strip Technicolor process?