SH Spotlight What is an RCA-VICTOR Orthophonic recording?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by hoover537, Jun 6, 2004.

  1. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    They graded on an Orthophonic curve.
     
    bluedemon25 likes this.
  2. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Here is another great one before they dumbed down the sound.

     
  3. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    And this one, my oft-used example of a one mic Victor church recording.

     
  4. ella_swings

    ella_swings Forum Resident

    Just to be clear, "Orthophonic" really has nothing to do with the echo effect RCA Victor added in the 1950s to its 1920s, 30s, 40s recordings? For a long time I associated Orthophonic with "horrible echo effect".
     
  5. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    All I know is that the earliest use of the echo effect I'm familiar with is the following 45 RPM set from 1956, which states the "New Orthophonic" process was used. Now (assuming this is the first use of that effect), the question is whether RCA Victor considered the echo effect to be part of the "New Orthophonic" process or something they separately thought was a good thing to add.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Further the above, here's an LP from 1958 - one of my all-time favorite album covers, by the way - that has the echo effect added but no mention anywhere of the use of any Orthophonic process (new or otherwise).

    [​IMG]
     
    Shawn and EVOLVIST like this.
  7. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Three weeks later, it arrives. Great stuff! Glad it didn’t get lost in the mail.
     
  8. Interesting. There’s at least one Elvis Presley LP variant like that too. See the first entry on this web page:

    LPM-2011 A Date With Elvis | elvisrecords.com
     
    minkahed and misterjones like this.
  9. maxman

    maxman Forum Resident

    The clips Steve posted blew me away. I had no idea records from the 30s could sound like that. The history of RCA’s recording choices is fascinating—is there any literature that addresses this topic, or is has it mostly been passed down by word of mouth over time?
     
  10. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Word of mouth, sadly for the most part.
     
    maxman and McLover like this.
  11. P3ESRXD

    P3ESRXD Arnaud, still enjoying...with what I have

    Location:
    Montpellier France
  12. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Always a treat to hear this. So long ago and yet sounds so damn good.
     
  13. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Bumped by request.
     
  14. rewind1964

    rewind1964 Forum Resident

    Thankfully, there’s a wealth of information about where and when RCA recording sessions were held up until the 1950s.
    The DHAR archives and the research by John Bolig is mind boggling. Thank goodness many detailed Victor files survived.
    Nice breakdowns of who played on each session, the take number used and the session recording supervisor (Leonard Joy, Ed Kirkeby, Eli Oberstein, Fred Erdman, Harry Meyetson, Steve Sholes, etc) are usually identified.

    But does anyone know where to locate the names of the recording engineers who worked at Camden, Chicago, NYC & Hollywood from the 1920s until the 1950s?

    I’ve always been fascinated about the “forgotten” people who transcribed all of those thousands of recordings back in the pre-tape days.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2023
    bleachershane likes this.
  15. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Still so good sounding!
     
    bleachershane, hoover537 and fretter like this.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine