John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part II

[Pano]

Originally Posted by SY

Just curious, have there ever been any D2D orchestral performances that were exciting? Within the genres I favor, I can't think of any jazz D2Ds that I'd listen to more than once.

Wasn't everything before the second war D2D? And everything before the first war D2D acoustic? No good performances recorded from 1878 to 1945?

[john curl]

Ed is busy doing 'honest' work at the moment, so it may be awhile.

[SY]

Originally Posted by Pano

Wasn't everything before the second war D2D? And everything before the first war D2D acoustic? No good performances recorded from 1878 to 1945?

Sure- with very limited dynamics and pretty awful sound. Modern (post 1970, say) D2D? Just the opposite- some inspired sound, flabby music.

[ThorstenL]

Hi,

Originally Posted by Pano

Wasn't everything before the second war D2D? And everything before the first war D2D acoustic? No good performances recorded from 1878 to 1945?

Germany developed "high Fidelity" tape recordings from before through WW2 together with other rather exceptional Audio technologies.

First high fidelity stereophonic recordings took place in Germany in '43, possibly '42. On some of the recordings you supposedly can hear the AckAck going off in the background, but the Orchestra played on, single take as well, fuer fuehrer, volk und vaterland (I am being ironic).

Monitored via 2-Way coincident (not just coaxial, but also timealigned and pulse coherent) Speakers driven from "Current Source" open loop amplifiers.

Microphones where those 1" Neumann ones Scott is so fond of. Electronics Telefunken/TAB.

The recordings I have come across transferred to CD are quite something.

One might almost say that in the 60 Years hence not a lot of real progress has been made and we are back where it all started so many years ago in Berlin...

Ciao T

[Pano]

Thanks TL. But basically tape recording and editing wasn't common until after the war, right? Only sound on film was commonly edited before that.

[jlsem]

Originally Posted by ThorstenL

First high fidelity stereophonic recordings took place in Germany in '43, possibly '42. On some of the recordings you supposedly can hear the AckAck going off in the background, but the Orchestra played on, single take as well, fuer fuehrer, volk und vaterland (I am being ironic).

I have several cds and lps of those performances and the fidelity is fairly low and distortion is quite audible. On one you can hear the low rumble of anti-aircraft artillery in the distance, probably large caliber guns like the 12.8cm FlaK.

The funny part is on one of the records during the first movement you can hear a solitary, persistent coughing - it stops suddenly before the next movement begins. The joke was that the culprit was taken from the building and shot.

John

[john curl]

Tape recording was editable during WW2, and I can believe that it was used on occasion, BUT its real job was to record an actual performance, and play it back on AM radio, either at another time or from another city. It fooled the Allies, because they could not believe that there were recordings of such quality, and they seemingly heard a 'live' broadcast coming from a city that was recently bombed. This is what got the Americans interested in 'stealing' the technology after the war. This is Ampex history, in fact.

[ThorstenL]

Pano,

Originally Posted by Pano

Thanks TL. But basically tape recording and editing wasn't common until after the war, right? Only sound on film was commonly edited before that.

The old magnetic wire recordings could be edited in the same essential way as tape based on what I heard (with difficulty, buy cutting and splicing), but I think major editing was not used until the 50's.

As I was not in the industry (or even alive in this particular corporeal incarnation, come to that) at the time that is based on hear-say and guess-work.

As for the quality of these tapes... They where very degraded when converted. Unlike non-biodegradable Seedees, tape does not age well.

Ciao T

[scott wurcer]

Originally Posted by ThorstenL

Microphones where those 1" Neumann ones Scott is so fond of. Electronics Telefunken/TAB.

I don't recall stating a preferece. I have a great photo of one in "use" in 1943, but I'm afraid it might offend certain sensibilities. Instead....

[scott wurcer]

Originally Posted by jlsem

I have several cds and lps of those performances and the fidelity is fairly low and distortion is quite audible. On one you can hear the low rumble of anti-aircraft artillery in the distance, probably large caliber guns like the 12.8cm FlaK.

The funny part is on one of the records during the first movement you can hear a solitary, persistent coughing - it stops suddenly before the next movement begins. The joke was that the culprit was taken from the building and shot.

John

I agree the CD transfers of the magnetophon recordings I have have a lot of distortion and other defects. A question would be, are they directly from the originals?

BTW my father was on the other end of that flak.