[ProAudio] Fwd: Re: FeralA - Recordings released encoded with Dolby A

[Glenn Meadows]

Missed sending to the list.

--- Forwarded message ---
From: Glenn Meadows gmeadow at comcast.net
Date: February 9, 2020 5:33:38 PM
Subject: Re: [ProAudio] FeralA - Recordings released encoded with Dolby A
To: Richard L. Hess lists at richardhess.com

> That was not uncommon. With mixing in different studios, non servo tension 
> decks, azimuth can easily vary from the master tones. I would always check 
> azimuth from song to song, and adjust each as I cut master. I put a flag on 
> the azimuth tool, and would mark how it pointed on each song. Then studer 
> issued head blocks with an azimuth knob with a scale on top.
>
> One other missing point, is speed. I worked for years with Ronnie Milsapy, 
> who has absolute perfect pitch. He was always bothered on his early albums 
> before I worked with him, on slight pitch differences from song to song. 
> This was in the days of Ampex 440 and 350 machines, with no servo tension 
> control.
>
> A song mixed at the end of a reel, that got sequences to the front of the 
> album would likely play at a slightly different subtle pitch change. Drove 
> him crazy.
>
> He got permission from his label, RCA, to supervise the archive transfer of 
> his catalog to digital, so we would vso each track to the correct pitch. It 
> was very subtle and he had a pitch tone generator he would use to match 
> pitch. There were some tracks that we woukd even tweak through the song. 
> One song at a time, probably 12 albums worth.
>
> There are so many subtle variances in the whole analog recording chain that 
> become very subjective.
>
> I'm posting a separate discussion on the Dolby situation, several relevant 
> stories there as well.
>
> Glenn Meadows
>
> On February 9, 2020 2:56:32 PM "Richard L. Hess via ProAudio" 
> <proaudio at bach.pgm.com> wrote:
>
>> The problem, Scott, with CD reissue vs LP vs single is that the CD
>> reissue is often the most pristine copy available, even if it's mangled
>> a bit. That is why in the next issue of the DHNDRD DA decoder we're
>> going to include the FeralA processing in the software (as an option)
>> and more information in the manual as to how to use it. It is another
>> tool in the toolbox for cleaning up reissues if there is available funding.
>>
>> I hated the Man of LaMancha OoBC CD and loved (and had a very worn) LP.
>> At one point I wondered if the master tape was AME, but it turns out
>> most of the difference was that the LP was professionally mastered and
>> the CD wasn't. I was able to fairly quickly re master it to be more
>> pleasing and more like the LP.
>>
>> As you may know I'm a big Judy Collins fan and at one point, when Alan
>> Silverman was doing reissues of the original Elektra albums, I offered
>> him a clean transfer from LP of Judy Collins/3. He ended up re-mastering
>> it as the tape to him didn't sound anything like the LP copy I sent
>> him...and since it was one of my favourite albums, I knew what it
>> sounded like and the still-sealed LP I scarfed up in the 1990s sounded
>> as good as the earlier ones. Also, a funny story, the tones at the head
>> of that master tape caused Alan a bit of a challenge...the azimuth of
>> the tone didn't match the azimuth of the audio!
>>
>> Richard
>>
>> On 2020-02-09 3:07 p.m., Scott Dorsey wrote:
>>> Richard, don't ever trust cd reissues.  The original single is canon,
>>> everything else is supposed to sound like that.
>>>
>>> So many CD reissues have been so horribly bungled over the years, and
>>> especially in the eighties when the big labels were cranking out back
>>> catalogue product as quickly as they possibly could without much care
>>> in the transfer, one should not expect a reissue to be competent unless
>>> it is otherwise proven to be so.
>>>
>>> I have a Beatles CD around here where a full-track tape was played back
>>> on a stereo machine without setting the azimuth up properly, so you can
>>> hear the delay on one speaker.  Sheesh.  The LEAST they could do would
>>> be a mono sum if they didn't have the right headstack available....
>>> --scott
>>
>> --
>> Richard L. Hess                   email: richard at richardhess.com
>> Aurora, Ontario, Canada           http://www.richardhess.com/
>> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
>> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
>>
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