Sound And The Story (1956)

Motzart

I found this on another forum and it's wicked kewl!
Just had to share with you old stereophiles out there.

Old Movie on how RCA 'In Living Stereo' Vinyl records were made!

Sound And The Story (1956)
http://www.archive.org/details/SoundAndTheS

IF I have posted this in the wrong place moderator my apologies.
Wasn't sure where to place it?

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TroyD

I've got a bunch of the RCA Living Stereo LP's....LOVE 'em. Those and the old Mercury Living Presence....

BDT

Ricardo

That is an excellent movie. Thanks for sharing.

TNRabbit

I have a Ravel SACD made from one of the "living stereo" recordings...cool link!

engtaz

Thanks for the link.

Motzart

Thanx!
I thought it was way cool!
Don't see full length vids from back then very often.
Especially one that shares a common interest like Records/Music!

hoosier21

man that brought back some memories.

My Dad worked for CBS records for 38 some years, I did for 5 years, my wife and sister did for around 12. Amazing how the mfg process advanced so little from this 56 film to what I saw in late 80s early 90s.

Motzart

With records making a comeback.....probably fully automated now?

[Deleted User]

Excellent, thank you!

adam2434

Neat! Thanks!

Makes you appreciate the skill and care that went into making good recordings of the time, on what many may view as primitive equipment.

The conductor smoking in the sound room - classic for that era!

Huck344

That was really cool. I never knew how they made records. Thanks for posting this link.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
The man sitting at the table beside the recording engineer is Jack Pfeiffer, a well know record producer for RCA. He's responsible for the superb Living Stereo series. Notice the six channel mixer is only using three mic channels for right and left. That complete orchestra was recorded with three widely spaced omnidirectional microphones. The secret is knowing where to place them for best results. No gain riding, once the levels were set they were left alone. Today they use four mics on the drums alone. If you don't have a 24 track studio nobody's going to use you. Those tape recorders are Ampex two complete setups in case one of the decks had problems. Anybody know what the mics are?
I wish I had a shopping cart and 30 minutes alone in that vault room.
Cheers, Ken

schwarcw

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

Anybody know what the mics are?
QUOTE]

Telefunken or Electrovoice, ribbon mikes

[Deleted User]

Hello,
I'm still working on trying to nail down the specific microphones being used. At the time RCA was partial to Neumann U-47 and M-49 and M-50 but they don't appear to be any of those.
However, I have made some progress in the speakers being used as monitors. Those were RCA LC-1A speakers designed by Harry Olson and the cabinet type shown in the movie were called the "furnace" style. They were a two way design using a 15" woofer. Evidently the speakers were sold commercially with various wood cabinets. They were described as a bit "loose" in the bass (might be why they had them on stools to even out the bass response) but clear and detailed sounding in the mid range and treble.
After looking at the clip a few more times I believe it was being done with just two microphones. The tape recorder seems to be an Ampex 300 with Ampex 350 record electronics, vacuum tubes.
Thanks for the microphone suggestions, I'll keep digging. Let me explain why this is so interesting to me, if I might. Whenever I listen to a recording, no matter if it's coming off a record or a tape (or CD or SACD) I play a little mental game, with myself, to enrich the experience. I try and imagine the entire process, from the musicians showing up at the recording venue to the final product that ends up in my hands. All of the steps along the way are important. The more detailed information I can have the better I can imagine what I'm hearing. The next time you begin listening to something, look at the information that comes with it. Sort out the number of musicians, think about what went on during the recording. Were they a working group or a pickup band? Did everybody know each other and there was lots of chatting before the recording began? If you can begin building up a mental picture of the event then, I find anyway, that the final listening becomes more involved and stronger. If you practice this a little bit you can start to see, in your mind's eye, an actual musical event. The better the recording and the more information the record's packaging tells you the stronger an impression of the actual event will become.
That's why that video clip is so cool, you can actually begin to reconstruct events and get inside the process from the images captured by the camera.
Enjoy, Ken

AudioGenics

We (my Dad also RCA Sarnoff engineer) had a Ampex half track and all tube electronics.
Still have the microphone preamplifier again tubes.
the electronics were hand wired.
don't remember any circuit boards
I'll have to get a picture next time I am visiting.
Used Electro-voice microphones.... had to be absolutely silent
sound proof otherwise it would be picked up in the recording
there forever.

SCompRacer

Ken, don't they look like RCA KU-3A's?

http://www.coutant.org/ku3a/index.html

SCompRacer

....

mmadden28

I like--Thanks

[Deleted User]

Thanks, Scomp!
Those are single direction microphones, not omnidirectional that means less rear hall ambient information will be recorded. So, those early recordings will have a more dry sound, less reverberant quality.
Something I just thought of. Since the mics are very widely spaced there sound be quite a bit of opposite channel information exchanged between the two mics. This would contribute to good SDA effects. The SDA technology is revealing what is different between the right and left channel. The sounds picked up by the left microphone not only are the sounds of the left side of the orchestra but the slightly delayed sounds produced by the right side of the orchestra. The same happens to the right microphone, it gets the right hand part of the grouping plus a delayed sub-layer of left side information. If the mics were closer together the delay time between direct and distance information becomes less and the result would be a dilution of the SDA information.
SDA owners listening to this recording could remove the negative speaker connections form both right and left channels and hear what just the SDA part of the signal sounds like. Interesting.
Enjoy, Ken

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Some further digging. From what I gather this particular recording was not issued as a Living Stereo vinyl record. It was issued as an "LM" series monophonic record (in fact that's what the lady is listening to in the beginning) and a stereo two track tape. The later 1961 version, Munch made, was issued as a Living Stereo vinyl record but not the earlier 1956 recording. I've just ordered the CD made from the stereo master tape of the earlier recording (most reviewers prefer the earlier recording's sound). Anyone interested in forming a listening exchange? I'd be happy to send the CD on to another person who, in turn, sends it on to another listener.
Cheers, Ken