basilh
From:
United Kingdom
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Posted 24 Aug 2000 4:03 pm |
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Can anyone tell me when the FIRST commercial "STEREO" record went on sale to the public, and what it was ?
Have you noticed that on the early stereo recordings of country ( Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline etc.) that the backing is on the left and the vocals are on the right ? Why ?, and when did producers start to use a more "Realistic" Stereo Image ?
I think I know why and how the left and right channels were decided upon regarding the Stylus' movement and electrical configuration, but I am at a loss to know why early records had the backing on one side and the vocals on the other.
As I understand it, "Mono" records had a groove that vibrated the stylus horizontally, this was decided to be the "Left" side of Stereo and the information from the vertical movement became the "Right" hand channel. The Colour code was originally decided to be "Green = Left" and "Red = Right"
Am I correct in my belief ?
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Basil Henriques
Emmons D-10
and
Emmons D-10
1949 "Leilani"
RICKENBACKER "Olde Uglie" Twin 8
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Bill Crook
From:
Goodlettsville, TN , Spending my kid's inheritance
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Posted 25 Aug 2000 6:51 am
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Basilh...
Please don't hold me as for this being the exact truth !!
Yes, in the beginning, The stylis movement was in a vertical directional only. A very crude cartrige system was avalable at that time frame. This allowd only for a monoral sound only as there was only 1 axis of movement/change of the stylis.
I believe this is the way things were done in the beginning of stero recordings with the 45's and 33 RPM records.
1) The rythm(sp?) stuff, drums,bass,etc was always put on the left channel.
2) The guitar stuff, Lead,Steel, was always onn the right channel.
3) The lead singer, was always in the middle of the sound.
The reasoning behind this is:
In the early days, when one heard a song being sung/played, in a live situation, the band players were placed left and right according, with the singer in the middle. Therefore, record producers attempted to retain what the audience was hearing.
Next....
The physical make up of a stero phono cartrige, has 2 axis of movement. X & Y, approx 45 degree of each other, (This could really get long winded here but we will shorten it a bit) Therefore, the designers come up with a formular known as "L-R,R-L". When one canceled out the other, the results was the middle channel,where they placed the singer !!
The colour code you mentioned, is the results of the electronic industry,who had to have a define the "left" and "right", used a colour code for the wires from the stero cartrige to the amp. The 3rd/4th wire was generally black or white to indicate the ground or return line. This colour code allowed all repair shops to correctly assign the "left" and "right" sides of a audio system when replaceing a cartrige.
Now for a bit of trickery....
using a stero record, if one should remove the return wire/s from the cartrige, leaveing only the left and the right channel wires, this has a nice feature of basically removeing the middle channel from the sound, (remember L-R,R-L) therefore leaveing you with only the backup stuff. This was used by many of us in the early days to make practics tapes and such when we wanted to remove the singer/front man from the mix. ( this can still be used in todays stero recordings, eventho they are on CD's and such by a simply operation)
Boy, am I showing my age here or not???? 
Anyway, all this drival is the results of my early years as an electronics tech, durning the 60's and 70's. Too bad that many of our younger techs haven't had the oppertunity to play with the ventage stuff and learn how things really work. I talk with them every now and then,only to realize that they don't have a clue as to how the toys work. They are board changers only. Too bad the employers are more interested in makeing a profit by requireing todays techs to produce X number of units a day for money than allowing them to learn and understand the beast.
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Rich Paton
From:
Santa Maria, CA.,
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Posted 25 Aug 2000 9:39 pm
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B; This is a little off the subject, but...
Long ago I had a VERY expensive when new (I paid $4 for it at a garage sale...broken tape monitor switch, no sound) Hi-Fi receiver, made by an excellent but now defunct company called "Madison-Fielding".
It had seperate AM and FM tuning dials, with both bands selectable at the same time, and level matching provisions for the two radio bands.
At the time, (mid-late fifties?), before "FM-Multiplex" stereo transmission and reception was developed and a standard was adopted for it, "simulcast" stereo transmissions of live classical music performances were broadcast in such manner, in some large metropolitan areas. One channel was broadcast on AM, one channel on FM.
I have read that this new technological wizardry was quite a sensation at the time.
I have Microsoft "Media Player 7" now. Is that a technological contrast, or what? Actually...compared to the sound quality of a lot of internet sound material I've heard, I think the old way may have sounded better, LOL!
Interesting thread! |
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