dhc@petrus.UUCP (04/01/85)
OK netland, I spotted this item in Soundboard. Does anybody know anything about it? (Reprinted without permission) (Music News Service) STORRS, Ct., March 24, 1985--Julia Speakes, one of the pioneers of high-fidelity in the fifties, has emerged from retirement to announce the formation of "SemiSound, Inc.," a new ultra-fidelity label. SSI hopes to cater to the dedicated analog LP audiophile, an endangered species in the era of the digital compact disc. SSI plans to offer to the public the ultimate analog recording-- half-speed direct-to-disc LPs. "We won't just be offering the Chipmunks," Speakes said, "there are many instruments, particularly in the woodwind family, that can be played one octave below score, and sound natural when the playback speed is doubled." Speakes went on to observe that half-speed live recording will make it possible to capture performances of some of the most difficult music ever written, more accurately than the composer dreamed possible. Some critics have objected on the grounds that human composers were well aware of human performance limitations when putting notes to paper, and intended a certain rough-hewn quality in the performance. Speakes' recordings will be inhumanly, mechanically perfect.
herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong [DCS]) (04/02/85)
In article <7000001@petrus.UUCP> dhc@petrus.UUCP writes: > SSI plans to offer to the public the ultimate analog recording-- >half-speed direct-to-disc LPs. "We won't just be offering the >Chipmunks," Speakes said, "there are many instruments, particularly >in the woodwind family, that can be played one octave below score, >and sound natural when the playback speed is doubled." > > Speakes went on to observe that half-speed live recording will >make it possible to capture performances of some of the most difficult >music ever written, more accurately than the composer dreamed >possible. Some critics have objected on the grounds that human >composers were well aware of human performance limitations when >putting notes to paper, and intended a certain rough-hewn quality >in the performance. Speakes' recordings will be inhumanly, >mechanically perfect. half-speed direct-to-disk? is he advocating 16 2/3 rpm turntables? someone has loose screws or there's a lot of meaning lost in the translation. i personally favor 45 rpm for highest quality audiophile disks. Herb Chong... I'm user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble.... UUCP: {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!water!watdcsu!herbie CSNET: herbie%watdcsu@waterloo.csnet ARPA: herbie%watdcsu%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa NETNORTH, BITNET, EARN: herbie@watdcs, herbie@watdcsu
rfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) (04/02/85)
[] It's hard to stop laughing enuf to type... "Half speed mastered, direct to disc" wow! Best one I've heard all week! ;-) :-) :-) -- "It's the thought, if any, that counts!" Dick Grantges hound!rfg
lborsato@watdcsu.UUCP (L. Borsato - DCSU) (04/03/85)
> It's hard to stop laughing enuf to type... > "Half speed mastered, direct to disc" wow! Best one I've heard all > week! If you gave it a thought, you might realize that the recording was made direct to disc, but the disc mastering machine was running at half normal speed. This allows greater fidelity through more precise tracking. Now whether this actually does improve the final sound is questionable, but who really knows anyway. -- A memo from the desk of : Larry W. Borsato Just one step away from total mental collapse ... but fine otherwise. {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!watdcsu!lborsato
dca@edison.UUCP (David C. Albrecht) (04/08/85)
> > It's hard to stop laughing enuf to type... > > "Half speed mastered, direct to disc" wow! Best one I've heard all > > week! > > > If you gave it a thought, you might realize that the recording was > made direct to disc, but the disc mastering machine was running at > half normal speed. This allows greater fidelity through more precise > tracking. Now whether this actually does improve the final sound is > questionable, but who really knows anyway. > > Snicker, guffaw, ahem. Sorry, I think he did give it some thought and found the thought rather funny (I do too). The term "direct to disk" means a signal went from a "live" source direct to the cutting machine. If it was cut at half speed it would have to be played at half speed. Either that or it was cut with the musicians in a time warp playing at half speed. David Albrecht
edward@ukma.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett) (04/10/85)
> SSI plans to offer to the public the ultimate analog recording-- > half-speed direct-to-disc LPs. "We won't just be offering the > Chipmunks," Speakes said, "there are many instruments, particularly > in the woodwind family, that can be played one octave below score, > and sound natural when the playback speed is doubled." > > Speakes went on to observe that half-speed live recording will > make it possible to capture performances of some of the most difficult > music ever written, more accurately than the composer dreamed > possible. Some critics have objected on the grounds that human > composers were well aware of human performance limitations when > putting notes to paper, and intended a certain rough-hewn quality > in the performance. Speakes' recordings will be inhumanly, > mechanically perfect. (Granted this may be a hoax, seeing as how the original article was posted on April 1st. But here goes....) You people seemed to have missed something. What is being described is this: Play the music one octave lower than normal (i.e. half the normal frequency) at half the normal tempo. This would allow the musician to play complicated passages with a greater degree of "correctness". Record this music on the recorder of your choice. When you cut (master) the master disc, play the tape at the same speed it was recorded at while running the cutting machine at half its normal speed. (This would be the 16 2/3 that Herb mentioned.) Now you have half-speed music on a half-speed disc. Play this at the normal speed (33 1/3). The music will now be playing twice as fast as it was played. Correct key and tempo!!! (I think) What "half-speed mastered" commenly means is this: Play the music correctly. When you play the tape into the cutting machine, play it at half speed and run the cutting machine at half speed. The end result is the same. Half-speed mastering allows the amplifiers for the cutting machine to have 4x as much power as they normally do for powering the cutting stylus. (I once read a nice description of this process and I think I've remember it right.) **** Here's the conclusion **** What Mr. Speakes is proposing is halving the music speed rather than halving the playback speed of the master tape. There. Now either I'm the only one who figuered this out, or the only one who fell for it. -- edward {ucbvax,unmvax,boulder,research}!anlams! -| {mcvax!qtlon,vax135,mddc}!qusavx! -|--> ukma!edward {decvax,ihnp4,mhuxt,clyde,osu-eddie,ulysses}!cbosgd! -|
dba@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (David Anderson) (04/11/85)
Yes, I think you've got it! I can hardly wait for someone to record some of my favorite works, like the Mozart Requiem, and ... :-) -- David.Anderson@cmu-cs-k.ARPA ..!seismo!cmu-cs-k!dba (412) 422-1255
lborsato@watdcsu.UUCP (L. Borsato - DCSU) (04/12/85)
> **** Here's the conclusion **** > > What Mr. Speakes is proposing is halving the music > speed rather than halving the playback speed of the master tape. > > > > There. Now either I'm the only one who figuered this > out, or the only one who fell for it. > > -- > edward I apologize if my idea about half-speed mastering sounded insane (particularly to those who sent mail). The idea doesn't make sense in terms of regular everyday recording but a few years back I recalled reading about the technique of slowing down the tempo to allow a mediocre instrumentalist to sound as if he knew what he was doing. I'm sorry if my idea was taken to encompass all forms of music recording. A thousand pardons ... -- A memo from the desk of : Larry W. Borsato Just one step away from total mental collapse ... but fine otherwise. {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!watdcsu!lborsato
dca@edison.UUCP (David C. Albrecht) (04/15/85)
> > SSI plans to offer to the public the ultimate analog recording-- > > half-speed direct-to-disc LPs. "We won't just be offering the > > Chipmunks," Speakes said, "there are many instruments, particularly > > in the woodwind family, that can be played one octave below score, > > and sound natural when the playback speed is doubled." > > > Play the music one octave lower than normal (i.e. half > the normal frequency) at half the normal tempo. This would allow > the musician to play complicated passages with a greater degree > of "correctness". > I still feel this is more of a joke. A good many instruments have a different harmonic structure in different parts of the instrument, taking a lower octave and transposing it will produce somewhat artificial sounding instruments. The attack and decay curve shape is usually not a variable that is easily if at all adjusted (in a piano for instance). Musicians will have to be fed intraveneous oxygen to sustain long holds when played at half speed. Any breaths will have to be carefully filtered out as they would sound ridiculous. Any sort of tempo expressiveness or dynamics will be difficult to transfer to half speed. Lastly, the finest performances are not identified by technical perfection, they are rather associated with involved, expressive, exciting performances (if you don't understand what I mean listen to the Telarc 1812 sometime). How much involvement is a musician likely to have in a half speed performance. Pretty silly if you ask me. David Albrecht General Electric
crandell@ut-sally.UUCP (Jim Crandell) (04/18/85)
> > > SSI plans to offer to the public the ultimate analog recording-- > > > half-speed direct-to-disc LPs. "We won't just be offering the > > > Chipmunks," Speakes said, "there are many instruments, particularly > > > in the woodwind family, that can be played one octave below score, > > > and sound natural when the playback speed is doubled." > > > > > Play the music one octave lower than normal (i.e. half > > the normal frequency) at half the normal tempo. This would allow > > the musician to play complicated passages with a greater degree > > of "correctness". Good grief! Is this discussion still going on? I'll probably regret getting involved in this, and I fully realize that it's perfectly ridiculous to imagine that the words of one who has actually used this technique (albeit not recently) could possibly settle the matter, but for what it's worth, here's my two cents' worth, after adjustment for inflation. (Actually, it was tape recording, not D-D, and not because D-D was unheard of in those days. We all knew what that was. It was a radical new concept which arose more or less contemporaneously with direct-to-cylinder recording.) The mention of the Chipmunks in the original posting was particularly apropos. Listen to their spoken sections, in particular, and note Theodore's relaxed, deliberate delivery. Sounds perfectly natural, doesn't it? I think it's fairly obvious that I'm being sarcastic here, but to anyone who still doesn't understand what's wrong with this idea, I strongly recommend taking in the Chipmunk Experience, because it may offer some insight into the problem. Now, I had to ponder for a bit to come up with an example of this technique in recorded instrumental music, aside from my experiments, which unsurpris- ingly were never made publicly available. There surely are other examples, but the one that came to mind was one of Julius Wechter's (Baja Marimba Band) rather typically madcap performances. On what was to be his farewell album (I've forgotten its title, but it was released about 1971, if memory serves (and that IS a questionable assumption)) was recorded an outrageous arrangement, from the pen of none other than Roger Kellaway, of ``Spanish Flea'', one of Wechter's own compositions (although of course it was Herb Alpert who made all the money from it). The part of the ``flea'' is performed on a piccolo, as I recall. Doesn't sound quite like piccolos you've heard? Oh, that's because you're playing the record at the wrong speed. Set the turntable for 16-2/3 and you've got it. Of course, the rest of the track sounds pretty gross at that speed, but such is life, no? Here again is, I think, a fairly representative example of the use of this technique -- special effects, especially those of the comic variety, are unquestionably its real forte. As you may suspect, I got some enormous jollies out of this technique. Its greatest fascination for me was its remarkable ability to transform the sound of one instrument into that of another. Recording at half speed, a cello turns into a viola (as perhaps only Jimi Hendrix could have played it). A flute becomes an almost unearthly light and flexible piccolo. A trombone evolves into a wispy, whimsical slide trumpet. A concert grand piano is reduced to a frivolous toy which could only accompany Laurel and Hardy in their wildest, looniest, most slapsticky pursuits. Some of the greasiest guitar licks ever heard flow effortlessly from an electric bass. Double-speed recording is a hoot, too. Great for lazy, laid-back blues and first-rate cryin'-in-your-beer schmaltzzz. Try the flute again -- dry ice, man. A common baritone turns into the slobbiest, tubbiest old tuba you ever heard. Aching to sing basso profano? Go for it! That stuff was all fun and games, of course, but I certainly don't mean to imply that the effects have no legitimate uses in electronic music. Even there, however, making artistic use of speed doubling for all of the material on an entire disk (remember that no other treatment is EVER available under this scenario) would severely tax anyone's creative abilities. The only ways I've ever heard it used in the electronic context are similar to the way Bagdasarian, Wechter and I used it in that it was applied only to certain elements of the tonal fabric and in specific places. Serious recording of the classical repertoire? C'mon, gimme a break! -- Jim Crandell, C. S. Dept., The University of Texas at Austin {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!crandell