AUDIBILITIES

By Emmet Robinson                    King Street Recording Company

Professional Audio Services for Any Purpose You Can Think Of
Video and Photo Too
Volume 68, Spring, 2018
610-647-4341
www.kingstreetrecording.com         kingstreetrecord@aol.com

      Blog: www.emmetrobinson.com/wp/

   Celebrating Fifty Years in Business!

 

What’s Next?

 

In capturing and reproducing sound, the first recording devices were strictly mechanical, probably beginning with Edison’s invention of the phonograph in 1877. A metal cylinder, wrapped with tinfoil, was the recording medium. Volume and sound quality were extremely limited.

In the late 1880s, development of the wax cylinder proved a significant improvement. Although originally intended for business use, entertainment quickly became the major – and more profitable – interest.

The introduction of electrical recording systems and 78-rpm disk records in the middle 1920s proved a major leap forward in the accurate capture and reproduction of music.

From cylinder to disk, so far, so good.

In 1945, Allied soldiers captured a German Magnetephon tape recorder, and a new era in sound recording began as American companies copied, modified and improved on the German system. There was also a short-lived excursion into recording on lengths of thin metal wire.

Although tape recording began as a single-track “monaural” system, guitarist Les Paul persuaded the Ampex Corporation to develop a two-track system. Two tracks became three, then four, eight and, eventually 32 tracks on two-inch wide tape. Opening this Pandora’s box of multitrack recording made new, highly creative recording techniques possible.

Disk records, originally manufactured on wax or shellac, were now made on durable polyvinylchloride plastic. Far more durable, the sound quality was also superior to earlier media.

The early 78-rpm records were followed by the longer playing 33-rpm version. The 1950s brought us the 45 rpm disc – limited in content, but smaller, more portable, and enabling customers to purchase the specific songs of their choice.

Commercially-made open-reel tapes were introduced to the public in the 1960s, followed by the 8-track cartridge, Sony’s short-lived Elcassette, the compact cassette, the microcassette for dictation and, finally, the digital era introduced the compact disk.

Digital audio introduced a host of new recording formats. both in audio and video. Original sound recordings produced here at the studio result in AIFF files, the same format used on commercially made CDs. The smaller mp3 file, although lower in quality, has become the standard for listening on portable devices such as the Ipod and Iphone. This format also travels well over the Internet, with millions of tunes downloaded every year in digital form where there is no physical product at all.

Recently the vinyl disc record has been making a comeback, with manufacturers scrambling to produce sophisticated turntables to play them on.

With so many changes over more than one hundred forty years, I can hardly wait to see what happens next. A return to the 8-track cartridge?

And, really, how many times will I have to buy the White Album?

IN THE STUDIO
Voices
Young Talent
At just thirteen years of age, her first experience in a recording studio went extremely well. Arriving early allowed her to relax, tune and arrange her song sheets. With solid accompaniment on her unplugged guitar, she sang a mix of original songs in a most pleasant voice. Ample rehearsal allowed completing most tunes in a single take. Voice and guitar, recorded on separate tracks, were

then mixed with a little reverb added to the voice. Tracks were panned slightly left and right for a wider stereo image. Other voices or instruments may be added later.

Six songs in just over two hours – a very good start for a talented young lady!

Talk More Gooder
In recent months, I’ve been also using the studio to provide private coaching for those needing to improve their verbal communication skills. This has been especially beneficial to those seeking career advancement, and makes use of my fifteen years of experience as a professional speaker.

The instruction includes learning to think before speaking, developing planned responses to standard questions, improving vocal flexibility, and learning to express complex information succinctly. The sessions are frequently videotaped, then reviewed with the client. The review has proven to be as helpful as the actual instruction. Sessions last about half an hour, and results have been most encouraging.

The secret is this: by learning to choose and use your words with surgical precision, you’ll be given credit for more education and intelligence than you may actually possess. Learn to talk more gooder! For details, call 610-647-4341.

FROM THE ATTIC
Audio
Vocal Ability
As a working musical entertainer, I’m dismayed by the lack of basic vocal skills of young singers starting out.

So, it was a special treat to work with the live performance recordings of a professional singer who’d had extensive vocal training, including opera. Range, power – she had it all!

First, the tapes were digitized and recorded to disk in their original form.

Then, the digital files were edited in order to re-sequence some songs and eliminate a few others. All of the deletions were saved – just in case. The result was a shorter, tighter disk featuring the artist’s best work.

Attractively labeled and packaged, copies of the revised version were used as holiday gifts for family and friends.

Remembering Mom
A dutiful and attentive son was able to record a conversation with his mother when she lived in an assisted living facility. While his strong voice was clearly audible, her voice was softer, both in volume and in texture. In converting the original tape to CD, careful calibration of parametric equalization brought her soft words more forward. In future years, the son, and other family members will have a pleasant recorded memory of a loving parent.

Durability
From the original Edison wax cylinder through the development of magnetic and digital technology, the most durable form of recorded sound is still mechanical – the old-fashioned disk record. As long as there’s a groove and a stylus to follow it, a record can usually be made to play.

An excellent example of this arrived here in the form of two disks made of plastic-coated paper! These were used many years ago in coin-operated booths at amusement parks, where the sign would read:

      “Record Your Voice – 25 Cents!

The records I received were made in a coin-operated booth at Coney Island in 1947 and, believe it or not, they were perfectly playable!

Although the surfaces were cracked in several places, a sophisticated playback system was able to track and recover all of the content. Once digitized in the primary system, the files were transferred to a second system for reduction of the surface noise. The content of both records fit easily on a single CD, and preserved a very special family outing from more than seventy years ago!

Swing!
Born in the 1930s, I grew up listening to big band music on the radio, where swing-style dance music was king. What a treat it was to receive a huge tape collection from the former leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra! All of those wonderful old tunes are being digitized and transferred to disk. Everything possible will be done to preserve the original sound quality and the work of so many gifted musicians.

Video
Family Video Archives
Back when video camcorders were just becoming popular, a Malvern family decided to document family activities and events with recorded words and pictures.

Processing their dozen or so VHS-C tapes and converting them to digital disk (DVD) was an interesting and enjoyable process as I always enjoy learning about the lifestyles of others.

Preserving the Family Archives
An interesting assignment was converting home movies from tape to disk, then restoring still photos of the same folks. It was interesting to note how clothing styles have changed over the last seventy years!

Important Reminder!
Although we expect digital disks to last forever, that may not be the case. The truth is that no one actually knows how long CDs and DVDs will remain playable. So, when having your precious materials digitized, please remember to retain your originals – just in case.

FROM THE ARCHIVES
It may be a sixth sense, but a restoration project that came in six years ago so seemed so special that I saved it – the whole thing:  computer files for two different audio CDs, with matching labels, tray liners and covers. So, when I suddenly received an order for forty more copies, completing the order was a fairly simple matter.

FAQ

Q: What do the file designations AIFF and Mp3 mean?

A: AIFF stands for “Audio Interchange File Format.” This file form is uncompressed, provides full dynamic range, and represents the best sound quality – that which you’d find on a commercially made compact disk.

Mp3 stands for “Moving Pictures Expert Group, Audio Layer III. This is a compressed file type, noticeably smaller, and with lower fidelity than its larger cousin. The smaller file size allows mp3s to be used in portable playback systems such as the Ipod. In a real sense, we’ve traded quality for convenience!

IN THE PHOTO SHOPPE
A favorite framed photo of the client’s dad had fallen to the floor, breaking the glass, and causing severe damage to the picture. What could be done?

First, the photo was removed from the frame and carefully scanned at high resolution. Then, the damaged portions of the image were carefully reconstructed and missing areas were recreated.

Along the way, the picture was enlarged, and additional minor flaws in the original photograph were corrected as well. The eventual result was a digital file on a disk, plus two high-resolution prints.

Although ink jet printers never seem to match colors exactly, these prints were extremely close to the original.

The Bass Player
In a second and similar example, I’m slowly retouching a damaged photo of a 1930s band where the client’s father had played bass. The photo had been framed with the surface of the picture in direct contact with the glass where it became stuck. When the framed photo was dropped, the glass shattered and created a real mess with much of the glass still stuck firmly to the picture! As you can imagine, this made scanning somewhat challenging! The scanner bed was left littered with tiny slivers of glass and had to be vacuumed!

A growing number of aware consumers are discovering the importance of preserving their history as recorded in photos, hand-written letters and other documents. It’s a privilege and a pleasure to be part of the process.

What old photos do you have that might use a little help?

Spreading Out!
Beginning fifty years ago as a small business serving the immediate community, it’s amazing where more recent clients are based. There are now clients in California, Florida, Germany, Hawaii, Illinois, Nebraska, New Jersey, Texas and Vermont.

A project completed for a local resident ended up in Thailand!

Whatever the project may be, the Postal Service and United Parcel can dependably find me.