AUDIBILITIES

King Street Recording Company

Professional Audio Services for Any Purpose You Can Think Of –

 Video and Photo Too!

Quality Professional Services Since 1967

15 East King Street, Post Office Box 402 Malvern, PA  19355-0402

Volume 81, Spring, 2022           610-647-4341          www.kingstreetrecording.com            kingstreetrecord@aol.com

      Blog: www.emmetrobinson.com/wp/

 

GRAND RE-OPENING!

After a two-year break from live recording, musicians, singers and voice actors are welcome in the studio once again – vaccinated and masked, of course!

IN THE STUDIO

Words

I had an enjoyable time working with a young rapper with something to say. As a musical form, rap as we know it now probably originated in New York in the 1970s. You already knew that. What you might not have known is that rap is related to a much older musical form called the talking blues.

Created in 1926 by Christopher Allen Bouchillon, talking blues uses a rhythm accompaniment provided by a musical instrument – guitar for example – while the performer speaks in rhyme. Many talking blues were pointedly topical such as the Talking Dust Bowl Blues and the Talking Atomic Blues. Others such as the Talking Guitar Blues is highly amusing in describing the difficulty of learning to play the guitar.

Talking blues were popular among coffeehouse performers during the folk music revival of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s and provided a powerful yet palatable means of expressing social concerns. Where are they, now that we need them?

Telling the Story

I’ve narrated audiobooks before, but my new project will be more of a challenge due to its length – 134,652 words over 410 pages.

As always, the goal is to make every word come alive in the mind of the listener. More than just talking, it’s acting. In theater, the phrase is “make it real.” This’ll be fun!

PS: If you’ve always wanted to be a “voiceover artist,” I can teach you how. It might surprise you to know that the quality of your voice is not the most important consideration.

 

FROM THE ATTIC

Audio

I love the “oddities,” the little odds n’ ends that are brought here for special attention.

The most recent was an original recording of a song whose lyrics included a single word that might be considered offensive by those of a sensitive nature. The song itself was hilarious, with some of the most clever rhymes I’ve heard in years.

The challenge was how to deal with the offensive word without destroying the rest of the song?

After careful thought, and a bit of experimentation, it was decided to overdub a brief sound effect on a separate track in parallel with the song. At roughly a tenth of a second, the sound effect was quite brief. As the word occurred eighteen times, the same number of sound effects were required. After an hour or so of making timing adjustments of 1/1000th of a second for perfect synchronization, the volume of the offensive word was reduced so that the sound effect could drown it out.

Highly detailed, it made for an interesting afternoon in the control room. Luckily,the client loved it.

 

On the Junior Gridiron

The 10.5” professional reel of tape contained narration for a film on kids’ football from more than 30 years ago. The tape was of that vintage where, over time, the tape surface becomes. sticky and difficult to play. Difficulty notwithstanding, with a little care in guiding the tape by hand, all of the expert narration was successfully recovered and preserved.

 

Video

Taking Out the Trash

In digitizing an old home video, I found the second half of the tape to be nothing but sonograms. After calling the client for “surgery authorization,” it was a simple matter to make the cut.

Caveat Emptor

That old Latin phrase meaning, “Buyer Beware,” can have real meaning these days.

The singer’s powerful final performance was captured on VHS videotape, viewed, and then stored for several years. Then one day, responding to a radio commercial, he sent the tape to one of those big companies specializing in transfer of analog tape to digital disk.

Since the original tape began with a colorful assortment of static and blue screen, he quite naturally assumed that the digital transfer company would remove it. Wrong!

After sending off his one-and-only original tape he waited. Then he waited some more. Then he waited additionally.

At last, after more than 9 months the original tape and digital disk were finally returned – with the static and blue screen carefully preserved on the digital copy! He was not happy.

When he mentioned his disappointment to me, I suggested he send me the video. After re-recording, it was a simple matter to remove the offending footage and produce a correct DVD of the concert.

Most, if not all, mail-order companies go directly from the original recording to the digital copy. It’s both easier and more cost-effective – at least from their standpoint.

Here, very little is easy. All originals are imported into a digital workstation first. In this way control is possible over editing of unwanted material, color correction, etc. – and the rates are about the same as what the competition charges.

It’s all about doing more, not less, and quality comes first.

Third Generation ­

Before the advent of the modern camcorder, visual images of the special people, places and events in our lives were captured on either 8- or 16-millimeter silent movie film. That would be the first generation.

With the advent of videotape, many original films were then transferred to VHS tape. They would be the second generation.

When they arrive here for conversion to DVD (Digital Video Disk) the visual histories then exist in three generations and three different formats. I wonder what’s next?

On the Workbench

In another exciting out-of-town excursion, a client had sent a standard audiocassette off for conversion to audio CD. The tape was returned – broken. And, of course, no CD had been made.

On arrival here, the cassette shell was carefully opened, the tape removed and repaired, then installed in a new and better shell.

Have a problem tape? Audio or video? Get it done right. Bring it here!

Scribbles

The Blue Pencil

Once again I find myself happily engaged in editing another writer’s work – it’s much easier than editing my own!

This time it’s Jim McCusker’s new novel, The Edge, an exciting tale based on the colorful world of male strippers in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

As always, my pleasurable task will be making minor adjustments in word selection, tense and sentence structure – without affecting the author’s distinctive and dynamic style. When a publication date is decided, I’ll let you know.

In the meanwhile, you might enjoy Atlantic City Nights, A Tale of Two Pockets or Mr. Penn vs. The Aliens, also by Mr. McCusker.

FAQ

Q: Has the compact disk for music outlived its popularity?

A: It doesn’t look that way – at least not yet. Nearly everyone wants CDs.

There‘ve been two or three requests for flash drives, so I keep ‘em in stock.

And, now and then someone will want files sent by email. The bulk of the business – both audio and video – is still done on disk.

REUNION!

Were you a fan of the Main Point coffeehouse back in the ‘60s or ‘70s? We’re starting now to plan for our next combined concert, reunion and birthday party. tentatively scheduled for Saturday, October 14, 2023.

By the way, editing of the Main Point documentary is moving along nicely. More news as it happens!

In the Photo Shoppe

From the Archives

The practice of keeping archival copies of client materials made it possible to complete a recent reorder quickly.

The original image had been the size of a postage stamp. Appropriate software allowed enlarging it to 8 X 10”, printing color copies, then storing the image. Months later, when more copies were ordered, they could be done quickly and efficiently from the archival file already on hand.

Audio, video and photo archival copies are generally provided at no charge.

Client Commentary

“The CD you transcribed from tape and packaged so beautifully has wildly exceeded my expectations! The sound quality is wonderful – I don’t know how you did it. There is no “hiss” at all from the tape. What a winner! Many thanks!

 

What’s On the Menu

at King Street Recording Company?

By Emmet Robinson

 

As I was heading down the street to the Post Office, a passerby stopped me and asked, “What do you do up there in your studio?” Interesting question.

Returning from my errand, I got to thinking about that. Over the course of an hour or so, I’d developed an interesting list. So, after more than fifty  years of continuous evolution, this is what’s on the menu.

• Restoration of vintage materials, including

Open-reel, cassette and micro cassette tapes

Original disk recordings

Videotapes

Photographs, 35 mm slides, documents, letters, awards, etc.

• Repair of damaged audio and videotapes

Precision splicing

Replacement audio and video cassette shells

• Recording and production of acoustic (unplugged) music

Demos for singers, songwriters and musicians

Complete albums of either original or cover songs

• Recording and production of spoken word

Narrative for educational and promotional video

Audiobooks

Radio commercials

Narrative for TV commercials

Poetry

Voice recordings for meditation, relaxation and pain management

Music-and-information-on-hold for business telephone systems

Pre-recorded eulogies

• Writing and editorial services

Articles

Books

Advertising materials for small business

University application letters

Poetry

Song lyrics

Business presentations

Seminars and training programs

Speeches

Newsletters

Posters

Effective business card design

 

• Professional entertainment

Concerts based on The Great American Songbook from 1925 to 1955…and more.

Professional one-man shows with voice, guitar, fresh arrangements and original humor. See www.emmetrobinson.com

• Instruction and personal coaching                       

Acoustic guitar 101

      Where to place those stubborn fingers – and why

Vocal training for singers, narrators and speakers, including:

Breath control

Phrasing

Vocal accuracy

Vibrato

Range expansion

Tone and expression

Musical arrangement made simple

Verbal presentation skills – the power of the spoken word

Stagecraft 101 – what to do after the announcer says your name

Getting your butterflies to fly in formation

Boot camp for business owners, including:

            What products or services to offer

            Location X 3

            Marketing and advertising: letting the world know your value

            Sales made easy, simple – and profitable!

            How to keep your customers forever

Career Change – finding a new employer who deserves you.

Well, that’s pretty much what goes on up here at “King Street Recording Company World Headquarters.” (was that a little over the top?)

What’s next? I expect you to tell me. Everything listed above was the result of someone’s inquiry or request. If you don’t see what you need here, please ask.

You just might get it!

Emmet Robinson

Chief Executive Poobah-in-Charge

King Street Recording Company World Headquarters (Oh, really?)

610-647-4341

www.kingstreetrecord@aol.com