[Vintage-Audio] Oldies Collection Completed

Mon Jun 30 14:14:00 2003

Hello Michael, 	

There is no doubt in my mind that something is lost in the analog to digital
conversion process.  I have heard a number of sound professionals, studio guys,
and sound engineers who are very unhappy with the digital sound produced today.
Perhaps one of the list subscribers who has the knowledge on this can
enlightenus all?   	

About anything recorded in the RCA Nashville studio sounds better than anything
recorded anywhere. then there is MoTown sound. Groan. Some of that was crude,
and I am being very generous with that word.  They were quite literally basement
recording sessions, and worse. When I listen to Gary U.S. Bonds, I have to grit
my teeth. One wonders how some artists managed to sell some of that stuff, but
listening today, well ... 	

Yes it was indeed a labor of love, or nostalgic stupidity. I prefer to record
the source to DAT, instead of going direct to CD. This allows me the chance to
monitor for audio flaws and to edit the DAT tape if needed. When I am satisfied
with the DAT, then I record each track down to CD one by one. I insert a data
break after each track manually. This is tedious and time consuming, but it is
the only way I have found that is both reliable andclean. No pops or other
sounds this way. 	

One issue that is very hard to deal with, is the amount of time between tracks
on a CD. The older machines used five seconds, the newer ones use three seconds.
If the CDRW hears nothing for 3.0 seconds, it assumes there is nothing and does
not insert any data track code. Hence, as an example, if you fade a track down
and fade the next track up, (Which I commonly do with vinyl to eliminate record
noise) and the time between the two tracks is greatr than three seconds, it is
seen as one track. Thus instead of track two and track three, it is combined to
be just track two.          	

The two DAT machines I use both insert five seconds by default, as does the high
end Yamaha cassette deck. So it does get particular managing this issue. Timing
is everything. 	

Duane W8DBF 	

----------
From: Salmons, Michael <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [Vintage-Audio] Oldies Collection Completed
Date: Monday, June 30, 2003 11:59 AM

(apologies to all if this gets posted twice.. my email system is behaving
strangely today)

Duane,

Sounds like a labor of love to me! It must be a very satisfying experience to
shuffle through those songs with the convenience of a CD player. Are there any
tracks in particular whose sonic virtues you'd like to extol? I find personally
that the work of producer Norman Petty (Buddy Holly, The Fireballs) sounds great
in the digital realm. (Some things haven't transferred so well- I have a Led
Zeppelin CD that sounded fine on vinyl, but it is excruciating on CD.)

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: Duane Fischer, W8DBF [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 5:06 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Vintage-Audio] Oldies Collection Completed

Hi All, 	

After a solid month of tedious work, nerve jangling stress and  dogged 
persistence, I have completed the transfer of the Billboard Top 100 from
1956-1966 from DAT (digital audio tape) to CD. A total of 44 CDS. 	

Originally I purchased these as reissued, but original, 45 rpm singles. I
recorded them from vinyl onto DAT. Then I sold the records back to the vender. I
backed up the DAT's and also backed them up on high quality Chromium cassette
tapes.  The later having better high frequencies than regular tape, supposedly. 

This turned out to be quite a project! I did not use a computer. This was done
with a Sony stand alone CDRW deck and my equipment. The results are an almost
exact copy of the original recording, with none of the garbage interjected by
the computer and its software. I am a firm believer in the quality depends on
the minimum number of steps. The less steps, the less degradation.   	

It is worth mentioning that perfection comes with a price. (No news there!) I
did some CDS six times to get them right. All sorts of little flukes can ruin a
track and there is no editing possible.	

Now I am enjoying the Oldies on a CD player feeding the H.H. Scott LK-72b. (I am
trying not to feel guilty for using modern gear with the vintage!) Coming soon,
a pair of vintage speakers.	

Duane W8DBF	

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