16 RPM?

jayd,
I think this speed was mostly used for non-music 10" LPs from the 50's and 60's. Kind of like books on tape but on LPs, where sonics were less important and so the slower speed gave double the play time.

I have a quite distinct memory, however, of some "audiophile" LPs that were 16 2/3 RPM; in particular I remember that the first Boston album was available at this speed in some special pressing. I wish I had it; the very concept is a bit loony since the lower RPMs could be expected to degrade the sonics, not improve them. (Or maybe they thought "Hitch A Ride" was so bad that it would be an improvement to make it sound worse)

E.J.

are you thinking of 'half speed mastered'?

The recording is produced the same as normal onto the master tape. The tape is replayed at half speed whilst the vinyl cutter also runs at half speed (16 2/3 RPM).

When then record is replayed at 33 3/3 RPM it will sound correct. The theory is that this will improve the quality of the treble, as the cutter is less stressed. In practice, I'm told the cutter has a harder time recording the deep bass.

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne at Dial.Pipex.com

16 RPM records were primarily for spoken word, such as language training.

Cheers

Keith.

Wow. That's a whole piece of the history of sound reproduction that totally eluded me. Thanks!

Now, If I could only figure out how those "wire" recordings of the forties worked... were they magnetic, or was there an analog of the waveform somehow reproduced on the wire? I've never actually seen one, only heard about them from my dad.

Thanks again for sharing the expertise.

jay

quote:

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Originally posted by jayd:

Now, If I could only figure out how those "wire" recordings of the forties worked... were they magnetic, or was there an analog of the waveform somehow reproduced on the wire? I've never actually seen one, only heard about them from my dad.

Thanks again for sharing the expertise.

jay

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Hi Jayd

Wire recorders were like tape recorders in that a reel of wire was passed over a recording head which magnetised a pattern onto the wire. A playback head could then read it back. I believe they were invented by the Germans during the war and were given to the Americans as part of War Reparations. I think they were considered very dangerous as the wire was prone to break and come reeling of the player and quite a few operaters were severely injured. Tape was eventually developed and the wire recorders disappeared.

Yours in Music

Syd

Wire recorders continued for many years in aviation in the form of Flight Data Recorders (FDR). Wire in the form of a continuous loop would record perhaps 6 channels of data. e.g. position of control surfaces, throttle postion etc etc.

My Mum had an aluminium disc my Dad had sent back from Italy during WW2 of him speaking. A sort of postcard. This played at 16 rpm.

Howard

quote:

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E.J. are you thinking of 'half speed mastered'?

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Well I DO actually know the difference, although whether I did in the '70's is a another matter.

Curious, I looked about on the net. I didn't find Boston, but I did find "DJANGO - The Modern Jazz Quartet", and "Swaggart, Jimmy What The Bible Says About Drugs" on 16 RPM records. It ain't "Smokin'", but close!

That sounds like a serious collector's item BigH. Do you still have it?

I wonder how many of those discs there were...