Behind The Scenes (July 1979)

by Bert Whyte

As I write this column, I'm within a few days of traveling to Los Angeles for the annual May convention of the Audio Engineering Society. As you might expect at this stage of development, digital audio will be a prominent feature of the convention. Some digital recording equipment, seen in prototype form as recently as last November's 61st AES convention, will appear in production models. Need less to say, prototypes of new digital recorders will be forthcoming at the convention, including one that is rumored to have a capacity of 64 channels on one-inch tape! While digital audio is still in a relatively embryonic state, some digital re cording for the production of commercial recordings is, in fact, taking place on a fairly regular basis. Dr. Tom Stockham's Soundstream digital recorder is being kept busy with his custom recording service. Telarc Records initial release of their Fred Fennell and Atlanta Symphony productions using the Soundstream service will soon be followed by their recording of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Night on Bald Mountain performed by Maazel and the Cleveland Orchestra. Telarc is said to have a number of on-going digital productions with Soundstream. Just recently, the Soundstream digital recording service was employed by RCA to record Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Soundstream's current digital recorder has a maximum capacity of four channels, so it will be interesting to hear this production since RCA usually opts for 8- and 16-channel recorders in their normal recording activities in their Philadelphia Orchestra ventures.

Digital Recordings As noted recently, the 3M 32-channel digital recorders have been delivered to A&M Records, Warner Bros., The Record Plant, and Sound 80, and the units are now in use. Thus far, no analog recordings resulting from this digital mastering activity have been announced, but I expect we will hear some during the Los Angeles AES convention.

Speaking of the 3M multi-track digital recorder, Columbia Records is supposedly awaiting the availability of one of these recorders so that they can record Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic in yet another version of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Stravinsky's Petrouchka.

While Columbia has purchased some of the Sony 1600 digital recorders and undoubtedly has done some experimental recording with them, their well-known proclivity for multi-miking explains their bias toward the 32-channel 3M recorder. They are, in addition, using a one-inch, 24-channel, fixed-head Sony unit, shown in prototype at last fall's AES convention, to do a re cording of Straus' Till Eulenspiegel and Don Juan by the Cleveland Orchestra early in May.

EMI, the British parent company of Capitol/Angel Records, is said to have developed a digital recorder, and a unit is supposed to be in the hands of Capitol. I have no information at present as to whether their recorder is of the fixed-head or helical scan variety.

In a recent conversation with Arthur Haddy, Director of Decca Records in London, he told me that they now have four of their digital recorders in operation and are building more recorders on a high priority basis. As I write, a Decca recording team has one of their digital recorders in Chicago, and we will soon hear what Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra sound like from a digital master. The first fruit of Decca's digital recording activities has arrived in the form of a two-disc analog LP recording of the annual New Year's concert of the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Willi Boskovsky, London/Decca LDR-10001-2. Recorded live, the hand-clapping of the audience between selections has not been deleted (probably quite deliberately) since hand-clapping is well-known as a severe test of recording quality. On these discs, the clapping is remarkable for its accuracy and realism. Except for a slight miking problem, wherein the first violins have too much forward projection and consequent brightness, the overall sonic qualities are outstanding. As you might expect, the repertoire is in the main waltzes and polkas by various members of the Strauss family. How ever, the most impressive demonstration of the sonic excellence of the recording is on side two, a sparkling performance of von Suppe's overture to The Beautiful Galatea. The sound of the strings, brass, and woodwinds is full and rich, yet ultra-clean with high definition; bass drum has plenty of weight and impact, and other percussion is sharply etched and very accurate. The wide dynamic range challenges the limits of the medium. To complement the high quality of the sound, the pressing is exemplary, exhibiting virtually no surface noise.

With music like this, the performance is a labor of love, and the Vienna Philharmonic plays with their customary clan. Arthur Haddy states that for the present, we can expect at least one major digital recording every month! Obviously, Decca is trying to establish the same sort of "beach head" in digital recordings, as they did with stereo recordings over 20 years ago.

Real Dynamic Range

The foregoing covers what I presently know about digital recording activities. Before I leave this subject, however, a word about dynamic range would seem to be in order. Frankly, it is get ting to be quite a pain in the "you know where" to read articles and re views about the "super wide dynamic range" of analog LPs cut from digital masters. It is bad enough to read this and assorted other drivel about digital recording by uninformed and misinformed "hi-fi experts" in newspapers across the country. When the experts of more specialized and responsible journals start espousing this same "blather," it is time to set the record straight.

It is absolutely true that most digital recording systems can produce master recordings with a dynamic range of 90 dB or better. It is also absolutely true that the basic noise level of a really good unprocessed lacquer can be as high as 78 to 80 dB. Now, it matters not one whit, whether that lacquer is cut as a direct disc, cut from a digital tape master, or from extraordinary analog tape, the limitations of the cutting system and the degradation caused by the processing of the lacquer are a universal limiting factor in the amount of dynamic range that can be reproduced from a standard analog PVC recording.

Under the very best conditions, with every parameter absolutely optimized, about the maximum dynamic range you can hope for, is on the order of 62 to 64 dB. Believe me, that kind of dynamic range is the exception ... not the rule! In no way does the fact that an LP record was cut from a digital master confer on that record any extraordinarily wide dynamic range. 'Nuff said!

Metal Tape Doings

If digital recording is going to be the watchword at the upcoming AES convention in Los Angeles, then metal-particle tape will be the rallying cry at the June Consumer Electronic Show in Chicago. A friend of mine, who is "in the know" in the business end of the audio industry and with wide contacts in Japan, tells me that the CES there will probably be "over 100" different cassette models capable of recording metal-particle tape. Furthermore, some of these machines will be priced as low as $279! Obviously, faster than anyone believed possible, metal-particle tape will be a major factor in the cassette recorder business. Whether the rush to this new technology was precipitated by the "softness" of the audio business in general is a moot point. The EIAJ is supposed to have formulated so-called standards ... mainly relating to coercivity ... for metal-particle tape, but those companies who can produce this kind of tape are plunging ahead and not waiting for everything to be "nailed down." A few voices who are urging a "wait and see" policy and advocating restraint with respect to the adoption of metal-particle tape, are cynically being dismissed as just companies who have been "caught with their pants down." There is no doubt that in some circles, metal tape is being hailed as the salvation for the current audio ills, and there is probably a good likelihood that it will be ballyhooed all out of proportion and technical boo-boos will occur.

I had an opportunity to experiment with some metal-particle tape recently and familiarize myself with some of its characteristics, its advantages and its drawbacks. My good friend Jim Kawada of JVC kindly loaned me one of […]

(Source: Audio magazine, June 1979; Bert Whyte)

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