Dear Editor (Nov. 1974)

Kudos to Heyser

Dear sir,

Kudos to Richard C. Heyser for his outstanding contributions to the art and science of speaker evaluation, and to Audio for your part in publishing Mr. Heyser's fine, intelligent work. Mr. Heyser has proven what many readers of the audio press have long felt: that many supposedly "subtle" differences in speaker performance can be meaningfully de scribed, if only the reviewer is eloquent enough (and honest enough) to write a candid evaluation.

I also appreciate the technical side of Mr. Heyser's reviews for their consistency and completeness, even in the face of the sometimes less-than-spectacular performance figures derived. Finally we have a re viewer who trusts enough in his readers' competence to tell them the whole story, as he sees it, consistently, unflinchingly.

Please keep those marvelous speaker reviews rolling in! Dean W. Hoofnagle Honolulu, Hawaii Dear sir, I would like to add my vote of approval for Richard Heyser's loud speaker reviews in your recent issues.

I have followed his writings both in your publication and in the AES journal--I find his evaluation methods useful, technically competent and interesting. His reports represent a step beyond the "golden ear" and "consumer reports" schools of speaker reviewing dispensed by most of the American audio publications.

I am disappointed, however, with the speakers which have been selected for Heyser's tests to date. I realize that some speaker reviews sell more magazines than others, but it seems that several of the units recently reviewed are likely neither "hot" commercial items nor state-of the-art designs. I can at least com mend Heyser for not waxing enthusiastically over these products in his reports. To do so would compromise his credibility.

I imagine that your office has had an ample flood of readers' requests for speaker evaluations of the currently popular products from such firms as JBL, AR, EPI, and so forth.

Personally, I would enjoy seeing re views of some of the sophisticated transmission-line speakers manufactured by several British firms: IMF, Bowers & Wilkins, Radford-Audionics.

My own ears (critical, if not golden) find these products more convincing than the vast majority of domestic brands.

From what appears in the British audio journals, one gets the impression that engineers in the above-mentioned concerns have been directing special attention to some of the same issues singled out as important in Heyser's research: phase constancy, pulse response, stereo imaging and internal reflections. It would be interesting to see if the end-products of these British re searches "graph" well in Heyser's tests.

-Julian Vrieslander Newfield, N.Y.

Japanese Modifications

Dear sir,

In response to Ed Canby's fine re action to Japanese "modifications" of our Anglo-Saxon linguistic garb, I must say "Well Done!" Although I am the chief Engineer here at WTON, I do have a college degree in foreign languages. "Audio ETC" from the September edition of Audio actually thrilled me-actually, I guess, because of the frequent slurs one hears these days of Japanese and other Far East use of our language as well as, though decreasingly, their product engineering. I, for one, deeply appreciate their efforts in mastering our extremely difficult tongue, not to mention their great strides in engineering of all types. Great, really great!!

-Paul Swartzendruber, Chief Engineer WTON Staunton, Va.

Education in Audio

Dear sir,

Paul Moverman's article, Education in Audio, in the July issue of Audio is well done and highly useful to the industry. And there must be a very active interest among the readership of Audio, judging from the number of letters I have received following the publication of his article. Thank you for the very generous recommendation--of my classes. They are being extremely well received and are a very rewarding activity for me.

The listing of schools at the end of the article lists Synergetic Audio Concepts under "acoustics and/or noise control" whereas it more properly should be listed as a school offering courses in audio engineering. The course is called "Sound Engineering Seminar." Thank you again.

-Don Davis; Synergetic Audio Concepts; P.O. Box 1134 Tustin, CA 92680

Broad View of the Industry

Dear sir,

Thank you for your letter in reference to product information. I am now receiving an ample supply from the manufacturer. I do appreciate your interest in helping me out and would like to thank you for it.

I have been reading Audio for about two years now and the only com plaint is that I didn't run across an issue earlier. I subscribe to several audio-oriented magazines and I fully enjoy all of them, but Audio is the only one of them all that seems to have the variety of all of them put together.

I really can't think of any way to improve such a perfect magazine. I suppose you could run a few more of "this" type article or "that" type but I think it would upset the overall balance of the presentation in your magazine. I've found that if I want special information in a particular aspect of audio, there are numerous other publications which do specialize in specifics and they fit the bill nicely. I always come back to Audio though because it offers the broad view of the audio industry and serves as a good starting point to launch any audio-associated endeavor. Great for beginners yet good enough to hold "Old Timers' " interests. Please, keep up the good work!

-Mario A. Davila, Jr., APO California

Comments on Education

Dear sir,

There is certainly no question that there is a strong and well justified demand for education in the audio profession today! Since the late '60s, a week has never gone by without some one calling or writing me asking "the big question." And I am delighted to see that Mr. Moverman (Education in Audio, AUDIO, July) has emphasized the various job opportunities that are available. Most of the interested individuals have no idea as to what they really want to get into.

There is much that the AES can do to help develop the educational pro grams privately as well as institutionally. And as of this date, we do have even more AES local chapters than Mr. Moverman indicated. For example, Indianapolis. Yet, I have found that the AES journal is far too esoteric for the beginning student in audio education. My students are ex posed to all of the available magazines (including Audio) and the AES journal always winds up at the bottom of the pile. Perhaps something could be done about this problem by simply giving some consideration to the needs and interests of the beginning audio engineer. And the AES would be the ideal organization to publish a series of educational pamphlets specifically designed to help the beginning engineer.

As far as institutions of "higher learning" are concerned, I have serious doubts that the proper kind of curriculum can ever be established unless foresighted educators are willing to take a big step and go out and find professional studios (like mine) who are willing to jointly establish practical "work/study" training programs. Due to the nature of our business I am convinced that responsible studios and universities will have to develop joint programs, affording the budding engineer the essential on-the-job experience which a classroom cannot possibly provide.

Many individuals in the industry have argued that each studio likes to train according to their technical facility and style of engineering. In fact, this will always be the case! Yet, speaking as a studio owner, I would love to be spending this on-the-job training time with someone who at least had experienced the pressures of a real life situation and survived. Dr. Ray Dolby has definitely brought up a valid point in the "division of responsibility" in today's studio. And when I hire a new engineer I want to have some indication that he can handle that responsibility! Again speaking as a studio owner, my comments on the "How to Get a Job" problem are as follows:

1. If you want a job, get out and start selling yourself. If you don't know how, you better find out real fast!

2. The formal resumé sent through the mail is most ineffective! I have a file folder full of these around somewhere. Some evidence of past production efforts, on disc or tape, can be far more impressive, when presented in person.

3. In any event, you must have something to sell. You must present yourself to the studio as a person that can be of value, someone that studio cannot do without!

4. When I finally do hire someone it is because of:

A. his potential value to me as presented by his "sales kit";

B. his expertise from past experiences and credentials;

C. his personal character which I can unfortunately gain only from having gotten to know him over a period of time.

With a waiting line outside my studio door it's quite easy for me to be this "fussy." Yet, I do have to be extremely careful before I let a new per son in the studio to work with the Ampex and Studer recorders, Neumann mics, etc. Indeed, all studios are quite vulnerable and great caution has to be taken.

Finally, all of us who are concerned about audio education have a full responsibility to discourage all "those" who don't stand a chance to really compete in the marketplace. One of the main purposes of my Recording Studio Seminar is to try to separate "the men from the boys" and we do our best to tell it like it is! This is where colleges often fail, perhaps be cause they are in education as a profession ($$$). But it's no bite to my salary to tell someone that he's tone deaf, etc. Yet, since our profession does have limited job opportunities we can all work together to encourage talent and discourage the hangers.

Jack W. Gilfoy; President, Gilfoy Sound Studios, Inc. 1130 W. 17th St., Bloomington, IN 47401

More Ragtime LPs

Dear sir,

The article on ragtime recordings in the June issue of AUDIO was written over a year ago and since that time there have been various additions as well as some people whom I did not credit in the recent article.

Starting with Max Morath, Vanguard has released a solo LP on SRV 310 of rags by Joplin, Scott, Marshall and Morath. Harmony KH 32421 contains material previously recorded by Columbia with a few items issued on Epic LPs, now out of print and some unissued material. Both of these recordings are on budget labels.

The reverse side of the Harmony issue features Wally Rose playing a doctored piano (thumb tacks in the hammer). This material comes from some Columbia prime movers of rag time in the 1940s. He recorded for the Good Time Jazz label on GTJ 10034, recently for Blackbird C12007 and air-shots from 1946 on Fairmont 102. The GTJ issue is a fine studio recording, the Blackbird needed better editing, and the Fairmont is very enjoyable even with the additional instrumentation.

The Genesis label of Robert Commarge has been one of the leading labels in the area of "Romantic Revival" material and with two entries by pianist John Jensen, they enter ragtime with Piano Rags of James Scott (GS 1044) and Piano Rags of Joe Lamb (GS 1045).

The Scott LP is on a par with the Knocky Parker Audiophile album and the Joe Lamb set competes well with a Golden Crest disc, CRS 4127 by Milton Kaye which features an extra disc with a symposium between Rudi Blesh and Milton Kaye.

Joe Lamb was recorded in 1959 by Sam Charters on Folkways FG 3562. It is interesting to hear as a recorded documentary of a great ragtime com poser. However, his pianism at an advanced age was not up to the demands of his music. Either of the recordings already mentioned will suffice as a good introduction to Joe Lamb.

Brian Dykstra, an associate professor of music at the College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, issued his own LP of ragtime called American Beauty. He plays every piece with assurance and brings out the best in every piece. This is one of my personal favorites and I recommend it highly.

Trebor Tichenor, the King of Folk Ragtime, has a recent release on Dirty Shame 2001, available from Dirty Shame Records, Box 5217, Hannegan Station, St. Louis, MO 63139. He surveys the area of lesser known rags of high quality and assures himself an important place in the annals of out standing ragtime pianists for his knowledge and talent.

The Red Seal of Victor is an unusual place to find ragtime but an excellent disc of solo and duo ragtime is played by Paul Hersh and David Montgomery on ARL 1-0364. This tradition can be traced back to another duo team of the early Victor years, Victor Arden and Phil Ohman. They succeed on all numbers but the two by Jelly Roll Morton and it would take a duo of Bob Greene and Butch Thompson to bring off Jelly Roll's music for four hands of duo-piano.

Another harpsichord disc of ragtime is by E. Power Biggs on Columbia M 32495. This is devoted exclusively to Scott Joplin played on the pedal harpsichord at moderate to fast tempi and is a very entertaining and humorous LP of ragtime.

The Jazz Piano Heritage series of George H. Buck's label has included some ragtime on their LPs or are de voted exclusively to ragtime, e.g. Donald Ashwander, JCE-71, Bill Bolcom, JCE 72 and Dick Wellstood, JCE-73. The future of this series whets a ragophile's appetite. There is the promise of an LP devoted to William Albright and Eubie Blake. Albright is one of the new com posers in the ragtime style like Ashwander and Bolcom. The Blake material will come from recordings made in 1951 by Rudi Blesh, which have never been released.

Herwin Records, P.O. Box 306, Glen Cove, NY 11542, in association with David Jasen, has started a reissue pro gram of ragtime piano from 78 rpm recordings. The first is 15 different versions of the Maple Leaf Rag on Herwin 401 played by Jelly Roll Morton, Earl Hines, Willie Eckstein and others. This record shows that this piece can take any kind of interpretation bestowed upon it. The latest issue is Piano Ragtime of the Teens, Twenties and Thirties on Her-402. It is a lot of fun to hear ragtime played by its practitioners. This is to be followed by LPs devoted to ragtime in the 1940s and one to the 1950s.

Another excellent anthology annotated by David Jasen is RBF 22 called Ragtime Entertainment. I enjoy El Cotas Black and White Rag on the xylophone, James Lent's The Ragtime Drummer and Arthur Pryor's Frozen Bill.

Orchestrated ragtime is also in evidence on the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble's latest LP on Golden Crest CRS 31031. The Sting on MCA-390 from the award-winning movie, and the The Southland Stingers on Angel S-36047.

In closing, I would like to mention another favorite of mine, Charlie Rasch. He has a recently released solo LP on CK, AR 3204, featuring a few rags and some jazz-oriented pop tunes from the twenties and thirties. This is available from CK Records, 100 S. 7th St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103.

Charles B. Davis, Jr., 444 Rocky Run Road Midway Park, NC 28544

Speaker Tests for Non-technical Consumer

Dear sir,

Richard C. Heyser's exhaustive re views of speaker systems in the pages of AUDIO show clearly 'how judicious use of modern testing methods and equipment can be of value to the non technical consumer as well as the audio engineer. Some of his data is beyond the average ken, but his presentation has universal appeal in that he consistently relates his subjective commentary to his laboratory findings, and he is prone toward a professional under statement strikingly absent elsewhere.

I consider his reviews to be not only precise and informative, but educational--the catalyst I need to get my head into those technical areas which were formerly so intimidating to me. (Necessity breeding invention, I feel one should dig out every available scrap of information before giving irreversible flight to hundreds of dollars.)

-Ralph L. Price, Jr.

(Source: Audio magazine.)

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