The Dawn of Commercial Digital Recording
Thomas Fine · Journal - Association for Recorded Sound Collections · 2015
I offer for publication a few miscellaneous updates to my article 'The Dawn of Digital Recording,' ARSC Journal, 2008; 39(1):1-18. 1. author heard from former Soundstream engineer Jules Bloomenthal after original publication. Mr. Bloomenthal clarified the sample rates of the prototype Soundstream recorders: Our two-channel prototype, which recorded the Santa Fe Opera in 1976 and was demonstrated at the AES convention in New York later that year, sampled at 37.5 kHz. At the convention, several listeners mentioned lack of 'air' and so, in building the 4-channel recorder that was to become the company workhorse, we increased the sampling rate. first 4-channel machine was finished a mere day or two before the (Virgil) Fox direct-to-disk sessions; we were invited to attend as a 'backup'. That machine sampled at 42.5 kHz (not 32 kHz, as you report). 2. Another interesting Soundstream detail was found in Billboard magazine (3 December 1977, p.1; Worman, John: Pops Cuts 1st 3-Way Session). On 31 October and 1 November 1977, producer Ed Wodenjak and engineer Bert Whyte oversaw recording of Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien and Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, the microphones feeding a direct-to-LP cutting chain, an Ampex ATR-100 tape recorder and a Soundstream recorder. direct-to-disc recording was released as Crystal Clear CCS-7003. Soundstream recording was not commercially released, as far as the author has been able to determine. 3. Decca was the first major classic label in Europe to adopt recording, as documented in The Dawn of Digital Recording. Listed here are digital firsts by the other major European classical labels of the time: * Deutsche Grammophon 2532 001--Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto performed by Gidon Kremer, violin, Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Lorin Maazel. 3M Digital system was used and the recording was made in 1979 (see DGG's official history online: http://history. deutschegrammophon.com/en_GB/1970-1979). * EMI (Angel) DS37674--Debussy: Images for Orchestra and Prelude to the Afternoon of A Faun performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andre Previn. Recorded 2-3 July 1979 at Abbey Road Studios, using proprietary recorder, the album was reissued on CD in Great Recordings of the Century series. booklet for that CD (0946 3 91966 2 3) describes this as EMI's first recording. Previn is pictured on p. 290 with the EMI SE7000 recorder. * Philips 9500 921--Pops In Space by the Boston Pops conducted by John Williams. Recorded in June 1980 using the Soundstream system, the original LP carried an inserted-over-jacket banner trumpeting First Philips Digital Recording. According to former Decca engineer Michael Mailes, the recording was made by a Decca crew of himself and Stanley Goodall handling the mics and the mixing board and Soundstream personnel handling the recorder (see http://www. …