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Re: Mass produced phonograph records



Unless I'm missing the point, in my limited experience, shellac and vinyl
record discs ( and to some degree, magnetic tapes)  preserve the original
audio qualities to a better degree than some reproductions of the ones
reproduced and enhanced at a later date.

For example, an original Leadbelly or Caruso record, though originally
cut on a wax master, ( or on a magnetic tape in the case of later works)
and subsequently reproduced were mass produced in the shellac and vinyl.
Many of the original masters were destroyed.  Often we have no other
source of the original performance, so we must redo the old copies.

Companies that retained the originals, to their credit, can often enhance
and put them contemporary media.  These are quite superior.  Listen to
enough shellacs and you'll know why.

That the equipment to use the originals is no longer being produced on a
large scale, is regrettable.  In time, the CD, etc. techniques will pass
into oblivion as they must.  What is the permanence of magnetic tapes or
CDs?  Didn't someone recently post some studies?

Exactly what is kept in the archives is a personal and institutional
choice.

Pardon my enthusiasm, but I am a music lover.

Bill

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