Old documentary about vinyl records 1956

as recorded in new ortho phonic high-fidelity sound by charles munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet plays about 19 minutes its production required the varied skills and talents of some 375 people and some 3,000 man-hours of work let's see how some of those hours were spent to bring you the music you want when you want it first stop Symphony Hall Boston Massachusetts to begin with a new ortho phonic high-fidelity recording is not just the mechanical reproduction of a concert performance it's the art of creating the effect of a concert performance there are many stops and starts many takes and retakes that's because the end object is a planned illusion the illusion as you ultimately hear the music played back through your phonograph then you have the best seat in the concert hall how do they do it well the recording music director or any one of the sound engineers could easily explain it all in 10 weeks but let's just take a look at three of the fundamental requirements of high fidelity recording the first is full dynamic range that's the spread between the softest and loudest passages in the music in a concert performance the range is as wide as the conductor feels the score indicates these meters on the recording console indicate the volume of sound coming from the orchestra onto the magnetic tape in the old days home photographs could not reproduce either for wild passages or very soft passages so they were literally kept off the record right here by sound monitoring but it wasn't a faithful reproduction of the actual performance such as you get with today's high fidelity recording techniques today as it should be the conductor and his musicians control all of the dynamics including all of the natural shadings just as they do in a concert and after the recording begins the engineer never touches the controls the full dynamic power of the orchestra is faithfully transferred to the recording tape the second requirement is somewhat similar achieving natural balance between all instruments and sections of the orchestra this can only be achieved by precise microphone placement and this varies amazingly with the music the particular artists the hall itself even climatic conditions it is never the same from one recording session to another again an easy solution might be bound here by the arbitrary placement and control of many microphones but again it wouldn't be natural or faithful reproduction today the engineers record the orchestra as a complete the third important requirement in a high-fidelity recording is frequency range capturing high notes as well as low this is actually accomplished before the session begins all it takes is recording equipment of enormous cost and capacity such as this recording console it faithfully handles all sounds audible to the human ear the entire frequency spectrum from twenty to twenty thousand cycles per second and with less than two-tenths of one percent Distortion it transfers them to the swiftly spinning magnetic tape a new challenge here is stereophonic recording this requires dual mics dual track tape machines and a stereophonic mixer but for those who have the equipment it also permits to system for stereophonic playback in the home there are other high fidelity requirements such as presence definition clarity but with time and patience and enough retakes they get on the record too eventually there is a playback that everyone recognizes as the image they were seeking both artistically and acoustically they have a truly faithful recording of Romeo and Juliet and we are one step closer to having it in our homes next stop New York City and the precise engineering business of transferring the recorded sound from tape to a disc called the lacquer master this disc is the grandfather of the records to come later let's look at the steps in the cutting of our lacquer master most of the sound factors are already known the speed of the tape in recording its playing time and the sound level required these factors must be considered for both 45 rpm and long-play lacquer masters a special lacquer master disc is closely inspected for the 12 inch long play record the master is 16 inches in diameter for 45 extended play records the master is 12 inches in diameter in both cases the extra width allows plenty of working room in cutting besides a spindle for centering the turntable has a number of holes through these holes air suction holds the lacquer disc down tightly so it is perfectly flat on the turntable the playing time of the music determines the number of grooves per inch that will be cut into the record the sound dynamics of the music determine how far apart the grooves must be loud passages need more space between grooves soft passages need less the cutting machine automatically spaces the music grooves according to the sound signal its receiving now a test cut to determine the groove width the groove wid must be exact so exact that it is carefully checked through a microscope everything set and a coarse pitch leaden groove is cut to the music area the tape machine is started and exactly one and a half turns before the music begins the cutting head automatically changes from the leading groove to fine pitch music rules the cutting stylus is a minut piece of sapphire perfectly ground and electrically heated so there is virtually no resistance as it cuts into the smooth lacquer during the cutting operation a constant watch is kept on the groove width to make sure it never varies from the prescribed setting it all sounds so simple when you're just skimming the surface actually of course it's a painstaking and delicate operation but in time you have a perfect lacquer master the original tape goes into the vault for safekeeping to take its place forever alongside many other priceless performances by the world's greatest artists all the artistry of the Romeo and Juliet performance is being carefully preserved and we're another step closer to having that performance in our own living rooms next stop Indianapolis Indiana one of three processing plants to which our lacquer master might go we start in production control here every lacquer master is assigned a shadow a special business machine card from now on this card can lead you straight to our particular recording no matter where it might be in processing the processing is identical for long play and 45 rpm records first the grooves in the lacquer master are carefully rechecked through a microscope they have to be perfect now we proceed to make metal copies from the lacquer master the first step silvering this takes precisely 2 minutes and 40 seconds and the lacquer master comes out with a new face now by patient electroplating we add a series of metallic deposits one behind the other first a fine grained deposit of nickel this makes smooth walled grooves and a quieter surface next a thin deposit of copper over the nickel a nice smooth salmon pink now a whirling bath in another tank a much heavier buildup of copper we'll see why in a moment we now have a master disc that is apparently all back and no front but watch now we have two fronts and two masters the original lacquer master is on the left a new silver faced master is on the right but this is the point where most people long for a road map let's make one we started with the lacquer master to the face of it we added first silver then nickel then copper and finally a lot more copper then we separate the lacquer from the metal now we have both our original lacquer master and a new silver faced or metal master the grooves in the lacquer master make it a positive it can be played the matching ridges on the metal master make it a negative it cannot be played we continue work with the metal master repeating the gradual metal buildup to make another part then another separation the metal master is at the left and the new part called a mold is at the right we have progressed from the original positive to a negative to another positive the metal master normally goes back immediately to build up another mold but that depends on the next important step the mold can be played so it is promptly readied for a sound test the mold is thoroughly cleaned to prevent damage in the test play in any name that tune contest put your money on a record tester 8 hours a day and all kinds of music she loves it more important she is an expert at hearing the slightest imperfection on a record surface and should she find any a new lacquer master from the original tape is immediately ordered from New York after audio testing the mold goes back to the plating tanks it produces the most important new metal part the Stamper this completes the cycle lacquer 2 master master 2 mold mold 2 Stamper the metal buildup to the staffer is exactly the same except for one thing the Stamper is nearly all pure hard nickel its ridges press the playing grooves into the finished record now it's prepared for stamping ground perfectly smooth on the back optically Center punched for the record press trimmed to exact diameter and coined given a formed edge to grasp the stamping died securely the record press is a complicated piece of equipment weighing two tons it molds records by compression our Stamper is mounted on the top die below it another Stamper simultaneously presses the other side of the record the record compound the finest pure vinyl obtainable is fed into the press in granular form it is forced by hydraulic pressure into a soft plastic in just the right amount for one record the labels are pressed right into the record now we're ready to roll it has taken many steps and many man-hours to get here but a new record is stamped every few seconds the record press automatically heats the vinyl plastic for stamping then automatically cools it so the record can be played immediately and here's the first long-play copy of Romeo and Juliet a collector's item no the first pressing is always carefully inspected for everything from the correct serial number to perfect centering then still another playback test finally the pressing of the Romeo and Juliet gets going in earnest and for those who prefer the 45 extended play version and for the millions of teenagers anxiously awaiting the latest pop head an ingenious machine turns them out automatically it places its own labels feeds itself the vinyl compound removes its own records and stacks them already trimmed and for the fast-growing legions of tape enthusiasts equally ingenious machines turn out duplicate copies at four times the playback speed to save time and backwards to save rewinding and no matter what your taste or preference in music in the packaging area you discover unlimited variety the finest in sound and performance children's albums the unusual showtunes or country music pop hits and jazz classics dance and party music mood music Grand Opera vocal or instrumental solos symphonic or other classical masterpieces the world's greatest artists are at your service it's a big operation but no matter what type of music you prefer or whether you want it on 45 extended play or 33 and 1/3 long play every record is made with the same care under the same high fidelity standards and the Romeo and Juliet getting closer to home all the time a final inspection every record is carefully checked by experienced Packers who know almost at a glance if the record is up to standard in its own distinctive sleeve another new ortho phonic high-fidelity recording finally ready for shipment a new mechanical shipping technique helps to speed it on its way here in the shipping control room special machines keep track of the quarter of a million new records made here every day which records go where when in what quantities the cards tell you the Romeo and Juliet recording goes out in both 45 extended play and long play versions the sorting machine divides the Romeo and Juliet shipping instructions into these two categories now the shippers take over both versions are shipped in the same way in cartons of 25 records but let's follow the cartons of 45 extended play albums as they're picked from the storage bins the cartons are placed on a unique distribution rack embedded here from now on one keeps everything running smoothly as each order is filled according to the punch card instructions she changes the setting on an automatic addressing machine and the equipment does the rest the code number and address of the record distributor for this order automatically stamped on each carton then the cartons pass through another machine where they are bundled together in groups of four and the way they go to the accumulation area down below on another floor here the cartons are accumulated for shipment to distributors and record dealers in all parts of the country these long play albums have been through the same shipping process as the 45s and now both versions are on the homestretch hundreds of identical and faithful copies of one high fidelity recording Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet it's traveled a long way or an illusion the last stop hold and the best seat in the concert hall Oh

Channel: Inter-Pathé History

Views: 64,418

Rating: 4.9357886 out of 5

Keywords: Gramophone Record (Media Format), Record Collecting (Collection Activity)

Id: xvYXkRIz9OE

Length: 23min 43sec (1423 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 18 2015