Recording an old Record

Pappy725 · Post by **Pappy725** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 2:20 pm

I am trying to record a record my uncle made back in the '40's. He passed away last year and his daughter told me about this record he made back when he was trying to make it as a singer in California. There were two records and he threw one away, but my aunt gave the second to my cousin Sue and told her not to tell him she had it. I want to digitize it so I can put it on a CD and let the family listen to it. Sue told me she hasn't played it in 25 years or more.

The label of the disc says "Audition", Soundcraft Full Spectrum. It also says Reeves Soundcraft Corporation, 10 East 52nd St., New York 22, New York. There is a chip in the vinyl(?) on one side and it looks as if the platter is made of aluminum or some other metal. My daughter works at the local radio station and is looking for a turntable to help me out with this, if that fails, I have a Telefunken Hi-Fi with radio, turntable and it used to have a reel to reel tape recorder also that I will play it on to record it.

I guess I am looking for advice on cleaning, tips, and anything else any of y'all can think of that will help me not mess this up.

Thanks in advance,

Pappy

kgdrum · Post by **kgdrum** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:58 pm

If its a 78 you need a 78 stylus
Rega & some other turntable companies makes a TT specifically for 78rpm records.
An old client of mine Gary Giddens (jazz critic) has an extensive 78 collection & I found the Rega for him.
A modern tt with a modern record stylus will ruin the record even if it plays 78 rpm.

Sounds like a test pressing my uncle was a classical pianist & had the same kind from the same place,I can't remember what speed they were, his were from the late '50s.

I have a boxed set collection of Bessie Smith 78's I've never played for the same reason and got them from a friend (gulp)
40 years ago!!!

Pappy725 · Post by **Pappy725** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:40 pm

Well, the Telefunken was built in the same era, so it may have the right stylus. Of course, that makes it, um, uh, (doing the math), 70 some odd years old. My daughter located a turntable, but I'm not sure they are 78's. I found some info on the web about the Reeves Soundcraft company, and this was like the third level out of four of the quality discs they made. It is aluminum. My Uncle Chuck didn't write anything on the label, so I have no idea exactly how old these are.

I think these were demo records, and damn, they must have been expensive to do. I just think about how easy we've got it now days and they must have really wanted to do music.

Well, thanks for the input, I plan to be very careful with this project.

Pappy

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:47 am

For much less than the amount this could cost you, there are studios that specialize in this kind of recovery.

OTOH, if you want to get into the recovery business, this pressing sounds like a great place to start.

Pappy725 · Post by **Pappy725** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 6:59 am

mikehalloran wrote:OTOH, if you want to get into the recovery business, this pressing sounds like a great place to start.

Yeah, I'm kinda leaning that way. I'm getting close to retirement from my day job and I want to do more with music. Any music, any way, so this might be a great learning experience. And we're never too old to learn, are we?
Thanks, Mike,

Pappy

resolectric · Post by **resolectric** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:49 am

Pappy725 wrote:...it looks as if the platter is made of aluminum or some other metal. ...

It's probably not advisable to play this with a regular stylus.
What you have seems to be a pressing master.
I suggest you contact an experienced mastering studio and engineer, someone who works with lathe cutting and who's used to prepare masters for vinyl pressing.

Pappy725 · Post by **Pappy725** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:40 am

resolectric wrote:It's probably not advisable to play this with a regular stylus.
What you have seems to be a pressing master.

Well, my cousin remembers playing it at some point when she was younger. And I looked up the company on the internet and found that they made discs for demos that were meant to be played on normal turntables. My cousin is getting antsy and I need to try to get this captured.

Thanks for the input.

Pappy

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 12:17 pm

Well, if you want to treat it as an archive master of some importance, pro treatment is not ill advised. However, if you're not as concerned about that, then you could record it at 33 or 45 RPM and bump up the speed in a good app (MachFive 3 IRCAM would do a nice job, I'm sure).

You could clean up a lot of hiss and rumble in DP or with some good cleaning plugs or apps as well. My oldest sister was in a well known chick group in the 60s and had a few of her early masters as a soloist. One was in very bad condition and I managed to clean it up with a standard needle on a 78 player I found in a thrift store for $10. A few years later I actually found an identical (pristine) master of the song on eBay!

Haven't touched it except to open it.

Pappy725 · Post by **Pappy725** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:42 pm

The only importance of the record is to the family. Until I heard about this at my uncle's memorial service, I never knew he sang or had any aspirations to be a singer in his youth. I'm curious to hear what he sounded like and to be able to capture that for our family. I mean, this had to be fairly expensive back in the 40's when this was recorded.

Pappy

resolectric · Post by **resolectric** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 2:49 am

Pappy725 wrote:...the platter is made of aluminum or some other metal. ...

This should be your main concern.
Everything else is academic.

Pappy725 · Post by **Pappy725** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:36 am

resolectric wrote:
Pappy725 wrote:...the platter is made of aluminum or some other metal. ...
This should be your main concern.

Yes, but it is coated in a vinyl?/plastic? material that looks like a normal record. Some of the material is chipped off of the edge on one side of the record and that's how I can tell the platter is metal.

Pappy

stephentayler · Post by **stephentayler** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:19 am

It sounds like an acetate or lacquer, a one-off cut and not a pressing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetate_disc

They wear out quickly!!

Cheers

Stephen

resolectric · Post by **resolectric** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:22 pm

stephentayler wrote:It sounds like an acetate or lacquer, a one-off cut and not a pressing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetate_disc

They wear out quickly!!

Cheers

Stephen

There. What Stephen said.

Instead of definitely damaging or ruining your one-of record, and because on the internet there are always so many answers for everything, get out of the internet and contact a good mastering engineer that knows what he's doing.

stephentayler · Post by **stephentayler** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 1:04 pm

Also, beware of using any cleaning products or solvents, remember this is not vinyl!

Stephen

Pappy725 · Post by **Pappy725** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 2:12 pm

Thanks guys, I appreciate the sharing of knowledge and concern for old audio artifacts. It is an antique. I'll check the article I saw about the company again and see if I can find anything out about it. I'm 75-80 miles away from San Antonio and Austin here in Texas, so there should be someone that's capable of doing this nearby.

This is a recording of my Uncle Chuck Austin. His wife, my Aunt Sister, (yes, I live in Texas)
used to call me by first and middle name: STEPHEN EDWARD! to differentiate between my cousin of the same age also named Steven.

Thanks again,

Pappy
actually my name is Stephen Edward Campbell.

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