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Pathé Actuelle Claudia Muzio record and a question

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 12:54 pm
by melvind
I made a recording and video of a Pathé Actuelle needle cut record this morning and I have some questions about how these records were made. It is very noisy and I would even say poor quality. The record is in near mint condition and there are not flaws visually on the record. But, it has a lot of rumble throughout and there are some very obvious low frequency thumps in various places of the record. Both sides have this same issue. This is not the type of thing I have encountered on worn records. I am quite sure the sound came from the manufacturing process.

I am assuming that Acutelle recordings that also came out on vertical cut records (as did this one) were made using some version of the Pantograph method by Pathé. While I have always thought Pathé records in general were pretty noisy, this seems worse than vertical cut record. Am I imagining this or is it a common problem with Pathé's needle cut records?

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n4b6I3dBuU[/youtubehd]
https://youtu.be/7n4b6I3dBuU

Re: Pathé Actuelle Claudia Muzio record and a question

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:00 pm
by OrthoSean
melvind wrote:I am assuming that Acutelle recordings that also came out on vertical cut records (as did this one) were made using some version of the Pantograph method by Pathé. While I have always thought Pathé records in general were pretty noisy, this seems worse than vertical cut record. Am I imagining this or is it a common problem with Pathé's needle cut records.
The answer is yes to all of this. Actuelles are dubbed from the pantograph system just like verticals were, so are some Perfect discs if you didn't know. Quality varies for sure. Those thumps and bumps you hear can be downright violent sounding. Yet at the same time, some of these dubs are great. Quality control doesn't seem like it was much of a concern!

Sean

Re: Pathé Actuelle Claudia Muzio record and a question

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:30 pm
by Wolfe
Pretty normal Pathé stuff. Trying high pass filtering that junk out. Ward Marston's transfer of this record has those low frequency noises pretty much totally absent. Marston is often the gold standard with this stuff.

Re: Pathé Actuelle Claudia Muzio record and a question

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:33 pm
by melvind
Wolfe wrote:Pretty normal Pathé stuff. Trying high pass filtering that junk out. Ward Marston's transfer of this record has those low frequency noises pretty much totally absent, while still sounding pretty similar to your transfer. He has the pitch a little higher, too. Marston is often the gold standard with this stuff.
I wonder if Marton's came from the vertical cut record rather than the needle cut record. It could be a much clearer copy. But, I don't really know.

Re: Pathé Actuelle Claudia Muzio record and a question

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:39 pm
by Wolfe
Good point, he lists his copy that he used as catalog # 54036, which should be a vertically cut disc. It would have still been dubbed from a master cylinder, but perhaps the set up for that transfered less noise than the lateral.

Re: Pathé Actuelle Claudia Muzio record and a question

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 2:20 pm
by OrthoSean
Also, I don't think these dubs were done at the same time, so conditions could have been very different each time a dub was done. I find verticals to be much less loaded with those noises, but again, there isn't ever a lot of consistency.

Sean

Re: Pathé Actuelle Claudia Muzio record and a question

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:34 pm
by Wolfe
^ That's another point. That recording was made in 1918 and (presumably) put out on the hill and dale disc around the same time, but the needle cut Pathés weren't introduced until 1920 or so.

Re: Pathé Actuelle Claudia Muzio record and a question

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 10:31 pm
by Wolfe
Just as curio that might fit here - 20 seconds into this film is a clip of Claudia Muzio recording a cylinder master for Pathé.

https://youtu.be/Pn1r2-t59gA

Re: Pathé Actuelle Claudia Muzio record and a question

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 10:37 pm
by melvind
Wolfe wrote:Just as curio that might fit here - 20 seconds into this film is a clip of Claudia Muzio recording a cylinder master for Pathé.
Wonderful find! Thanks for posting it.

Re: Pathé Actuelle Claudia Muzio record and a question

Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 11:34 pm
by Viva-voce
Yes I send my thanks also for posting this. I really enjoyed it along with the YouTube posts of Ponselle simulating a recording at the horn for the cameras as well as the similar 1924 footage of Galli-Curci in the studio filmed by British Pathé :)

Steven