Question of speed

[howardpgh]

This may have been covered before.
When does Victor change from 76 rpm to 78 rpm.
Columbia always 80 rpm.
What about some of the other brands? Vocalion, Brunswick, Okeh, Gennett etc.

[Wolfe]

Columbia are not always 80 RPM. Though they often favor that area of speed. The speeds vary like any other brand.

I don't know if you can pin a time when Victor lock in at 78, even they were 'intended' to be, that doesn't mean the cutting lathe agreed. Plus, Victor records pressed from imported matrixes are anyone's 'guess.'

The only company I know of that adhered to a more or less standard speed (up through the 1920's) is Edison. Diamond Discs at 80 RPM.

[howardpgh]

I think the companies slowed down the lathes to accomodate a longer piece of music. I have a Victor Herbert 12" Blue Victor of Dance of the Hours that sounds like the orchestra hurried through the piece.

[Wolfe]

I'm sure that lathes were slowed down in some instances to accommodate longer pieces. But the practice of speeding tempos to make them fit the sides was commonly used.

Many times over the years I've been introduced a piece of unfamiliar music (orchestral or opera) via an old 78, and then heard a modern version and realized that the 78 was (sometimes very) fast.

[OrthoSean]

I think the companies slowed down the lathes to accomodate a longer piece of music. I have a Victor Herbert 12" Blue Victor of Dance of the Hours that sounds like the orchestra hurried through the piece.

This is where having a pitch pipe is very helpful, I'd say invaluable. Some of those Victor Herbert discs play in proper key at around 73.5 RPM, along with a lot of the early Stokowskis, Toscaninis, etc. At 76 or 78, you're listening an octave or two above score pitch and it's not going to sound right.

Sean

[Orchorsol]

I think the companies slowed down the lathes to accomodate a longer piece of music. I have a Victor Herbert 12" Blue Victor of Dance of the Hours that sounds like the orchestra hurried through the piece.

This is where having a pitch pipe is very helpful, I'd say invaluable. Some of those Victor Herbert discs play in proper key at around 73.5 RPM, along with a lot of the early Stokowskis, Toscaninis, etc. At 76 or 78, you're listening an octave or two above score pitch and it's not going to sound right.

Sean

Rather, a semitone or two? One octave would be a doubling of speed and frequency.

[OrthoSean]

Rather, a semitone or two? One octave would be a doubling of speed and frequency.

Yes. This is why we shouldn't post when we've just had a 16 hour day!

Semitone is what I meant!

Sean

[CptBob]

Rather, a semitone or two? One octave would be a doubling of speed and frequency.

Yes. This is why we shouldn't post when we've just had a 16 hour day!

Semitone is what I meant!

Sean

That reminds me of that classic 1960s LP, "Pinky & Perky's Greatest Hits" and the sub-title said, can you tell these from the original sounds. For non-UK readers, Pinky & Perky were a pair of puppet pigs who had a children's television show. Their singing might have been the results of helium inflation.

[Orchorsol]

That reminds me of that classic 1960s LP, "Pinky & Perky's Greatest Hits" and the sub-title said, can you tell these from the original sounds. For non-UK readers, Pinky & Perky were a pair of puppet pigs who had a children's television show. Their singing might have been the results of helium inflation.

My generation, but I never quite "got" Pinky and Perky! They are on 78 too... I have a copy (just to be obtuse, as I disliked them so much when growing up ).

The effect was achieved by speeding recordings up (i.e. recording the voices against the instrumental backing playing at half speed).

[Wolfe]

A half tone up or down per (roughly) 4 revolutions of the record is the 'rule of thumb' I've stuck to.