It Had To Be You - Savoy Havana Band, 1924

[JHolmesesq]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB-si9DxPLQ[/youtube]

One of my latest buys. It's not in the best of shapes as it's pretty scratched - but it's very interesting to hear this as an up tempo fox trot rather than a much slower song which we're all familiar with today. Some great Ramon Newton vocals, enjoy!

[JHolmesesq]

Here's the flip. I can't find another copy of this on Youtube so it's a bit of a first! Another hot side from the Savoy Orpheans

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siQPOqtLij0[/youtube]

[Swing Band Heaven]

Great disk...I have a copy somewhere too although mine isn't in great condition either. Like you I thought its interesting to hear it played (as originally intended) as a dance tune rather than the ballad it has become in later years. Did you use your new graphic equalizer? I've found that with these laminated columbia the surface always seems to have a rumble associated with it which can be reduced by decreasing the emphasis on the lower frequencies. Also if you can convert the sound to mono (if the amp has a switch or using software to do it) that also seems to help.

S-B-H

[syncopeter]

Yes, a lot of the laminated Columbias have some kind of buzz. I wouldn't call it rumble as it is somewhere around 150Hz, but it is hard to remove, because it is mostly well within the musical range. But compared with the fish-and-chips crackle of contemperary HMV's I still prefer the Columbia's.
I had a 1926 pressing of Fred Rich playing Gershwin that had no surface noise at all. Totally quiet, like a 2010 vinyl pressing. But that also had that slight buzz somewhere around 150Hz.

Peter.

[Swing Band Heaven]

On my graphic equalizer the 64 and 125hz bands seem to cover it. If you decrease those frequencies too much you lose a good part of the bass response of the music. The trick is minimising it and striking the balance between reducing the rumble sound and leaving the music some depth. As I said converting the sound to mono does seem to reduce the problem as well.

I would refer to it a a rumble sound rather than a buzz simply because that's what it sounds like - almost like a far off rumble of a train. A buzz is something quite different in my mind. Its something that isn't reproduced by acoustic machines or even radiograms of the 1930's but which is very evident when played on modern decks. I get the same from Edison DDs. Interestingly I don't get it from Australian laminated disks - although these are slightly later and I guess they had improved processes somewhat.

S-B-H

[syncopeter]

I tended to leave it there. It was usually only slight and I really loved the warm and deep sound of the Columbias of that period. The rumble was only there on the earlier pressings and from around 1928 it was gone. Of course it was way below what gramophones could produce at the time, so probably nobody noticed it until the advent of better quality electric reproducers and amplifiers.
On some late 1930s Deccas there is a pronounced 50Hz hum that simply wasn't heard by the recording technician because his monitoring speaker didn't go below 80Hz. And in most cases this was Jaap van den Hul, father of the famous Aalt Jouk, whose cartridges and cables are legendary. Jaap did amazing things with just two microphones and a primitive mixing table. His recordings are incredibly clear and well balanced.

Peter.

[Guest]

[quote="Swing Band Heaven"]Did you use your new graphic equalizer? I've found that with these laminated columbia the surface always seems to have a rumble associated with it which can be reduced by decreasing the emphasis on the lower frequencies. Also if you can convert the sound to mono (if the amp has a switch or using software to do it) that also seems to help.

S-B-H[/quote]

....DOH. You know what - I actually didn't! I equalised it later on Audacity later. I've become used to the black box sitting there that I didn't think to use that, I plugged it in via USB as I've always done. I blame this illness I've had recently, it's put me out a lot I feel a tiny bit stupid now - when I play this with my equaliser live it sounds so much better as well too haha