Quote:
Originally Posted by
Razahtlab
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Hello,
For a research project I’m trying to find out the technical details (microphones, preamps, mic placement, tape, etc) for the Decca recording of the Ravel string quartet by the Carmirelli Quartet (SXL 2231).
I read a very interesting article about Mike Gray and his endeavors in researching the Decca archives, with amazing finds of the technical logs of all kinds of recordings (
http://www.polymathperspective.com/index.php?p=3219), so I suppose this kind of information should be available somewhere, right?…..
I don’t know if your ‘research project’ is for a recognised higher degree award (eg Masters or PhD) or if it’s simply a highly specialized (ie a single 1960 record) personal passion project ?
If it’s the former then you’ll likely receive credit for having simply done the appropriate source research by consulting all known data, such as Michael Gray’s writings and the Dunkerley et al Decca history book I cited above. Such research would lead you towards the ‘most likely hardware and arrays used’…even in the absence of an actual session log of the recording date. That information may be sufficient to satisfy your examiner’s research effort criteria ?
But there are additional avenues of investigation, depending upon your tenacity and resources. There are the still-living practitioners of the company’s methods….but I urge you not to delay in attempting to track these men down, tempus fugit….and life is brief !!
Some of these guys joined Decca later in the game (eg John Pellowe):
https://youtu.be/mXmb-GJh-T0?si=49XC1Azckw5lUCHk
….but may be able to point you towards info sources….as would John Dunkerley himself, if he’s able and willing to do so for you ?
Another source (if still alive and active) would be Michael Gray himself, as he wrote numerous articles for The Absolute Sound in the 1980’s on specific Decca and RCA sessions.
James Lock** is no longer with us:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obi...ames-Lock.html
Another ex-Decca employee worth seeking out (I believe he became a lecturer in recording studies in the UK after leaving Decca, as well as a freelance engineer in his own right) is Tryggvi Tryggvason….you can do a search to uncover which were his ‘active Decca years’ ?
Here’s a Tryggvi chapter to set you on his trail:
https://sengpielaudio.com/DeccaTree-TryggTryggvason.pdf
Good luck with your search….and post your findings here, as many of us have a keen interest in this essential Decca history material !
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**…..’Instead he secured a traineeship at the International Broadcasting Corporation (IBC). After three years there, he moved, in 1959, to Saga records, before leaving for National Service. Afterwards, Lock wrote to Decca asking for a job and was hired as a recording engineer in 1963. "Decca was the one company I had always wanted to work for and I felt very lucky to be taken on," he said in an interview more than 30 years later. "I found myself acting as tape operator."
Decca had already made the transition from mono to stereo, and Lock began further experiments with recording techniques.
He found "omnidirectional" microphones produced a "more open orchestral sound".
At that time Decca was recording the Ring Cycle conducted by Georg Solti, and Lock remembered that the label's technicians stayed in Vienna for "months at a time... living more or less on top of the Sofiensaal where the recordings were made".
Over the next 40 years, Lock made a host of highly regarded classical recordings, laying down some of what are now considered definitive takes. Among many others, his pristine but atmospheric sound can be heard on the Zubin Mehta Turandot, which featured Joan Sutherland, Pavarotti and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the von Karajan La Bohème from 1972, which Lock described as one of his favourite recordings.
Lock was always modest about his art, listing the essentials of any good record in this order: "the work, the performance and then the sound". But he was demanding about the venue, making no compromise on grounds of convenience: "I believe that you can never make a good sound in a bad hall."
It was said that Lock could walk into a concert hall, clap his hands, and instantly determine how acoustics would impact on performance. This ability saw him much in demand during renovations and updates of major venues around the world’