in search for sofiensaal technical information
Thu, Sep 27 2012, 1:53PM
Sofiensaal has vanished and the more mythical it is.
It even became the place for the last Strauss Frau at Salzburg !
It was the usual recording place for Decca in Vienna.
Their famous Ring was recorded here over a ten years period from 1958.
During that time solid state electronics had replaced tubed ones.
Did someone know at what time that change occurs in Sofiensaal ?
I am inclined to think it was between Siegfried and Gotterdammerung.
Fri, Sep 28 2012, 10:55AM
#2
RE: in search for sofiensaal technical information
Thank you for your comment and yours informations.
Save for the date, why do you think that the Siemens equipment was solid state ?
My question come from the fact that i have the sensation the Siegfried recording is the slightly the best of the Ring.
Fri, Sep 28 2012, 2:20PM
#3
RE: in search for sofiensaal technical information
Sorry, can't see from the photograph! But the microphones were the same ones and the sound in 1965 was more opulent than in 1961, less of the pin-sharp clarity of the Nutcracker. I notice the same difference in the Ring too. I doubt if they changed the equipment twice during that period.
Chris
Fri, Oct 19 2012, 6:59PM
#4
RE: in search for sofiensaal technical information
I think Chris is correct and the change would have been the mid sixties or slightly earlier as around this time solid state equipment was taking over generally from valves (tubes). It would also be around this time that Decca replaced their EMI and Ampex valved tape recorders with Dolby noise reduction equiped Studer recorders which were also presumably transistorized.
I'm not necessarily convinced the new equipment was an improvement.
Sat, Oct 20 2012, 6:05AM
#5
RE: in search for sofiensaal technical information
Interesting comment 33lp. I'm not sure that the change to Studer tape recorders occurred at the same time as the first use of Dolby noise reduction. But if it did, we can date the change precisely. The first Decca recording using Dolby was a record of Mozart piano sonatas (K282, 284, 330 & 332) by Wilhelm Backhaus. There was an article about it at the time of release (July 1967). The interesting thing is that one side had been recorded before the arrival of the Dolby units, but Decca were so impressed with the system that they immediately used them to record the works issued on the other side. I had this LP (SXL6301) and there was certainly audible hiss on one side, not on the other. Whether this recording date (not given on the LP, but probably shown on a CD reissue) was the same as the overall change to transistorised systems though, I doubt.
Chris
Sun, Oct 21 2012, 11:26PM
#6
RE: in search for sofiensaal technical information
Yes Chris you may be correct in that Decca's use of Studer recorders and Dolby didn't necessarily coincide. I have just had a look at the slim paperback Full Frequency Stereophonic Sound which discusses Decca's early stereo experiments & recordings but it doesn't give any details on intro of Dolby or change from valve to transistor recorders.
Just to show that such recordings can still be made using old technology I have an LP from 1999 by the somewhat off-beat label Tacet entitled Das Rohre (the tube) emblazoned with "Transistorfrei" on the cover. It was made using Neumann valve microphones (still used today by Tony Faulkner), a valve mixer and a refurbished Telefunken valve recorder whilst the disc cuttting head was driven by valve amplifiers. It sounds not at all bad via my own valve phono stage & valve power amp. Oh, and the music is by Vivaldi, Boccherini, Corelli etc with the Stuttgart Chamber Orch, the first time i have come across them since Munchinger's day. The same equupment is also used for Tacet's LP of Schubert's Quintet by the augmented Auryn quartet.
Thu, Oct 25 2012, 1:13PM
#7
RE: in search for sofiensaal technical information
The Backhaus -Mozart - SXL6301 mentioned above was reisued on cd 433900-2.
The recording dates are :
1961 for k332 and K330
1966 for K282 and K283
Thu, Oct 25 2012, 6:52PM
#8
RE: in search for sofiensaal technical information
Thanks very much for that information Wander. I had thought the dates were much closer together, but of course it's a long time ago. Despite the five year difference the sound on the two sides is very similar (slight hiss excepted) with the earlier recordings having a slightly warmer sound if anything.
Chris
Thu, Oct 25 2012, 8:45PM
#9
RE: in search for sofiensaal technical information
Interesting, presumably the earlier slightly warmer would have used a valve recorder & the latter would be transistorized.
Interesting question Wandrer44.
The booklet of the Legends CD of Tchaikovsky Ballet music (VPO/Karajan) says that in Nutcracker (September 1961) a 'Decca Built' mixing desk was used, whereas in Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty (both March 1965) they used a Siemens mixing desk. This fits with your suggestion, I think.
Chris
Chris A.Gnostic