458 American Archivist / Vol. 58 / Fall 1995 Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/4/458/2749659/aarc_58_4_h0574104424k4376.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 Lasers and the Fate of Phonographic Recordings by MATTHEW SPRINKLE Abstract: Conventional methods cannot always be used to play back sound recordings from old and/or damaged phonographic cylinders and discs. New compact disc technology uses lasers for quality and precision playback of sound recordings. To what extent can lasers be effectively used on phonographic media? Laboratory work and attempts at mass marketing provide interesting insights for sound archivists. About the author: Matthew D. Sprinkle earned a B.A. in Music (1986), and an M.A. in Music Theory and Composition (1992), from the University of Wyoming. He has worked as a guitarist, keyboardist, composer, soloist, singer, and recording engineer in styles as diverse as classical, rock, atonal, and the blues. He won the 1986 Wyoming Music Teachers Association composition contest, college division, with his "Vistas 1 & 2" for classical guitar. The Owen Wister Review (literary/ arts magazine) has twice published his poetry. A member ofSAA, AMI A, ARSC, and SRMA; he is the Audio-visual Archivist of the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. Lasers and the Fate of Phonographic Recordings 459 LASER TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN developed Discs were pressed in a variety of di- to the point where it is useful in many dif- mensions and materials through the years. ferent fields including; medicine, chemis- The early 78 rpm discs were mainly shellac try, communication, photography, and and were thicker than the subsequent vinyl nuclear fusion. Its use in modern sound re- records with sizes ranging from three to Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/4/458/2749659/aarc_58_4_h0574104424k4376.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 production begs the question from sound sixteen inches in diameter. Pathe even pro- archivists, "Can lasers help us to repro- duced a 20" disc that was designed to spin duce the sound from old recordings?" at 120 to 130 rpm.5 The speed for cylinders The oldest items found in most sound also varied from 100 to 200 rpm, although archives are phonographic cylinders and they were usually either 120 or 160 rpm. phonographic discs. Some of these items Speeds for discs varied until 78 rpm be- were made of durable materials (although came the first standard, with 33 1/3 and 45 the grooves themselves are fragile) and are rpm quickly following suit. Other special still in good condition nearly one hundred considerations facing sound archivists in- years later. Many films and audiotapes clude nonstandard groove dimensions and which are much younger are more fragile, layouts, vertical and lateral types of cuts, and have been more prone to deterioration. variable spindle hole dimensions, and The problem concerning the phonograph proper equalization.6 (Equalization is the items tends to be how to acquire the right manipulation of parts of the frequency machinery for playback. Old cylinder ma- spectrum during recording and playback, chines are often rare and expensive, and which provides linear reproduction of the must be customized in order to transfer re- recorded signal.) Matching the original re- cordings directly to a modern medium.1 cording's equalization can be a problem, as Most of the cylinders and discs were de- there were no standards before the 1950s. signed to work with specific styli. Origi- With the advent of electrical recording it nally they were made of steel. It was found became possible to manipulate (or equal- that these were too hard on the discs, which ize) the recorded signal. Low frequencies was also the case with the subsequent could be amplified if they were lacking in chrome or gold plated steel needles. There the signal. Ultimately, many recording were even styli made from fiber and from companies equalized recordings as to what treated and untreated cactus needles.2 By they thought the artist or instrument should the time microgroove records appeared in sound like, as opposed to how they really the late 1940s, the industry settled on sap- sounded.7 Two main types of equalization phire and diamond styli.3 The shape of the techniques were diameter (to compensate stylus also changed through the years from for the changes in groove velocity from a spherical shape for the 78 rpm discs to outside to inside the disc) and frequency- an elliptical shape for long-playing rec- response (to compensate for the nonlinear ords.4 effect of the disc cutting equipment). A third type of equalization was applied by manufacturers to achieve a "house" 'George Blacker and Robert Long, "How to Play Old Records on New Equipment," High Fidelity 23 sound. Equalization practices became uni- (April 1973): 48. form when an industry-wide standard was 2Oliver Read and Walter Welch, From Tin Foil to Stereo (Indianapolis: H.W. Sams, 1976), 549. 3Henry Currall, ed., Phonograph Record Libraries (Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1970), 128-29. 5Blacker and Long, "How to Play Old Records on 4Jerry McWilliams, The Preservation and Resto- New Equipment," 52. ration of Sound Recordings (Nashville, Tenn.: Amer- 'Blacker and Long, "How to Play Old Records on ican Association for State and Local History, 1979), New Equipment," 49. 68. 'Read and Welch, From Tin Foil to Stereo, 239. 460 American Archivist / Fall 1995 finally agreed upon. A curve for frequency- consistent. Rumble is the presence of low- response equalization was adopted by the frequency noise along with the recording." Recording Industry Association of Amer- Chances are that an acoustic phonograph ica (RIAA) in 1953.8 may also damage the recordings. Stylus The practice of electronically enhancing forces on these models tended to be in frac- Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/4/458/2749659/aarc_58_4_h0574104424k4376.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 recordings became standard procedure tions of a pound rather than grams, as with through the years to the point where every modern turntables.12 Often the recordings kind of recording we hear has been manip- are too fragile to be played back as they ulated to some degree. It may be said that were originally intended. Even under op- today's recording engineers are practicing timum playback conditions, minute dam- sound production rather than accurate age to the grooves of recordings is sound reproduction. This, then, leads to the inevitable. A stylus force of just one gram dilemma of deciding how to be faithful to from a microgroove cartridge can produce original recordings during transfer to mod- a pressure on the groove walls of between ern media. 6,000 and 16,000 pounds per square inch. Should we desire to "clean up" the re- The point of stylus-disc contact may also cordings? Electronic systems using algo- develop a temperature of up to 2,000 de- rithms have been designed which can grees Fahrenheit (which is why discs remove scratches, impulsive noise, and should never be played more than once 13 white noise.9 Another question arises as to every twenty-four hours). whether we are more interested in what The sound archivists find themselves be- was recorded (the information) or how re- tween the proverbial rock and a hard place. cordings were made and heard in their day On the one hand, we want faithful repro- (the hardware). duction of the recordings, but on the other Most technicians used to think that hand we want to preserve these recordings proper playback of phonographic media from any more damage than they have al- should be done on original equipment only. ready sustained. Is this a basic contradic- The idea is that only original equipment tion, or is it possible to have the best of will faithfully reproduce the recording the both worlds? way it should be heard. It is true that the The idea of tracking grooved discs with acoustic resonances of the old playback a light beam instead of a stylus is not new machines may correct some of the prob- — inventors have been experimenting with lems in the original recording equipment, optical turntables since Friebus in 1929. In but sometimes the acoustic horns create 1941, Philco was advertising a photo-elec- unintended distortions.10 Usually, the old tric radio-phonograph, and in the 1960s, machines are noisy and suffer from the Britain's Decca commissioned PA Tech- three classic phonograph problems — nology to create a system of cutting master wow, flutter, and rumble. Wow and flutter discs with a light beam instead of a dia- occur when the revolution speed is not mond chisel. These projects eventually failed.14 8McWilliams, The Preservation and Restoration of 1 'MeWilliams, The Preservation and Restoration of Sound Recordings, 10. Sound Recordings, 10. 9S.V. Vaseghi and R. Frayling-Cork, "Restoration 12Currall, Phonograph Record Libraries, 128. of Old Gramophone Recordings," Journal of the Au- 13McWilliams, The Preservation and Restoration of dio Engineering Society 40 (October 1992): 791. Sound Recordings, 56. '"Blacker and Long, "How to Play Old Records on '"Barry Fox, "Laser Turntable for Vinyl Discs," New Equipment," 49. Studio Sound 32 (June 1990): 109. Lasers and the Fate of Phonographic Recordings 461 The idea sounds relatively simple. Two methods of reproduction were de- Merely beam the light from a crossed pair vised for the cylinders. One method used of lasers onto the groove walls and use a an original Edison phonograph with a cus- light sensitive strip to read the angular de- tom-made light pressure stylus. This stylus flections of light caused by the groove was able to reproduce the recorded sounds Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/58/4/458/2749659/aarc_58_4_h0574104424k4376.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 modulations.