Journal of ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. 62, NO. 6, 2011, 370–374 REVIEWS - LETTERS - REPORTS THE DEVELOPMENT OF STEREOPHONIC SOUND IN SLOVAKIA ∗ Pavol BREZINA The development of stereophonic sound in Slovakia in the late sixties had a profound impact on the quality of recorded music in all areas of artificial and non-artificial music and it also played an important role in composing music for radio plays. However, the Czechoslovak Radio in Bratislava was at that time the only technically equipped institute in Slovakia where a stereophonic record could be created. Therefore our research studies have particularly been concerned with examining the archives of this institution as well as the valuable information on implementation of the recordings we have collected through interviews with the former staff of the broadcasting organization. Our research focuses for the first time on the period of the beginnings of stereophonic sound in Slovakia, hence the purpose of this article is to summarize the research results. K e y w o r d s: stereophonic sound, broadcasting 1 INTRODUCTION Paul Zelenay as well as the sound master Vladim´ırMarko who were present at the birth of stereo recording in Slo- The fundamentals of stereophonic sound as we know vakia. The memories of the sound masters Peter Hubka, it today were laid down by two prominent world scien- Zdeno Halam´ık, Peter Jan´ıkas well as the Head of the tists, Dr. Harvey C. Fletcher of Bell Telephone Labo- Czechoslovak Radio Sound Archive Miroslava Caputov´aˇ ratoires and Alan D. Blumlein, working then for EMI, also made a valuable contribution to create a coherent im- Ltd.. Both worked on stereo research simultaneously for age, for which we are extremely grateful to them. The Ex- almost 30 years at the beginning of the twentieth century perimental Studio made a first attempt to create a stereo [1]. Initially, however, stereo was not accepted, especially recording at the end of the year 1966 when the sound by major publishers. Bruce Swedien in his book Make master Ing. Peter Jan´ıkproduced a stereo version of an Mine Music even mentions an utterance of an important autonomous electroacoustic Jozef Malovec’s composition representative of a big publishing house “Stereo is like entitled Orthogenesis [3]. Since this piece was created and taking a shower with two shower heads — and you would recorded in mono format, it consisted of reworking the not take a shower with two shower heads, would you?” original sound recording. The Experimental Studio did [2]. From a historical perspective the way to stereo was not as yet have a professional studio equipment capable not only difficult in the U.S. Central and Eastern Euro- of processing a stereo signal, so the recording was created pean countries worked strenuously to foster the interest by synchronizing four strips from mono tape recorders in stereo, mainly through passionate people who wanted with the addition of reverb, while each mono track was to improve the quality of audio recording and its repro- located at a constant stereo base point and the result- duction. The first attempts to create a stereo recording ing signal was recorded on a commercial tape recorder in Slovakia were made in the studios of the Czechoslovak Philips RK 56. The audio recording made in this way was Radio in Bratislava. The attempts can be divided into only a so-called pseudostereo. A real stereo version of Or- three phases according to the departments in which they thogenesis was made on 13th March 1967 by Ing. Peter were carried out. The first successful attempt to create a Jan´ıkusing a multi-track tape recorder Studer C 37 and stereo recording was made by the Experimental Studio, followed by the Classical Music Editorial Department and a stereo mixing desk Tesla SRK. It was carried out at the lastly the Fun Music Editorial Department. Exploring the Radio and Television Research Institute in Prague, with development of stereo in Slovakia is a less frequent area which the Czechoslovak Radio cooperated intensively [4]. of study and we have tried to describe and analyze the At that time the Experimental Studio also had a four- specific sound recordings for the first time in conjunction track recorder Studer J 37 and a new multi-track mixing with the statements of the people involved in their imple- console Tesla ESR/S 186 thanks to which a quadraphonic mentation. The most comprehensive information was pro- version of Orthogenesis could be accomplished (premiere vided to us by the music composer, arranger and producer in 1968 in Florence) [5]. ∗ Department of Music of the Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Draˇzovsk´acesta 4, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia, [email protected] DOI: 10.2478/v10187-011-0060-9, ISSN 1335-3632 c 2011 FEI STU Journal of ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 62, NO. 6, 2011 371 Fig. 1. On the left – AB stereo microphone technique with 30◦ to 40◦ sideways-facing, on the right – AB and XY technique combination Fig. 2. Oscilloscope particles come together only around the central Fig. 3. Oscilloscope particle dispersion confirms the distribution of axis, it is a mono signal sound in the stereo panorama 2 CLASSICAL MUSIC We failed to contact Mr. Bomb´ık, so we asked the EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT sound master Zdeno Halam´ık, another former worker of the Classical Music Editorial Department, for more de- In the second phase it was the sound masters Vladim´ır tailed information from the beginnings of choral record- Marko and Frantiˇsek Bomb´ıkwho began to experiment ing in stereo format. He stated that the choral ensem- with the stereo recording in the Classical Music Editorial bles in the early stages would record by means of the AB Department at the former Concert Hall of the Czechoslo- stereo microphone technique, which supplied the record- vak Radio in Bratislava. By that time the Department ing with the necessary surround sound. The distance be- ◦ ◦ had already had in its possession for several years a tween the microphones was 3–4 metres with 30 to 40 double-track tape recorder and a mixing desk capable sideways-facing, depending on the size of the choir. The of processing a stereo signal, though all recordings were XY stereo microphone technique was used only sporadi- made in mono format. The sound masters probably did cally. It would offer a higher level of mono compatibility, not have enough information about the stereo record- but it did not provide the desired stereo space (Fig. 1). ing possibilities and therefore, they did not attempt its Therefore, if a recording was to be carried out in the way implementation. In Vladim´ırMarko’s words the resolu- of the XY configuration, it was necessary to set the mi- ◦ tion to implement the first stereo recording was made in crophones at an angle of 130 instead of the standard ◦ 1967 [6]. The actual recording was preceded by prepa- 90 . Later it became common to record choirs using AB rations associated with the correct connection of all the and XY technique combination, which contributed to ade- recording equipment (microphones – mixing desk – am- quate spaciousness of sound while maintaining an accept- plifier – loudspeakers). Emphasis had to be placed mainly able mono compatibility [8]. After analyzing the record- on the proper integration of phases. Following the in- ing Dve piesne pre mieˇsan´yzbor (Zajali mi kone, Hrd´a terview with Vladim´ırMarko and reviewing the Slovak dievˇcina) we can conclude that the soundtrack does not Radio Sound Archive in Bratislava, we believe that the meet the stereo parameters and it seems almost like a per- first stereo recordings made in the Classical Music Edi- fect mono, as confirmed by the Oscilloscope Phase Shift torial Department were not preserved, inasmuch as one Measurement (Fig. 2). of the first recordings, according to Vladim´ırMarko, was There may be various reasons why the recording is a recording of the symphony orchestra, whereas the old- archived under the name of stereo. We suppose, however, est archived recording is a mixed choir composition enti- that the tape roll is likely to have been labelled wrongly. tled Dve piesne pre mieˇsan´yzbor (Zajali mi kone, Hrd´a In the period of stereo recording, a red-and-white striped dievˇcina) by J´an Valaˇst’an-Dolinsk´yand Milan Lichard. leading band would be placed at the start of a sound- It was Vladim´ırSlujka and the sound master Frantiˇsek track to distinguish stereo recordings from mono ones. Bomb´ıkwho were editorially involved in this recording The mono recordings were labelled with green leading interpreted by Zilinaˇ Mixed Choir under the baton of An- stripes and in Miroslava Caputov´a’sˇ words (the Head of ton K´allay [7]. the Czechoslovak Radio Sound Archive) it was common- 372 P. Brezina: THE DEVELOPMENT OF STEREOPHONIC SOUND IN SLOVAKIA 2 FUN MUSIC EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT The Fun Music Editorial Department of the Czechoslo- vak Radio in Bratislava also had the ambition to create a recording by the new stereo technique. The project was promoted mainly by Pavol Zelenay, the Fun Music Edito- rial Department’s manager at that time, on the grounds that it was necessary to start making stereo recordings before the radio broadcast with stereophonic sound. In 1968, when the first pop music recording was made, the Fun Music Editorial Department was not even technically suited to stereo recording. A comprehensive reconstruc- tion into a stereo department was performed about 1975. The only option was therefore to use the studio in the government building. Despite the enormous workload of the studio, which served not only for recording purposes Fig. 4. Microphone placement at the symphony orchestra stereo but also for ensemble rehearsals, the recording was pro- recording.