Harry And His Court Jesters

[Spaniard in da Works]

Actually now that I remember, the audio in video recordings was analog. But you could record digital audio only by using the VCR as a type of DAT which was recordings of digital files on analog tape. Kinda like when you recorded software on cassettes in 80s microcomputers (or you still do with data backups)

EDIT: the kind of movement that the VCR heads had gave a faster relative head-to-tape speed than audio recorders, which meant more bandwidth and hence more data density. Remember that your typical Spectrum or Commodore game Took several minutes to load, and today that would be a small exe file smaller than a typical flac file.

[Lord Reith]

Actually now that I remember, the audio in video recordings was analog. But you could record digital audio only by using the VCR as a type of DAT which was recordings of digital files on analog tape. Kinda like when you recorded software on cassettes in 80s microcomputers (or you still do with data backups)

EDIT: the kind of movement that the VCR heads had gave a faster relative head-to-tape speed than audio recorders, which meant more bandwidth and hence more data density. Remember that your typical Spectrum or Commodore game Took several minutes to load, and today that would be a small exe file smaller than a typical flac file.

Yes, you needed the Sony PCM-1630 which turned an analogue signal into a digital signal that could be recorded onto any domestic vcr:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCM_adaptor

The earliest classical digital recordings post-1979 used a vcr and the Sony to record digital stereo. It was also used to mix down to stereo for pop album masters. Eventually it was replaced by DAT.

I ran "Twist and Shout" through my DAW's tape restore fiendish thingy which synthesizes upper frequencies and got this result. I used the default level of 10 which is too much really. Normally I just use 3 to add some sparkle (harmonics) to final mixes.

Thanks for the demonstration. The trouble with those things for me is that I can hear the high pitched birdy noises they make. Artificial harmonics were first utilised by the company Aphex in the 1970s for their Aphex Aural Exciter, which caused an absolute sensation. Overnight it became the default processor for all pop vocals, adding a shimmery quality which allowed them to sound louder in the mix while remaining at the same volume. It was such a hit that you couldn't even actually buy one - studios who wanted one had to rent it. Later other companies figured out how it worked and jumped on the bandwagon and it became possible to buy something similar. To this day, any pop vocal is always treated with artifical harmonics but more recently the makers of DAWS have been trying to market them as something to improve the whole mix. But the way to use it best is to only apply it to one or two instruments, rather than everything. If you demix a mono track with a poor drum sound and add some harmonics to just the drums then that can make a considerable difference, and the rest of the track will tend to mask the artefacts to some degree.

[Lord Reith]

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[harrylime]

Actually now that I remember, the audio in video recordings was analog. But you could record digital audio only by using the VCR as a type of DAT which was recordings of digital files on analog tape. Kinda like when you recorded software on cassettes in 80s microcomputers (or you still do with data backups)
EDIT: the kind of movement that the VCR heads had gave a faster relative head-to-tape speed than audio recorders, which meant more bandwidth and hence more data density. Remember that your typical Spectrum or Commodore game Took several minutes to load, and today that would be a small exe file smaller than a typical flac file.

Well yes and no, for digital storage on a VCR tape (including the U-matic CD masters I mentioned), the signal was encoded in the video signal, not the audio. It didn't use a direct storage method like DAT uses, hence you could 'only' store PCM audio on such a tape, which is wildly inefficient compared to the actual bandwith (which was roughly half-SD resolution, uncompressed PAL or NTSC video, much more information than what's in audio). Youtube channel Techmoan features some examples of this as well:


Software on cassette was stored as analogue sound, same way a computer modem or fax machine sent its data as sound (or 'noise' to us humans). There that inefficient translation (or technically, modulation) caused the same kind of much lower signal rate than if it would have used a direct method of storing digital data on cassette tape (as when DSL replaced analogue dial-up internet). But for both PCM-on-VHS as Software-on-cassette technologies, this was obviously chosen to simplify their designs and thus lower costs, as it would only require the logic to translate the signals back and forth, the rest of the machine could use off-the-shelve components like any other.

[Spaniard in da Works]

I absolutely LOVE when people supplement what I was saying, explain It better than me, and make me remember things I had forgotten and learn new ones. This community is incredible.

[Much2Much]

Thank you Lord Reith for another excellent presentation. Thank you also to the kind donor of the source tape.

[ted]

Video now showing at a theatre near you...

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Sold out for 3 days straight in my neck of the woods!

Gonna have to wait for pay-per-view, I guess.

[RLester]

Thanks again for this revelation

[silver_2000]

Thanks to the generosity of another of our members, we present to you this newly-discovered audio upgrade of the Royal Command Performance!

Back on November 4th 1963, ITV screened the show from the original videotape recording. Video gives excellent sound quality, being virtually an overblown tape recorder in itself.

For overseas broadcast, the video was also transferred to film. This is the version that has survived down the years, but film sound is very lossy and poor quality in comparison to the original audio.

Luckily, the original broadcast was captured by a viewer via a direct line output into their tape recorder. This excellent recording preserves the full frequency and dynamic range of the performance, and it is a revelation! To demonstrate this I have included a demo of Twist And Shout where I switch back and forth between the old and new source. No need to tell you which is which - the difference is huge!

The BBC also broadcast highlights from teh show on radio, but whether they did their own mix or used this one remains a mystery. So you can sort of think of this as a cousin to Harry And His Box. And I'm sure our late Queen would have approved.

Also included is an introduction from Harry Secombe. Enjoy!

What have I forgotten... oh yes, the link!

https://tinyurl.com/exp-march-25

Thanks for the full remix, currently coloring, 'she loves you', good to have a decent audio source. my eternal gratitude !

[ruedabeat]

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It´s time to buy my Ticket and Popcorn.