Insight to how the Decca Sound was created

[banditcat200]

I have to share this link, as a longtime Decca/London collector and especially the sound from those records :-)

[astrotoy]

I posted a comment on AS, concerning the great work that Mike Gray did and the use I made of it while writing my Decca book in 2013 and 2014. While interviewing some of the remaining Decca engineers and other staff from that era, they shared with me some insights into the differences between EMI and Decca in their recording philosophies and also some of the conflicts and both friendly and not so friendly rivalries. Both EMI and Decca had separate recording studios built in at Kingsway Hall. So both could see the differences in set up, not only of microphones, but also where producers and engineers sat. In the Decca Studio producer and engineer sat side by side, sharing decisions about the sound quality, while in the EMI studio, the producer sat in the sweet spot directing the engineer about the sound issues.

Famed EMI producer Walter Legge blocked the release of the first stereo Ring that Decca did at the 1955 Bayreuth Festival (Keilberth conducting) which finally saw the light of day a few years ago when Testament released it in vinyl and CD. Interestingly, Legge near the end of his career in 1979, shortly before his death, produced his last album for Decca, not EMI, with his wife Elizabeth Schwarzkopf. John Dunkerley, famed Decca engineer, told me there was a rumor that some quid pro quo was provided between Legge and Decca.

Larry

[MylesBAstor]

Larry's not one to toot his own horn so I will! Excellent, in depth research and well written book on the history of one of the most illustrious record labels in history. We had Mercury and RCA on this side of the Atlantic and the U.K. had Decca and EMI at the beginning of the stereo era. A must-have.

http://www.elusivedisc.com/Decca-Sup...nfo/FIMUHD088/

[astrotoy]

Thanks, Myles. Larry

[MylesBAstor]

As die hard LP collectors know, the earlier the pressing, in general, the better the sound. As far as Decca goes, the first line of identification is the type of record label.

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/s...ead.php?t=8266
Then one needs to look at the matrix numbers and also info in the dead wax area.

With the Deccas, you will see a ZAL number with the pressing number followed by a letter eg. 1W. The lower the letter here, the better. That letter corresponds to the mastering engineer as follows. This W would be Harry Fisher.


A = Guy Fletcher
B = Ron Mason
C = Trevor Fletcher

D = Jack Law
E = Stan Goodall
F = Cyril Windebank
G = Ted Burkett

K = Tony Hawkins
L = George Bettyes
W = Harry Fisher

But perhaps most important is the Buckingham code that follows that indicates the mother number as follows. The best pressing will of course be a single letter.


Decca Stamper # info (at 3 o’clock)

1-10 B U C K I N G H A M

11-20BB BU BC BK BI BN BG BH BA BM

21-30 UB UU UC UK UI UN UG UH UA UM

31-40 CB CU CC CK CI CN CG CH CA CM

41-50 KB KU KC KK KI KN KG KH KA KM

51-60 IB IU ICIK II IN IG IH IA IM.

[allenh]

Larry's not one to toot his own horn so I will! Excellent, in depth research and well written book on the history of one of the most illustrious record labels in history. We had Mercury and RCA on this side of the Atlantic and the U.K. had Decca and EMI at the beginning of the stereo era. A must-have.

http://www.elusivedisc.com/Decca-Sup...nfo/FIMUHD088/

+1! Great book, great read!

[astrotoy]

As die hard LP collectors know, the earlier the pressing, in general, the better the sound. As far as Decca goes, the first line of identification is the type of record label.

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/s...ead.php?t=8266
Then one needs to look at the matrix numbers and also info in the dead wax area.

With the Deccas, you will see a ZAL number with the pressing number followed by a letter eg. 1W. The lower the letter here, the better. That letter corresponds to the mastering engineer as follows. This W would be Harry Fisher.


A = Guy Fletcher
B = Ron Mason
C = Trevor Fletcher

D = Jack Law
E = Stan Goodall
F = Cyril Windebank
G = Ted Burkett

K = Tony Hawkins
L = George Bettyes
W = Harry Fisher

Cutting engineers Jack Law and Stan Goodall moved on to become recordings engineers (as did Cyril Windebank IIRC) and had long careers in their latter roles. I had a nice correspondence with Elaine Law, Jack's widow and she dug up some of Jack's old notes from his cutting engineer years. There were several other letters that were used for various other people, including some letters that were shared by more than one engineer. Stan Goodall is still alive, but I didn't get a chance to interview him. Tony Hawkins is the only other remaining cutting engineer around from the old days. Decca closed their famous New Malden plant near Wimbledon shortly after being bought by Polygram in 1980 shortly after Chairman Edward Lewis's death. John Dunkerley told me that when Polygram started doing the pressing of Decca records in 1980 at their Baarn plant in the Netherlands (where they pressed the Philips records), the Decca engineers were very unpleasantly shocked at the loss of both highs and lows from their recordings. They complained to Polygram and improvements were made, but never to sonic level of the New Malden pressings.

Larry

[MylesBAstor]

I think the one of the most interesting things that I learned from Larry was that the best engineers were assigned to the mono recordings while those still wet behind the ears recorded the stereo releases.