The Quality Of Tape: The new transfers of Decca’s Ring recordings

[anmpr1]

When I read the accompanying booklet I found out that it had been taped off the radio by a recording enthusiast who use pro recording equipment to capture live broadcasts from 1951 to 1996.

In the context of this thread, that was one of the points Mike Ashman made after interviewing those responsible for and associated with the Keilberth Ring fiasco. But it wasn't just that episode. Legal wrangling no doubt kept a lot of 'would be' Bayreuth recordings off the open market, relegating them to air checks that were then circulated among fans, obviously with no thought to artist royalties.

Certainly classical, but also a lot of jazz records--the 'all-night frantic' stuff Symphony Sid and others were broadcasting, that made it to bootlegs, for example. In rock, the Grateful Dead just said, "screw it", and allowed open recording of their live material by anyone who cared to bring along a tape recorder.

I still think there's more to be said. Or at least more questions than have answers. The status of the actual recording seems very strange to me. You'd think that a company with the means and influence of Decca wouldn't have gone to all the time/expense to send over a recording team, and then have their producers assemble final master tapes, without having a reasonable expectation that the material could have been legally released. And that it had artistic merit.

Of course knowing the stupidity of some corporate decision makers, who knows how it was? Maybe Culshaw had it right all along. Maybe when he walked into the meeting, telling everyone that the Keilberth project was dead from the get-go, and that instead they should give him all their time and money, he was not speaking from ego, but practicality?

Anyone's opinions are as good as mine. If the Italian poet was refereeing, he'd probably have put Legge in the Fourth Circle, guilty of the aesthetic sin of greed. I can't but help think that Culshaw would have been sentenced to the Sixth Circle, sinning against both human labor and art.

 

[Rednaxela]

Yep, that's the one. I had no idea they recorded the vocals in that seemingly haphazard way before watching this!

Just finished watching. Thanks again for mentioning it.

I particularly liked the bit where Solti explains what makes the project so difficult to pull off from his perspective as the conductor. Just amazing.

 

[sarumbear]

In the context of this thread...

which was I thought to be about the quality of tape recording but alas ASR managed to found a way to argue about debate on something peripheral...

The new transfers of Decca’s Ring recordings demonstrate that, in the hands of an expert technical team, tape recording in the 1950s and early ’60s offered amazingly high fidelity.

 

[anmpr1]

which was I thought to be about the quality of tape recording but alas ASR managed to found a way to argue about something peripheral...

Yeah. Some of the fifties material was as good as anything today. I keep going back to some of those Bill Evans live sessions at the Vanguard. Nothing like it today.

As far as 'arguing'? Open discussion, a sharing of opinion, topic-related, is what it's all about. Can't be too strict. Besides, the conversation hasn't mentioned Hitler, so it's still pretty relevant!

 

[Rednaxela]

Which in the case of Wagner is always just around the corner.

 

[anmpr1]

Which in the case of Wagner is always just around the corner.

That's the funniest thing I've read so far. But true...

 

[Rednaxela]

(Smiley added just in case.)

 

[Leporello]

which was I thought to be about the quality of tape recording but alas ASR managed to found a way to argue about something peripheral...

We have this Stereophile story (originally from 1998):

The Solti Ring Remastered...Again

WAGNER: Der Ring des Nibelungen (digitally re-remastered) Birgit Nilsson, Hans Hotter, Wolfgang Windgassen, George London, Gustav Neidlinger, Gerhard Stolze, Gottlob Frick, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kirsten Flagstadt, Set Svanholm, James King, Régine Crespin, Christa Ludwig, Clair Watson, many...

www.stereophile.com

In the comments section John Atkinson writes:

This new set gets a full review in the January issue of Stereophile. It uses the 1997 remastered files, as the analog tapes have deterioriated to the point where they cannot be used again.

As far as I understand the latest version is the fourth official digital release of the Solti Ring (my own copy is the first version). What about the future? Are we to believe that - say - every tenth year or so we will discover new sonic riches from worn out analog master tapes from the past? When digital is as good as it gets we have to reinvent the goodness of the analog past.

 

[sarumbear]

Yeah. Some of the fifties material was as good as anything today. I keep going back to some of those Bill Evans live sessions at the Vanguard. Nothing like it today.

As far as 'arguing'? Open discussion, a sharing of opinion, topic-related, is what it's all about. Can't be too strict. Besides, the conversation hasn't mentioned Hitler, so it's still pretty relevant!

OK. I edited my post

 

[Robert C]

As far as I understand the latest version is the fourth official digital release of the Solti Ring (my own copy is the first version).

The first version is the way to go. No "remastering", no noise reduction, just flat transfers of the tapes.

 

[sarumbear]

The first version is the way to go. No "remastering", no noise reduction, just flat transfers of the tapes.

Referring to the quote from the article below, the 1997 transfer must be the worst version as CEDAR is a nasty piece of software for music. (It is designed dialogue noise suppression and speech enhancement used main on film post.)

The article doesn't say anything about the 1984 transfer. I assume they used the AME noise‑reduction system but you can say that is a part of the tape recorder. Anyone has any background information about that initial transfer?

The recordings have previously been transferred to digital twice, in 1984 and then again in 1997, both times under the direction of longstanding Decca engineer Jimmy Lock. [...] That was done at 24‑bit, 48kHz, and they used CEDAR for the de‑noising and de‑hissing [at the time of the transfer in 1997], but at that time it was quite invasive. It shaved a lot of the high frequencies off, and things like that.”

“For this 2022 edition we have utilised a completely new set of high‑definition 24‑bit, 192kHz transfers of the original two‑track stereo master tapes,” explains Fyfe. [...] the tapes were aligned and played on Studer A820 machines coupled with Weiss analogue‑to‑digital converters and a proprietary workstation to record the output. Working with 38 reels of original master tapes — some up to 65 years old and spanning seven years of recording — there were inevitably instances where some individual tapes needed edit repairs or suffered oxide shedding. Tapes in poor condition were baked for 10 hours at 55 degrees Celsius to restore their integrity.

The classic NAB equalisation curve was used on playback to obtain as flat a frequency response as possible. However, Decca’s 1950s Ampex‑designed AME noise‑reduction circuit — a precursor of the Dolby circuitry to reduce tape hiss — was not deployed, so that we could use the very latest noise‑reduction software at the remastering stage. In a sense, what they did when they transferred them was a bit like creating a photographic RAW image, as it were, so it allowed us to start completely from scratch with all of that and use the latest plug‑in software for de‑noising and so on. Which are far less invasive because you only really need apply them where it’s needed in the quieter passages of the music. In the louder passages, you don’t, this isn’t an issue. So you can back off with all that.

 

[Leporello]

The first version is the way to go. No "remastering", no noise reduction, just flat transfers of the tapes.

I certainly hope so. In 1984 the master of Die Walküre was less than twenty years old. Now it is approaching sixty (as am I).

 

[Robert C]

Referring to the quote from the article below, the 1997 transfer must be the worst version as CEDAR is a nasty piece of software for music. (It is designed dialogue noise suppression and speech enhancement used main on film post.)

The article doesn't say anything about the 1984 transfer. I assume they used the AME noise‑reduction system but you can say that is a part of the tape recorder. Anyone has any background information about that initial transfer?

They would have used AME. It's more like pre/de-emphasis than true noise reduction. It's likely they would have used proper Decca tape machines as well.

 

[Robert C]

The AME curve is quite severe:

 

[Albiepalbie]

You hit the nail on the head. Opera is the pop phenomenon of the 16th - 18th centuries. I like this bit from the opera history wiki. Replace "opera" with "pop" and it is still true

I tell all my friends to try an opera - it can’t be difficult as it’s written for the rich
Opera was pop for the rich
Spectacular and fun
Profound along the way - just like modern pop - almost by accident - the better the composer the better the music
Then it stays around

 

[Keith_W]

I have three copies of Solti's Wagner ring. From L-R: 1970's release on vinyl box set. In the middle: Esoteric's 2009 remaster on SACD. On the right, Decca's 1997 remastering on RBCD. I do not own a copy of the dreaded 1984 mastering.

My boxed set on vinyl is a rare release from the 1970's with a brass relief etching on a substantial cardboard box. The thing weighs a tonne - probably about 10kg! The discs inside are pristine and unscratched, and totally silent. You get four beautiful booklets with colour pictures and a lovely libretto. The quality of the sound on vinyl was a real eye-opener. Dynamic, rich, layered, clear, and extraordinarily expressive. It is hard to believe this was recorded in the late 50's, because it is better than most modern recordings on digital. Note that this was played back on a Micro-Seiki turntable with a Lyra Dorian cartridge - this combination is known for exaggerating dynamics and making music sound more exciting.

The Esoteric remaster was made in 2009. The Japanese engineers obtained the original master tapes from Decca and remastered it on DSD using their own equipment. There is a series of Esoteric SACD's, which is supposed to be the pinnacle of classic recordings of classical music - the best performances, with the best sound quality, remastered on the latest and best technology. Sort of the Criterion Collection, but for classical music. This set comes with all the operas, an accompanying documentary on DVD on the making of the 1958-1964 recording, a book called "The Ring Resounding" by John Culshaw, and the Libretto printed on two books on beautiful paper.

The SACD follows quite closely behind vinyl, however it sounds more sterile even though you can hear as much detail as you can with the vinyl. The dynamics of the attack are still there, but the leading edge lacks aggressiveness and sounds much smoother. It is probably a more accurate rendition of the master tape but with my turntable and on my system, vinyl sounded better.

When the RBCD set was released (on the right), it was very expensive - about $350 for 14 discs. In 1997 money. As you can see from the picture, the production copy was not very impressive. The CD's are held in paper sleeves within cardboard boxes, which are packed into another cardboard box. The libretto is printed in small type - very difficult to read in a darkened room.

That the RBCD finished last was no real surprise. I have known for years that this CD, despite sounding thin and having a brittle top end, still manages to sound muffled in the midrange. At times it can be quite unlistenable because of all the top end harshness. Yet this is the copy most people are likely to own.

Sadly, with the evolution of my system I no longer have the ability to play SACD or vinyl. The FLAC copies I made from the RBCD layer of the Esoteric remaster continue to sound different to the FLAC copy I made from the 1997 Decca RBCD remaster, so I would have to call the 2009 Esoteric remaster to be the best of all the versions I own or have heard (I have not heard any other remasters of this work). The Esoteric SACD is almost impossible to find these days, it cost USD$1200 about 10 years ago and it has long disappeared from the market. These days, copies of this disc sell for USD$3000 on eBay. I would be curious to find out if the new remaster is comparable in quality.

 

[Leporello]

Here is a brief comparison of Siegfried's funeral march. The upper is from the 1984 set, the lower is from the latest 2022 edition, downloaded from a certain lossless streaming service. The snippets have been normalised. I have never understood why the 1984 is 'dreaded'.

Subjectively the new edition snippet sounds loud and impressive - fitting for Solti of course. But some of the finer details very much audible in the 1984 edition climaxes are lost and buried in the latest edition.

But who cares, really? It is reassuring to know that:

These new transfers of the 38 original stereo master tapes have been made at 24 bit/192kHz resolution, allowing greater detail and dynamic range than ever before.

The Solti Ring Sounding Better Than Ever Before

Decca bringt eine der wertvollsten Klangjuwelen seines Plattenkatalogs neu heraus. Georg Soltis ikonische Aufnahme von Wagners epischem Musikdrama “Der Ring des

www.deccaclassics.com

 

[Robert C]

I do not own a copy of the dreaded 1984 mastering.

The 1984 CDs are the best. Straight transfers from the orignal tapes.

 

[Albiepalbie]

The 1984 CDs are the best. Straight transfers from the orignal tapes.

Maybe they were dreaded in 1984 because of the CD players
CD playback - with of choice external DACs are better than ever

 

[Leporello]

Maybe they were dreaded in 1984 because of the CD players
CD playback - with of choice external DACs are better than ever

Or maybe not. I have listened to my 1984 Solti Ring copy with my Philips CD104 (also from 1984). Nothing particularly dreadful about the sound.