Category: Tech

The MMMS Records Remastered

Since it seems I’m the primary provider on the Net for the audio from the two flexi-discs that Marvel Comics produced in the 1960’s, I thought I’d offer them with superior sound compared to what I posted five years ago. Here they are, remastered for the best possible audio fidelity.

The Voices of Marvel

Scream Along With Marvel

Technical notes:

  • Technics turntable, Shure cartridge, AGI pre-amp, AKG headphones.
  • Captured using Audacity from pre-amp line level output.
  • 24-bit resolution, 48 kHz sample rate.
  • Click removal used sparingly. No other noise reduction or equalization.
  • A dimple in the flexi-disc causes a recurring thump between 3:15 and 3:35.
  • The left channel in each recording was deemed better, forced into 2-channel mono, then exported as lossless WAV files.
  • WAV files converted to MP3 at 256 Kbps CBR.

JW Flash Player 3.11

I took the site offline for a little while to update the JW FLV Player from 3.6 to 3.11. At the same time I updated the WordPress plug-in I use for it, FLV Embed, to version 0.3.2.

It’s working, but I have the same complaint I had before, when trying to update to JW FLV 3.7. The parameter $flv_overstretch: fit doesn’t work. It’s my assumption for now that it’s a problem with the plugin not properly telling the player what to do. I’ll pursue that angle again, like I did last time to no avail. For now I’ve gone back to JW FLV 3.6 and everything is once again AOK.

No Buddy From Netflix

On a whim I checked the free Video On Demand offerings on FiOS TV, and spotted a movie with the description “Norwegian comedy” so, what the heck, I pressed OK. The movie is a serio-comic romance from 2003, called Buddy. Carol and I really enjoyed it.

Netflix has both the DVD and the option to play Buddy online, but sitting together in front of the computer isn’t an option, and getting video from the computer to the TV is an annoying and unreliable process. Fortunately, getting TV to the computer is much easier, so here’s a 3-minute scene from Buddy, as played on FiOS TV V-O-D.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/SEP07/Buddy.flv 400 300]

Bernard Herrmann Theremin

Well, let’s see. I mentioned Theremins a couple of posts back, had a post about film composer Bernard Herrmann some months back, and I recently made reference to the movie The Day The Earth Stood Still, for which Herrmann wrote the score with lots of Theremin sounds.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/SEP07/EarthStoodStill.flv 400 300]

This sequence from The Day The Earth Stood Still came from a 20-year-old LaserDisc played on an equally old Pioneer LD-838, as did the Spellbound clip. Even in this reduced and compressed format I think the virtues of LD compared to VHS are apparent.