Category: Tech

L+R=M

Stereo records were introduced in 1958. In November, 1968 the White Album was released with both stereo and mono mixes. There is only a stereo mix of Abbey Road, released just ten months later. The end of true mono mixes for popular music had begun.

Ten years later, when I was working in radio, the DJ promo singles that came to the station had a stereo side for FM…

… and a mono side for AM. (The picture sleeve had a strawberry scent!)

Hitting the mono switch (a feature sadly now lacking from receivers and amps) when playing the stereo side of this record produces the same sound as playing the mono side.* Folded mono had been heard for years, with stereo recordings played on mono FM radios, and stereo records played on mono record players.

Early stereo records had this warning.

The problem with most mono cartridges of the time was the stylus only moved sideways. The vertical modulations in the stereo grooves would not only be missed, they could be damaged by the heavy downward pressure of a stylus that wasn’t able to move up and down.

This notice appeared on later records, when mono cartridge styluses (nobody says “stylii” anymore, do they?) were made to be compatible with stereo records.

But folded mono sound can have issues, especially if there are phasing differences between the channels. I heard this effect last Monday night on Big Planet Noise. Bob Irwin played a mono 45 DJ copy of a song. In high school, when the song was new, I heard it in stereo on WBCN, listening with my Pioneer SX-440 receiver and SE-20 headphones.

There’s a lot of intentional out-of-phase sound between the channels, and I would switch the SELECTOR knob to FM MONO to hear what it did. The effect I heard 50 years ago was pretty much the same as I heard Monday night. This is the song.

Windows has a mono switch under the Ease of Access audio settings. Put on headphones, switch to mono, and you’ll hear most of what I heard, but not all. I suspect the misguided Haeco-CSG process was applied, which was a case of the cure being far worse than the problem it attempted to solve.

* The Haeco-CSG audio process was developed at A&M Records. Thankfully, by the mid-70’s it was no longer being used for mono DJ promo records.

The Big Bangs of 1973

1973 saw the creation of Disco and the Xerox Alto system. Disco may no longer be a thing, but everything created at Xerox PARC is very much with us today. I am reading this book.

The IEEE, in charge of the WiFi technology you’re probably using right now, and also Ethernet if that’s what you’re using, has this brief history of Xerox PARC.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/xerox-alto

Here’s some Disco. TSOP — The Sound of Philadelphia — by the late Thom Bell.

Teri on TAMI

I’m watching a DVD I bought in the summer of 2010, that I probably haven’t watched again since then, so today’s viewing is long overdue. It’s the famous T.A.M.I. Show.

Re-reading the DVD booklet, I’m reminded that loveable Teri Garr, just 19 at the time, was one of the dancers. That’s Teri with blond hair, wearing a sweatshirt. Toni Basil arranged some of the show’s choreography.

Here’s Teri during the Supremes set.

Everything about the T.A.M.I. Show is significant, even the way it was filmed. Using the last word in Kinescope technology, customized TV cameras with resolution equivalent to 720p were recorded directly onto 35mm film. I can’t embed the movie, but you can watch it on YouTube, complete and in excellent quality.

NextGen TV Comes to Boston

This Thursday morning at 9 is supposed to be when the major Boston TV stations will flip the switch to enable ATSC 3.0 broadcasting.

https://www.wcvb.com/article/next-gen-tv-signal-launch-announcement-january-2023/42655417

For all of its potential advantages over ATSC 1.0, including 4K resolution, the only one that matters to me is improved reception. Specifically, freedom from the multipath interference that plagues UHF signals. This relative immunity, as seen in otherwise inferior VHF signals, is made possible by borrowing the modulation technology that’s used in cellular networks.

The problem is, where are the ubiquitous and affordable NextGen TV tuners and, especially, DVR’s? Without an FCC mandate like there was for ATSC 1.0, electronics manufacturers continue to drag their feet. As soon as TiVo has an ATSC 3.0 USB dongle available, I’ll get one. If I have to buy a new TiVo, that’s okay too.

https://www.techhive.com/article/1470564/atsc-3-0-in-2023-why-nextgen-tv-still-needs-another-year.html

The National Association of Broadcasters has met with the FCC to voice its concern about the slow adoption of NextGen TV tuners by manufacturers.

https://www.nexttv.com/news/nab-to-fcc-atsc-30-transition-is-in-peril

William Cameraman Menzies

Had a blast at my buddy Bismo’s place, sharing beers and watching the restored Invaders From Mars in 4K UHD. Before directing that 1953 Sci-Fi classic, William Cameron Menzies designed and directed Things to Come in 1936.

Written for the screen by H.G. Wells, with some of the worst dialogue this side of Ayn Rand, Things to Come is a Sci-Fi classic for its impressive design and visual effects. Some of what Menzies envisioned for the future became reality, such as widescreen, flat-panel HDTV.