Direct mp3 download or play

Here is another of my father’s 78 rpm records  he listened to as a child in the 1920s or 1930s on my father’s Victor Talking Machine Victrola, model VV-405. I recorded this record playing on the same Victrola with my Sony PCM-D50 digital recorder. The microphone was placed inside the the horn opening of the Victrola over one of the wooden slats. Both recordings were made into 128 kilobits per second monophonic mp3 files.

Direct mp3 download or play:  Zampa Rag

Zampa Rag – Guido Deiro

Direct mp3 download or play:  Blue Diamonds

Blue Diamonds – Guido Deiro

Guido Deiro

I can remember as a young boy liking this record a lot, especially  “Zampa Rag,” probably because it’s such a snappy tune. You’ll notice that side of the record is much more worn. I was so dumb that I would gleefully change the title to “Dampa Bag” just for fun. That of course was referring to a wet brown paper shopping bag from Sid’s Supermarket on Solano Avenue in Berkeley, California, which was only a little more than a block from my house. I imagined how funny it would be for the music to represent a wet brown paper grocery bag!

For more on Guido Deiro and the style of playing kwown as “Vaudeville Accordion” click here

Direct mp3 download or play:  Frog Went A-Courtin’

Favorite Part “He got swallowed up by a water snake”

Direct mp3 download or play:  Fiddle Dee Dee

Favorite Part “Live with peace with bumblebee”

When I was a kid around 1960, I would play these two songs over and over. At one point, I played them on the Victrola, and that of course ruined them. The Victrola steel needle was too heavy and it just dug into the vinyl, ruining them. It did play quite well at first, but only once or twice before the surface noise took over. I finally found the audio on the internet, and for the first time in over fifty years, I’m able to hear these songs clearly.

Victrola Needles

On Fiddle Dee Dee the line “Did you ever hear a merrier thing?,” I thought was “Did you ever see such a vicarious thing” and I wondered if any little children actually know what “vicarious” means. To this day I don’t know what “vicarious” means!

Direct mp3 download or play:  Eighteenth Street Strut – Fats Waller (dumb version)

Here is a midi playback of a Fats Waller song that I enjoy.  This was created using free VST (Virtual Studio Technology) software available on the internet. Three virtual instruments were used:  Hammond organ emulation, Mellotron emulation, and a bass synthesizer. As I may have said before, my musical knowledge is quite limited, and I know this arrangement is far from correct. However, it is DUMB! By the way, I’ve liked Fats Waller probably since seeing “Eraserhead” at the UC Theatre in Berkeley, California in the early 1980s or late 1970s. If you are amused by this, check out my post “Dumb Tea For Two.”

Here are the virtual musical instruments. Click the picture (3840 x 2160 pixels) for a very detailed view.

Direct mp3 download or play:  Polaris

Direct flac download or play:  Polaris

Here is a test to determine if maybe I could post audio at a higher quality. This is a rare piece from 1980 by artist Geoffrey Chandler. Let me know how well this plays. The first item is the normal WordPress audio player running an mp3 at 320 kbps. The second item “Polaris” is link to a lossless flac file (free lossless audio codec), which you can download or attempt to stream to a media player. For me it streamed in VLC and not in Winamp or Media Player Classic. It may be possible that I configured the flac encoder incorrectly, since I’m trying it out now for the first time. Remember, I am supposed to be dumb! Also, note this was from an LP record and I applied click and pop reduction, as well. Keep in mind the two additional files I made probably don’t sound any better than the original, except fewer clicks and pops may be more pleasing to the ear. I simply want to see if they will play. The original file is from the internet, and is a 256 kbps mp3. I actually own a copy of this recording on vinyl from the album “Starscapes,” but mine is warped and doesn’t sound very good.
[audioplayer file=”http://www.negativland.com/dumb/audio/polaris.mp3″ titles=originalfile256kbps]
Direct mp3 download or play:  Polaris – original file

Direct mp3 download or play:  Tea For Two

I think I mentioned over a year ago that I enjoy listening to organ music. Well I have finally decided it’s time to do so again. This record was played on my Newcomb TR-1625M, fitted with a General Electric variable reluctance magnetic cartridge. In this recording, I used the built-in vacuum tube preamp and connected the line out of the Newcomb to a Mackie 1402VLZ mixer. Then I connected the unbalanced line output of the mixer to the sound card input on my computer, and the recording was done on Adobe Audition 1.5. I used several effects in Adobe Audition to try to make the sound clearer and louder. After that, I saved the recording as a monaural .wav file, and lastly I converted the .wav file to mp3 using Razorlame and the LAME encoder set to 128kbps monaural. I know that was a mouthful, but I think the sound quality is quite good.
This was originally put up early August of 2010 and due some trouble with the site any comments were lost. I apologize for that and I am sorry. By all means feel free to leave more comments!

TEMPO TT 2010-A

Direct mp3 download or play:  Mimi

Mimi

Direct mp3 download or play:  Lili Marlene

Lili Marlene

Direct mp3 download or play:  Tiger Rag

Tiger Rag

Direct mp3 download or play:  Stumbling

Stumbling

Direct mp3 download or play:  Waiting For The Robert E. Lee

Waiting For The Robert E. Lee

———————————–

TEMPO TT 2010-B

Direct mp3 download or play:  The Old Soft Shoe

The Old Soft Shoe

Direct mp3 download or play:  Frere Jacques

Frere Jacques

Direct mp3 download or play:  To Each His Own

To Each His Own

Direct mp3 download or play:  The Whiffenpoof  Song

The Whiffenpoof Song

Direct mp3 download or play:  Lullaby Medley

Lullaby Medley

I found this 12-inch LP record at a thrift store in Seattle several years ago. It looks and plays quite well, except it has a lot of surface noise. I noticed the mention of an instrument I didn’t recognize on the label. I put the record away, and all but forgot about it. During the last year or so I started learning about a keyboard instrument called a Novachord. I discovered it came out in 1938 and is considered to be the first real electronic music synthesizer made by Hammond many years before Moog. I understand the Novachord has well over 100 vacuum tubes, and only a few working units exist today. I like these web sites (here and here) for starters to learn more about the Novachord. You’ll find some interesting YouTube videos, too.
I noticed that some of you responded favorably to my last post of organ music, so I thought you might enjoy that record from the thrift store with that strange instrument. I had forgotten it was actually a Novachord until I recently looked at the record again. A few years ago, I recorded this record onto my computer as two .wav files, one for each side of the LP and stored them on a separate drive.  I transferred the files to my computer where I made separate files for each song. Then I did pop and click reduction for each song using Adobe Audition. Amazingly there were over 20,000 clicks or pops removed from each individual song! Despite all of that, the record sounds less scratchy, but I wish it could play somewhat better.
I do apologize for lost comments due to problems with the site after August 23, 2010 and now.  Please comment again!

Direct mp3 download or play:  Japansy
This is the first 78 rpm record I recorded directly onto my Sony PCM-D50 digital recorder, open mike from my Victor Victrola. I say open mike, because the Victrola has no electronics and the sound is produced mechanically from the record. I like to think of the Victrola as an acoustic musical instrument, and it was recorded like any other instrument such as a trombone or saxophone, for example.  According to this website, my Victrola model VV-405, was manufactured in 1923 and looks like the one shown here. However, the unit in the picture has a much nicer finish on the wooden cabinet than mine.
If my memory is correct, I recall my father telling me many years ago that this record was a favorite of his while growing up in Berkeley, California. I guess the lyrics could be considered racist, but I’m sure it was never intended to be anything more than a guy in love with a beautiful Japanese woman.

Victor Victrola model VV-405

Inside cover top

Model and serial number

Direct mp3 download or play:  Barney Google

Here is the B side of my 78 rpm record “I Love Me.” The same thoughts apply to this record. I captured it to digital using the same technique as the other recording.

Direct mp3 download or play:  I Love Me

This record is part of a collection of 78s that have been with me all my life. As far as I know my father listened to this when he was a child in the 1920s and 1930s. “The Dance of The Blue Danube” is also one of these records. I believe this recording was probably made acoustically with no microphones or electronics. I captured this recording using the same setup as in “You Cooked Your Goose With Me (updated).”

Direct mp3 download or play:   Don’t Mix Whiskey With Women
As requested, the other side of the 78 rpm record “You Cooked Your Goose With Me (updated).” The recording technique (no processing) is the same as well.

Direct mp3 download or play: You Cooked Your Goose With Me (original capture)

You Cooked Your Goose With Me (original capture)

Direct mp3 download or play:  You Cooked Your Goose With Me (no processing)

You Cooked Your Goose With Me (no processing)

Here is a 78 RPM record from a thrift store that I think might be a good addition to the “How Dare You” kind of thinking. I recorded it again with no audio processing. A Newcomb TR-1625M turntable with a General Electric variable reluctance magnetic cartridge played the record. The signal from the cartridge bypassed the built-in amplifier and was fed to a UREI (United Recording Electronics Industries) 1122 preamplifier. Since the UREI is a professional unit, it is known as a “transcription preamplifier.” Then I connected a balanced (3 wire) line from the 1122 to my Yamaha MG10/2 mixer with the controls at flat (no frequencies boosted or cut).

Capitol Americana

UREI Model 1122 phono preamplifier

Direct mp3 download or play:  Honey

Direct mp3 download or play:  The Roller – Skaters Waltz

Direct mp3 download or play:  I Can’t Do Without You

This is the B-side of the very scratchy 78 RPM record with organist Jesse Crawford. When I was a ten-year-old kid this song seemed somewhat less exciting to me than “The Dance of The Blue Danube” and it wasn’t played as often on the Victrola.

Direct mp3 download or play

My Original scratchy 78 RPM record.

Direct mp3 download or play

A somewhat better version from Internet Archive.

This was my favorite record when I was a kid in Berkeley, California in the early 1960s. I played it many times on my father’s Victrola (Victor Talking Machine model VV-405). It seemed to have better fidelity than other 78 rpm records I was playing at the time. It wasn’t until quite recently that I figured out why this record sounded better. If you look closely at the record label you will notice the letters “VE.” That designates this record to be a Victor Electric recording which means it was recorded with microphones and vacuum tube amplifiers. According to the internet, this record came out in 1928. The other records that have a more tinny sound were recorded acoustically. That means the musicians would gather closely around a large horn and play loud while a record was cut. The horn picked up the sound and it was connected to a diaphragm and fed into a cutting head to make a master copy. The quality of the sound depended on how loud the music was played.
I played the record on my Newcomb phonograph and recorded it into my PC computer. I believe it was the same setup that I used in the post “Dreamo Sleeping Pills.” It is extremely scratchy and I didn’t want to use much noise reduction. I wanted to preserve as much of the analog (non digital) quality as possible.

Direct mp3 download or play:  Happy Danube (shortwave effect # 1)

Well I guess I’m coming out of the closet on this one. Sooner or later you are going to find out that I like organ music. And I like it a lot. It’s safe to say that most of you have heard or heard of “The Dance of The Blue Danube”. Hopefully you have not heard a rendition quite like this one. The performer is a German organist by the name of Klaus Wunderlich. In addition I processed (butchered) the audio to make it sound like fading shortwave radio. I can imagine listening to this on a vintage high end German shortwave radio. The effect is in stereo, however and I advise you to play it loud. I have more versions of “The Dance of The Blue Danube”, including a very scratchy 78 rpm by Jesse Crawford from the 1920’s. So beware!

Direct mp3 download or play:  Happy Danube (shortwave effect # 2)

Imagine driving on the Autobahn in your new Porsche late at night and this begins to play on the radio. This may be a cleaner, more realistic version of the phenomenon of  “skip” when listening to shortwave radio. Of course, if you are actually listening to a radio, the sound would not be in stereo.  In addition, I have become a fan of the sound of Wersi electronic organs. Occasionally, I may make other versions of this effect. There are some really great free VST effects available on the internet to create these sounds and many others.

Be aware what I’m doing here is just for fun and is not really comparable to listening to the music in CD quality or better without all of the “butchering” of the audio.  My sources for these two tracks were at best 128 kbps mp3. I think the first one was a YouTube video as well.