Is AM-HD really FM Quality?

[Savage]

BTW, K6JHU, I totally agree about the sound of analog records 1955-1969 (for some reason the vinyl started getting lousier around 1970 on most major labels.)

Clean 'em up, dump 'em into Cool Edit or some other software and listen to the brilliance and definition.

Some of the best examples were the Command LPs featuring Enoch Light and Terry Snyder's All-Stars.  They were mostly big-band dance LPs with lots of percussion (in fact one series was called "Persuasive Percussion.")  First of all, they were mastered really HOT, so the program material is way above the noise floor anyway....the dynamic range is fantastic, and the stereo image is among the best ever. 

Light and Snyder also provide a uniquely kitschy 1960s sound.  Little wonder national advertisers have discovered the Command "Persuasive Percussion" tracks for ear-catching commercial production (I hear Snyder's "In A Persian Garden" on the Tom-Tom GPS spots.)

[K6JHU]

Hi,

Actually I still have the Command LP's. Haven't digitized them though. I even think I have a commercailly produced  open reel tape of one of the Command recordings. Were they recorded on 35mm film or was that another series?

Also were the Mercury 'Living Presence' series. Their recording of the 1812 (with real cannons) is still considered one of the best ever.

[Savage]

Indeed they did.  And I seem to remember London's LP offerings in the FFrr line also having been recorded on 35mm magnetic film.  I guess film in the late 50s offered multitrack capabilities tape didn't.

I also remember those big-hub stereo tapes which were released simultaneously with the disc versions.

Back in the 50s and 60s many LP jackets recited a list of all the impressive-sounding equipment used in creating the record.  I'm sure that for most folks it came off as gobbledegook and techie jargon designed to assure the buyer he was getting the ultimate in sound.  But when you read these liner notes today, the list of gear DOES make one's mouth water.

From Command's Terry Snyder "Persuasive Percussion"......"some of the microphones used, representing the best of all manufacturers available, are the: RCA 44-BX, Telefunken U-47, Telefunken KM-56, Telefunken 201, Western Electric 1142A, Altec 639B, RCA 77D......original tape recorded on Ampex (presumably a 351)...re-recorded from a Fairchild tape machine through Pultec equalizers and a McIntosh (sic) 200-watt amplifier to a specially built recording head....."

You can only speculate what a stack of gear like this would bring in today's studio-head collector's market.  If you can find an operable 77D or 77DX these days people want $3000+ for it.  I was at a studio a month ago where the engineer related that a new-in-box authentic U-47 went for something like 25K.  And go to any high-end audio store and see what a shelf full of MacIntosh costs you these days.