Fanfare Feature:
At Severance Hall With PCM

BY JOHN BAUMAN

Much is being made of the new recording techniques that are beginning to be used in the continuing attempts within the record industry to bring ever increasing realism into our homes. In the last year or two there have been a limited number of premium-price issues made via the direct-to-disc method. This is costly and time consuming, as well as limited in that there can be no editing whatsoever of the finished product, and also in that only a certain number of discs can be processed from one master. The ideal would seem, therefore, to still lie in the realm of tape masters, which allow editing and a nearly infinite number of master discs from which the necessary processes for pressing records can proceed.

Recently, we have had the appearance of a new system that promises to do just that--one called "Pulse Code Modulation." This makes use of computer technology to process the incoming signal and encode it on a one-inch master tape moving at 30 inches per second. I will make no attempt to further explain the technical processes as that has been done better in the article "An Old Show with New Numbers" by Harold Rogers in the March, 1978, issue of High Fidelity (pp. 66-69), which may already be familiar to many readers of this magazine.

This past April 4th and 5th saw Telarc Records, a very enterprising small Ohio firm, hold recording sessions in Cleveland's Severance Hall with members of the Cleveland Orchestra in what I understand was the first PCM orchestral recording made in the United States. (Last year Telarc recorded the Cleveland Orchestra in the first direct-to-disc recording of a full orchestra.) Making his Cleveland Orchestra conducting debut in these sessions was native-Clevelander, Frederick Fennell. Mr. Fennell is, of course, very well known for his pioneering series of recordings made during the 1950's with the Eastman-Rochester Wind Ensemble. Ever since his days as a student at Cleveland's John Adams High School, Mr. Fennell has been interested in acoustics and achieving the best possible sound from an ensemble, either live or on records. Thus, he seemed to be a logical choice for this project.

Much of the repertoire chosen was new to the members of the Orchestra, and so each session began with rehearsals of the music, which gave the owner-engineers of Telarc, Jack Renner and Bob Woods, time to make necessary adjustments in microphones, reflecting panels, and so forth. The music included a transcription by Richard Franko Goldman of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Fantasia in G," which Mr. Fennell referred to repeatedly as "The Fantasia with the Deceptive Cadence." He also commented that it is the finest of the Bach organ works that was never transcribed by Stokowski. Also included were the complete Royal Fireworks music of Handel and the Gustav Holst Suites Nos. 1 & 2 for Band. These latter were previously recorded by Mr. Fennell for Mercury but were monaural recordings.

A total of seven hours was allotted to the recording sessions, four hours for the Bach and Holst and three hours for the Handel. According to union regulations, each hour is divided into 40 minutes recording time and 20 minutes break time (which was used for playbacks and consultations).

When I arrived at Severance Hall for the sessions, there was a mixed feeling of mass confusion that was rapidly replaced by an air of quiet professionalism. Last minute connections were being made between the stage and the recording equipment installed in the Green Room. On stage, everything was quite simple. Fennell used a seating arrangement he had developed years before in Rochester with all the musicians seated horizontally across the stage facing the hall. Snare drums were to the extreme left, and the other percussion were ranged across the back of the stage. Behind these were acoustic reflecting panels. Another small, clear, right-angled plexiglass panel was used to focus the sound from the one string bass. The microphone set-up was also a simple one that Fennell was used to working with. Three microphones (only) were about 10 to 12 feet above stage level-one was centered over the conductor and the others were five feet to the left and right of the center one. This gave Fennell full control over all musical balances and allowed no artificial balances in the control room.

In the control room was a most impressive array of equipment. Four tape recorders were in evidence--two Studer professional models operating at 15 IPS on 1/4" tape made a regular stereo master (which will eventually be cut via regular methods and issued at $7.98 list) and two Honeywell 5600 E recorders capturing the PCM encoded signal after it was processed by the Soundstream PCM unit, which was presided over by engineers from Soundstream. It was interesting to note that the whole process is so new that the equipment for cutting the master disc was still in the laboratory stages, and I was told would not be ready until about a month after the sessions were completed. Then the master will be cut under special conditions at half speed (tape at 15 ips and master disc at 16 2/3 rpm) to insure optimum sound quality. This will be done at the JVC studios in Los Angeles. JVC's cutting engineer, Stan Ricker, was also present at the sessions. (This version will list at $14.98.)

There was a tremendous sense of professionalism and punctuality. Promptly at 7 p.m. the tapes began to roll and Fennell began the rehearsal for the Bach. Almost immediately, Renner and Woods were on stage re-aiming microphones. Another minute or two passed and they were back--this time to remove all acoustic reflectors except the one behind the string bass. The sound that went on tape was exactly the natural sound that reached the front of the Severance Hall stage, for no further modifications were made. (At a dinner afterwards, the comment was made about the simplicity of the whole set-up and the reputation that Severance Hall has for being difficult as a site for recording. It was generally agreed that that is only true if overly complicated arrangements of recording equipment are desired. Certainly the sound that came from the master tapes was wonderfully wide range and totally natural. In fact, using this type of microphone placement, Severance would appear to be an excellent recording locale.)

By 7:35 the recording of the Bach was complete. After playback during a break, Fennell pronounced himself satisfied and work began on the two Holst Suites. The conductor commented that these were not written for a group of particularly sophisticated musicians. The Clevelanders, however, produced very sophisticated sounds. Only at the end of the first movement was there need for repeated rehearsal. Within 10 minutes time, the first take began. This pattern repeated itself throughout the evening--a brief rehearsal of one movement followed by one or two complete takes. During breaks, the control room be came increasingly crowded as word spread to all present of the fantastic results being achieved. Never have I heard such totally lifelike recorded sound. The tape began to run on playback, and, yet, there was absolute, total silence. Then from nowhere came the full throated roar of the full ensemble, so realistic that one would have sworn that all the instrumentalists were physically present between the small, closely placed monitor speakers. Fennell seated himself with his head almost between them each time and always came out with comments of amazement. While listening, his face was generally wreathed in beatific smiles. If Telarc succeeds in transferring most of this sound quality to disc, they will have something of a real demonstration record on their hands.

The next night, the Handel Fireworks was on the schedule. Although a large wind band was used, there was no effort made to be absolutely authentic in scoring. That is, no serpent was used and all the brass were modern, valve instruments. In addition, as the percussion scoring is not specific, Fennell added cymbals and bass drum in the last movement. I'm enough of a purist to want to object, but I must admit that the resulting tape was sonically stunning. There were several spots in the Handel where things did not go right and repeated takes were necessary.

One of the advantages of the PCM recording is that editing is done electronically, without any actual splicing. I shall be looking forward to the finished product to see if there is any noticeable change in the sound at any point that would indicate the presence of this electronic editing. This is certainly an advantage of PCM over Direct-to-Disc; instead of no editing possible, you have the ultimate flexibility--if it works. (I'm not going to become involved here in the argument about the honesty of an edited performance.) I am eagerly awaiting the finished product and will report on it as soon as possible.

Copyright © 1978 by Fanfare, Inc. Reprinted by permission from Volume 1, No. 6 (July/August 1978), pages 2-3, 121.

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