| Posted by Steve L. | October 21, 2014 - 07:35 am |
| Hi John, The Supercussion album just arrived and I was very pleased that it was delivered in excellent physical condition. Looked almost new! After cleaning with my trusty Discwasher D4 pad (which it hardly needed), I auditioned it critically. I must say that I was quite impressed with the album. It struck me as very dynamic and uncompressed. I listened carefully for any distortion that might be induced by playing with the elliptical stylus in this Shure V15 IV cartridge but didn't hear any. That was as true for the inner grooves as it was for the outer ones. There was some surface noise, which one would expect from an LP over half a century old. One poster said that playing with the elliptical stylus brings out surface noise. If so, one would expect that to be true playing all LPs, not just Dynagroove. It's easy to imagine that the lower spatial resolution of a conical stylus might hide some surface disturbances. I see what you mean by "stunning, airy, detailed." The percussion orchestra (with woodwinds and brass too) playing this kind of jazz seems perfect for demonstrating the dynamic range of the Dynagroove system. The realism of the overall stereo image was indeed breathtaking. All of the attention to miking techniques and venue acoustics [Orchestra Hall in Chicago] seems to have paid off here. I guess my relatively dry comments fail to convey the fact that I heartily second your ebullient appraisal of the Supercussion LP. I found it exciting and stirring. The "space-age" sixties modern jazz is a joy to listen to. What a delight to hear a xylophone featured again! :) I really appreciate your mentioning the album. PS: For folks who would like to hear a sample of the album, here is a link to a page which discusses it and offers a playback of "Shimboo," a very nice song to pick, transcribed from a very clean copy of the album. Love some of the reader comments there: "FABULOUS, smooth bachelor pad music! Bring me a hi-ball, please!" :) |
| Posted by John Land | October 13, 2014 - 04:15 pm |
| Hi Steve. You're probably right about the recording setup having a big impact on the whole sound. I'll be curious to hear of your experience with the Supercussion album and how it compares to other Dyna recordings. warm regards |
| Posted by Steve L. | October 10, 2014 - 08:29 pm |
| Hi John, Thank you for your exuberant posting! From your emphatic endorsement, I was moved to order a copy of Supercussion via eBay. It's hard to say whether the most commonly cited characteristics of the Dynagroove methodology were determining factors in what you heard. There were so many aspects to the effort, many of which could have more prominent. For example, microphone placement was carefully researched, with formal evaluations of the results. Dr. Olsen, who led the effort, was an expert in acoustics and new studios were designed with controlled reverberance characteristics. While we techies often like to focus on the electronic or electromechanical related craft, the scientific effort which was put into the other aspects of the recording process could well have been the most important. And that was a key point in the article. Thank you for your supportive testimony! |
| Posted by John Land | October 10, 2014 - 07:27 pm |
| Just wanted to add my 2 cents here. I just found a dynagroove recording called Supercussion. It is the best recording i've ever played on my system. I have a pretty resolving system and have tweaked it as much as my small budget allows. The presentation was just so stunning, airy, detailed. I have never been so amazed by the sheer impact of a recording as this one. Which has sent me running to find out more about this dynagroove process and hence to this page. I am using an elliptical needle and if there is any distortion, who cares. My jaw dropped at every moment in this recording. From what i experienced, these guys in 1963 nailed it. Everything recorded since seems like flatland to me. The horns blew into my ear canals, the vibes tickled me, the dynamic range was breathtaking. Space, tons of space.... where no man has gone before! Even though the tunes seemed old hat, I wanted more. Make all my recordings sound like that.... please. What happened to the recording art after that pinnacle? With the compressors, and mixing boards etc., the pride of so-called technological development. Aah what we have missed. If any of you guys can turn me onto recordings and labels with as much slam as this I'd be obliged. Wow. heartland22@gmail.com |
| Posted by Steve L. | October 22, 2014 - 08:26 am |
| Hi Andrew, Thank you for your comments. They seem to confirm that Dynagroove DSC does cancel spherical stylus tracing distortion. Your description of the "mushy HF artifacts" suggests that Dynagroove DSC does degrade the sound, when played with an elliptical stylus. Would it be possible for you to record an mp3 file comparing the spherical and elliptical playback? Would love to post that with the article. You can reach me at: [see homepage ABOUT]. |
| Posted by Andrew B | August 17, 2014 - 02:44 pm |
| Seems this thread has been around for a while... I have the Dynagroove pressing of Paul Desmond Take Ten. It is above average in sound quality for 1963 recordings of popular music, but alone among my records it does sound 'better' when played with a spherical stylus. An elliptical seems to bring out surface noise and some odd mushy HF artefacts. |