Louis Armstrong & Sidney Bechet, 1925

[PristineAudio]

This is something I'm currently working on for release - remastering a CD's-worth of early Armstrong recordings mainly from the 1920's. This particular track came out far better than I had any right to expect, especially when one considers that it was an acoustic (i.e. pre-microphone) recording.

Made in New York on 8th January 1925, it was billed as Eva Taylor accompanied by Clarence Williams' Blue Five - Louis Armstrong (cornet), Charlie Irvis (trombone), Sidney Bechet (soprano sax), Clarence Williams (piano), Narcisse 'Buddy' Christian (banjo).

The final minute is magic, as Armstrong lets rip and Bechet raises his game to give as good as he gets.

As for the sound quality - well I think it's one of the best acoustic remasters I've heard (let alone achieved myself), but I'd welcome your comments here too. It's a 256kbps MP3 file encoded in stereo for compatibility (it is of course a straight mono recording), so you should get a very good idea of the quality of the master:

Cake Walking Baby From Home, 1925

[Harold_Z]

When I click the link the "ok" button is not operable.

[Larry Kart]

Thanks, Pristine. Fine work.

[Harold_Z]

OK - I did get it to work. It sounds really great!

[Christiern]

Excellent clarification. I remember how incredibly primitive the sound was on early 78 and 33 1⁄3 issues.

[Jams_Runt]

Wow! Sounds great!

[Harold_Z]

In the last chorus you can distinguish the notes Clarence Williams is playing with his left hand. Pretty amazing.

[John L]

That really is impressive. I have heard that Pops solo so many times that I have it memorized. But I have never heard it with such immediate presence before. That approaches the sonic quality of the later Hot 5s.

[PristineAudio]

Thanks for the feedback - I'm delighted to hear this kind of thing from the experts!

What you're hearing is literally the first results of a quite radical new remastering technique which has come directly from working on this material. I've found it to be equally as effective on a variety of early Armstrong recordings, going right back to his very first outings in the studio.

Take a listen to this short solo from Copenhagen, recorded acoustically in October 1924 by Fletcher Henderson & his Orchestra - you can hear why I'm so excited about this!

short solo clip from Copenhagen, rec. 1924

There's a little more work to do on the overall remastering of this track, but hopefully nothing that'll change the tone of that horn!

[AllenLowe]

love the Copenhagen - the Bechet/Armstrong strikes me as a little heavy in the lower mids - I wonder if rolling off a little bit in the mids (maybe 500 hz notched as narrowly as possible) and adding more above maybe 3K might bring more out in the recording - might also bring out some more hiss, but make it sound a little less congested - depending, of course, what's there, as acoustic recordings are tricky to work with -

Edited March 26, 2008 by AllenLowe

[PristineAudio]

Some of these acoustics are quite incredible in some ways. The sheer energy of the cornet on Armstrong's 1925 recording The St. Louis Blues, with Bessie Smith, managed to cut harmonics right up to 15kHz - indeed I can see traces heading up towards 18 or 19kHz. Although of little real sonic use at this extreme end (they're pretty faint) it's something that wouldn't be seen in commercial electrical recordings for a further 20 years. It's been a real eye-opener for me!

It's hard work keeping some of this fine detail in when dealing with a hissy recording like this but, allowing for a slightly higher noise floor than I'd usually contemplate, I think it's another recording which has come out remarkably well. More details in due course...

[Harold_Z]

Some of these acoustics are quite incredible in some ways. The sheer energy of the cornet on Armstrong's 1925 recording The St. Louis Blues, with Bessie Smith, managed to cut harmonics right up to 15kHz - indeed I can see traces heading up towards 18 or 19kHz. Although of little real sonic use at this extreme end (they're pretty faint) it's something that wouldn't be seen in commercial electrical recordings for a further 20 years. It's been a real eye-opener for me!

It's hard work keeping some of this fine detail in when dealing with a hissy recording like this but, allowing for a slightly higher noise floor than I'd usually contemplate, I think it's another recording which has come out remarkably well. More details in due course...

I heard the 78 of Bessie's St. Louis Blues played on WKCR. There were times I could hear Louis' breath around the mouthpiece. The (what I would call) presence was remarkable.

[PristineAudio]

I'm pleased to say I've put together a selection of twenty tracks, ten of which were acoustic recordings, using this new technique, which should be available from our website tomorrow. I've done a few further minor tweaks to the tracks linked to on this thread and expect to have a full selection of samples available to listen to online shortly.

The following notes are from our own forum, written for those who've not heard the items posted here:

I've just completed work on a series of early recordings by Louis Armstrong for release tomorrow which see the first outing of a new 'variant' of the XR remastering process, tailored particularly for acoustic 78rpm recordings.

By using a specially adapted 'double pass' XR approach I've been able to get much closer to the cleaner finished sound I want using equalisation alone, before bringing in digital noise reduction, whilst simultaneously tackling the problems of horn resonances and very uneven tonal response. Where noise is a huge problem, as on acoustic recordings, this is a real step forward - it allows much better preservation of the musical signal and reduces the risk of producing audible digital noise artefacts in the finished recording.

What's been particularly fascinating about the Armstrong tracks is the realisation that, thanks to the sheer energy and harmonic richness of the brass instruments used, there's much, much more on some of these recordings than one might have expected to find. Normally we see acoustic recordings petering out somewhere between 3500 and 4500Hz, yet in occasional instances of particularly high notes I've detected harmonics right up to 19kHz.

The achievement of the new aspects of XR used for this restoration is to preserve these high harmonics much more effectively than before. Sadly they do generally only exist in the really high-energy instruments when they're playing loudly - we're not suddenly going to unearth CD quality from acoustic horn recordings - but the fact that they're not only possible but clearly audible does suggest that a lot of traditional equalisation of acoustic recordings may have been throwing valuable music content away.

It's been an interesting week!

[PristineAudio]

The full set of twenty recordings can now be sampled here. They are also available to download as MP3 or FLAC files, or as mail-order CDs.

[Brownian Motion]

Thanks for this. It's always a pleasure to hear Cake Walkin' Babies.