Re: Now you can listen to Glenn Gould AND the Leafs at the same time!

[John Hill <jphill@home.com>]

Elmer Elevator wrote:

> Another article in the Financial Post of passing interest ... Review of a new
> Glenn Gould CD.  It seems that, "Using the most sophisticated equipment, the
> CBC started cleaning up some acetate air checks of a 1955 Glenn Gould
> performance of Bach's D minor Piano Concerto from Massey Hall.  [Incredible
> acoustics, vile sight lines - an incredible old firetrap across from the
> Eaton Centre downtown]  As the hiss and crackle were stripped away, a buzzy
> nattering voice was uncovered.  It turned out to be crosstalk from a
> broadcast of a Maple Leafs hockey game a few blocks north.  As it was
> unremovable, the CBC simply researched the game and score, and included it in
> the liner notes."

How Canadian!  GG and Hockey Night in Canada inextricably mixed together
thanks to the wonders of RF and a virtuoso from Toronto who hums along.
Go ahead, fire up your Cedar NoNoise algorithms and knock yourself out.
It's all up in there together and it's not going to be removed anytime soon.

Actually, this doesn't surprise me at all.  Location recording can really be a
living *hell* for the recording engineer.  RF (radio frequency interference)
can be an intermittent and subtle menace, particularly in an old "firetrap" with
who knows what riding on the AC mains power.

> For what it's worth, Maple Leaf Gardens is just east of the College Street
> subway stop, Massey Hall just east of and halfway between the Dundas and
> Queen stops, which makes them about seven relatively short blocks apart.

BTW, the same phenomenon (RF, not the hockey game)
can be found in the *1981* Goldbergs for those diligent audio cadets
who don their Grados and listen very carefully.

In some of the soft, slow sections one can clearly hear RF interference and,
I believe, what sounds like a subway.  So, even in a purpose-built facility like
the Columbia studios, these low-level gremlins can creep in and invade your
nice, pristine digital recording.

Sound-wise, I prefer the late 70's Kazdin stuff from Eaton Auditorium anyway.

seeking the holy grail of high-end recording,
jh