Manually adjusting azimuth when playing and transferring cassette tapes

One difficulty encountered when transferring cassette tapes to a digital medium is the issue of proper azimuth alignment. Essentially, this boils done to differences in the direction the play head in the machine is aligned with when tape is passing over it. The goal is to have the same alignment as the original machine which made the recording. This will not be possible in 99% of cases, unless you are using the same deck. 

Here is one excellent article and a fine video on this subject. Anyone who is very serious about helping to preserve recorded musical culture will hopefully be motivated to take a few minutes to read a couple of other articles as well. 

http://www.thegreatbear.net/audio-transfer/setting-azimuth-convert-cassettes-cd/

YouTube video on how to manually adjust azimuth

Ashish Khan - Young Master of the Sarod [World Pacific WPS-21444] (1967)

Ashish (also spelled "Aashish") Khan is son of Ali Akbar Khan and grandson of the great Allauddin Khan. He was born 5 December 1939 in Maihar, India and currently lives and teaches in both Calcutta and California. In 2006 he was nominated for a Grammy Award, which is a big deal to professional Indian musicians and, as far as I can tell, no one else. Being a disciple of Ali Akbar Khan is a much greater honor than any statue the Grammy people can provide.

This World Pacific LP was released in 1967 and features liner notes signed by George Harrison. This particular copy is visually immaculate but featured some prominent clicks in quiet passages and a subtle "crunchy noise" in the louder passages of side 2. After a thorough and gentle cleaning of the vinyl, the clicks were individually and carefully dealt with in Audacity. Unfortunately noise that is within the spectrum of the music is very difficult to eradicate and I chose to leave it alone rather than mar the essential beauty of the performance.

Tabla is by the great Alla Rakha.



Equipment used in transfer:
Turntable: Audio-technica AT-LP-1240
Cartridge: Shure M97x
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780
Recorder: Edirol R-09HR at 24/48 resolution
Software: Audacity to normalize and carefully remove a few clicks as well as convert to 16/44.1. xAct was used to convert to FLAC and mp3

24bit 44.1kHz FLAC file

(suitable for listening on computer and other devices capable of playing high resolution files)

16bit 44.1kHz FLAC file

(suitable for burning a CDR)

320kbps mp3 file

(highest possible quality compressed file for portable devices such as iPod and smartphones)

Ravi Shankar: Music From India Series [ASD 2341] and LP recored in India in 1967 and later reissued in England

What can one really say about Ravi Shankar that has not been said many times before, and much better? Nothing. He is and always will be the best known Indian Classical musician. Heck, even my mother knows who Ravi Shankar was. (She also knows other sitarists, but that is a story for another time).

This delightful album was recorded and released by EMI in 1967.

Tabla is by the ever capable and always reliable Alla Rakha. Kamala plays tanpura. "Kamala" means "Lotus," I think.

Equipment used in transfer: 
Turntable: Audio-technica AT-LP-1240
Cartridge: Shure M97x
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.
Recorder: Edirol R-09HR at 24/44.1 resolution

Software: Audacity to normalize and convert to 16/44.1 as well as xAct to convert to flac and mp3

16bit, 44.1kHz FLAC file (258 MB)

320kbps mp3 file (113 MB)

Ram Narayan: Plays Sarangi

Hey there! This post has been superseded by the repost (and remastering of the transfer) here. Thanks for looking back in time!

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Ram Narayan was born near Udaipur on the 25th of December 1927. He popularized the sarangi as a solo concert instrument and became the first internationally successful sarangi player.


He moved to Delhi following the partition of India in 1947 and then moved to Mumbai in 1949 to work in Indian cinema. He became a concert solo artist in 1956, and later gave up accompaniment. He was awarded India's second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2005.

This is a delightful out of print LP on loan from my friend N.O.


Tabla by Manik Rao Popatkar.

Equipment used in transfer:
Turntable: Audio-technica AT-LP-1240
Cartridge: Shure M97x
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.

Recorder: Edirol R-09HR at 24/96 resolution


Software: Audacity to normalize and convert to 16/44.1 as well as xAct to convert to flac and mp3

Nikhil Banerjee: Raga Desh -- live in Stockholm [ESP 165540] an LP recorded in 1979 and released in Sweden in 1983

Could I start this blog off with anyone other than Nikhil Banerjee (14 October 1931 - 27 January 1986)? I don't see how that could happen. He is by far my favorite musician of any kind. There is a deep and soulful aspect of his playing which is both exhilarating and calming at the same time.

Known for his exquisite and extended alap sections, Nikhil-ji seems to have an unerring sense of how much of an alap a certain raga requires. It's not just about playing for "As Long As Possible" (as sitarist Josh Feinberg once jokingly described an alap) but rather playing for the "exact right amount of time" and introducing and developing the notes of the raga in just the right way.

Banerjee definitely had a reputation as a skilled performer during his lifetime, but after his sudden and untimely death in 1986 -- and the subsequent issues on CD of extended live performances -- his reputation has shot upwards.

This 1983 LP on Oriental Records (New York, NY) is a reissue of the same LP on Amigo Records.

Tabla by Anindo Chatterjee

An excellent web page devoted to Nikhil-ji:

http://staff.spd.dcu.ie/johnbcos/Nikhil_Banerjee.htm

downloads:

24bit, 48kHz FLAC file (609 MB)

16bit, 44.1kHz FLAC file (315 MB)

320 kbps mp3 file (127 MB)