Monday, January 17, 2022

Sacred Music of Tibet (Ocora OCR 71) an LP issued in France in 1983 -- rescued and remastered


Here is a wonderful LP released on Ocora of recordings of Buddhist Monks performing rituals in Tibet.

 

This transfer came with no information on who made it or what equipment was used. The levels were quite low (I had to boost them by 16dB -- approximately tripling the volume). After some removal of clicks and pops and reducing turntable rumble, it sounds quite nice -- much better and more dynamic than the later CD issue.








downloads:







Sunday, January 16, 2022

Imrat Khan: Raga Shree (EASD 1403) an LP issued in India in 1974 -- rescued and remastered

 

Here is another vinyl transfer from the internet which I have tidied up a bit and now present for your enjoyment. 

  







Quite a bit of audio restoration was required. Aside from a lot of effort in removing pops and clicks, I tried to reduce turntable rumble noise where the audio frequencies sometimes reached up into those of the musicians'. Therefore I needed to leave some in place.

  

I took the liberty of narrowing the stereo image slightly so that there is less of a hard right-and-left image. This idea of having one performer in one channel and another in the other channel might have sounded good at the time, but it can be unpleasant, especially when using headphones.

  

Imrat Khan here plays surbahar for the alap and then switches to sitar for the gats. 



downloads:

16bit, 44.1kHz FLAC file (261 MB)


320kbps mp3 file (111MB)



Monday, January 10, 2022

Parveen Sultana: Self-titled LP (ECSD 2480) an LP issued in India in 1971 -- rescued and remastered


Occasionally I will encounter vinyl transfers of world music on the internet which I believe could sound better. 

 

This is one of those LPs. I downloaded it at some point in the past and could find no information about who transferred it or what equipment was used.  

 

The rarity of the music caused me to want to remaster both the audio and the image of the front cover.  After some time spent using ClickRepair and the audio editing program called "Audacity," this now sounds quite nice. 

 

I certainly hope I'll find time to upload more such "rescued and remastered" albums on this blog during the next few months.

 

Parveen Sultana was born in 1950 and began recording for EMI in India in her early 20s. She continues to remain active to this day.




Parveen Sultana: Vocal

side one:
01 Raga Salag Varali Todi

side two:
02 Raga Lalit
03 Thumri 


downloads:







Sunday, August 23, 2020

Kanika Banerjee and Hemanta Mukherji: Gems From Tagore [EALP 1267] an LP released in India in 1961

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) distinguished himself in many fields. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913, wrote thousands of songs (including ones which two different countries -- India and Bangladesh -- claim as their national anthem), and gained fame during his lifetimes as a poet, playwright, visual artist, and educator.

This album is one of many devoted to his songs, sung here by Kanika Banerjee (side one) and Hemanta Mukherji (side two).






This album was released in 1961 as part of centenary celebrations of the composer's birth.



Equipment used in transfer:

Preparation: Ultrasonic cleaning for 20 minutes in pure clean water.
Turntable: Audio-technica AT-LP-1240
Cartridge: ATmono3LP
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.
Recorder: Sony PCM-M10 at 24bit/96kHz resolution
Software: Audacity, ClickRepair, and xAct
Monitoring: Schiit Asgard 3 with AK4490 DAC, Focal Spirit Pro headphones

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Dancers of Bali [ML 4618] an LP recorded and released in the US in 1952

Here is a live recording of the Gamelan Orchestra of the village of Pilatan, Indonesia. The sound quality is quite amazing for 1952.

The liner notes were written by well-known composer Colin McPhee who spent many years studying the music of Bali and incorporating it into his works.




Side one:
A1 Overture - Kapi Radja (Melody From North Bali)
A2 Angklungan
A3 Tumulilingan (Bumblebees Sip Honey)
A4 Baris

Side two:
B1 Gambangan (Ancient Melody)
B2 Kebyar
B3 Gender Wayang; Angkat - Angkatan (Music For A Shadow Play) Legong
B4a Lagu Chondong
B4b Pengipuk
B4c Garuda


Credits

Design – Meyers*, Monogram (2)
Directed By [Gamelan] – Anak Agung Gde Mandera
Gamelan – Gamelan Orchestra from the Village of Pliatan, Bali, Indonesia*
Producer – John Coast
Sleeve Notes – Colin McPhee

Equipment used in transfer: 

Preparation: Ultrasonic cleaning for 20 minutes in pure clean water.
Turntable: Audio-technica AT-LP-1240
Cartridge: ATmono3LP
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.
Recorder: Sony PCM-M10 at 24bit/96kHz resolution
Software: AudacityClickRepair, and xAct