TRANSCRIPTION DISCS

Comments on TRANSCRIPTION DISCS

martucci
Avatar martucci
Posted Oct 18, 2003 - 8:08 PM:

I posted this under "favorite episodes" and have gotten no response. I'll try it here under a new topic:

transcription discs
I can remember in the old discussion boards of this site (or somewhere on the site) there was a mention of the transcription of the original discs when the 80+ episodes were re-discovered. If I remember correctly, they were Ernest C's own discs and they obviously were not recorded correctly.
What I could do if I had access to the original discs!
I have had quite a bit of success transferring old 78s to digital format. I once had a T-Bone Walker 78 that was broken into 5 pieces and I was able to get a decent recording of it off the taped together disc.
By "wet playing" and physically and digitally cleaning the discs and recordings I'll bet we could come up with some great sounding QP shows if we could just get a hold of the originals.
I can get a turntable that will play the large discs and I have all the necessary equipment (cleaning fluid specially made for shellac 78s, specially made brushes to find dirt in the grooves, etc) to clean and squeeze the best possible sound out of the grooves.
It breaks my heart to hear these great shows with the phonograph needle scraping through the piled up dirt in those grooves. I think “The Ticket Taker” must have had about an inch of dirt and grime on it when it was being taken off the original disc. I can’t even follow that episode no matter how cleaned up it is.


This brings me to my question:
ARE THEY STILL IN EXISTANCE???
WHERE ARE THEY IF SO?
And
HOW DO WE GET OUR HANDS ON THEM?????

Any ideas on this?
Paul
Senior Member
Avatar

Usergroup: Webmaster
Joined: Dec 22, 2001
Location: Northern California

Total Topics: 38
Total Comments: 275
Avatar Paul
Posted Oct 19, 2003 - 3:20 AM:

Since they first discovered in the early 1990s (before then there were only about 11 Quiet Please episodes available), I'd have to guess that they still exist. As for where, I have no idea.
Old Timer
Senior Member
Avatar

Usergroup: Member
Joined: Jun 30, 2002

Total Topics: 14
Total Comments: 100
Posted Oct 20, 2003 - 10:06 PM:

all this talk has got me to wondering... Is it possible to take the MP3's (like what we have here) and somehow clean them up? And if so... what would it take?
Mark Martucci
Junior Member
Avatar

Usergroup: Member
Joined: Oct 25, 2003

Total Topics: 4
Total Comments: 17
Posted Oct 25, 2003 - 12:58 AM:

Do you know who discovered them? Does anybody?

To Old Timer:
Yes the mp3s could be cleaned up a bit (and have been on some episodes-see the thread on cleaned up episodes), but the old adage of "Junk in, Junk out" is all too true. The only way to really improve on the sound is to work with the original transcription discs.
The mp3s could be turned into WAV files and then run through software such as Cool Edit Pro and some of the clicks and pops could be quieted, but the sound quality would not be overly improved.
I thought that I had read somewhere that Ernest Chappell owned the discs. If anyone knew how to get in touch with one of his survivors, we could get to the bottom of this.
Paul
Senior Member
Avatar

Usergroup: Webmaster
Joined: Dec 22, 2001
Location: Northern California

Total Topics: 38
Total Comments: 275
Avatar Paul
Posted Oct 27, 2003 - 6:22 PM:

The group of discs discovered in the early 90's was Chappell's personal collection, as I understand it. Apparently the actor gets a copy of all the episodes to keep. Someone stumbled upon them in his collection apparently not realizing they'd owned it... odd since he died in '83 (IIRC), I don't know why it took so long to come across the discs. No idea where his relatives could be found, though... not suprisingly, that info doesn't seem to be online.
Rob
Junior Member
Avatar

Usergroup: Member
Joined: Mar 14, 2003
Location: Kneeland CA

Total Topics: 2
Total Comments: 11
Avatar Rob
Posted Nov 07, 2003 - 4:51 PM:

Arrg! This story sounds like some of the stories that I have
heard about the disks for I Love A Mystery. You would
think that common sense would tell you that the disks
needed to be very carefully cleaned before the transfers
were made. I have tried to clean up some of the quiet
please shows using mp3's but the quality didn't improve
much if at all. sad
Zorka
Junior Member
Avatar

Usergroup: Member
Joined: May 04, 2003

Total Topics: 3
Total Comments: 37
Avatar Zorka
Posted Nov 10, 2003 - 6:03 PM:

I recall hearing at the time of discovery that they were sitting in some garage, which might account for the lack of knowledge of their existence. Not sure if this was the garage of a Chappell relative or the owner at the time of discovery (which could be one and same).
Download thread as
  • 0/5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5



Sorry, you don't have permission to post posts. Log in, or register if you haven't yet.