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Phase 4 recordings, required multiple overdubs over multiple reels of tape, bouncing down and bouncing across to different recorders. This increased the level of tape hiss on the final master, something which Phase 4 engineers could not tolerate. So they achieved in their scoring techniques what could be recorded in one pass what everybody else was achieving with multiple overdubs.
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Phase 4 Stereo was the label of Decca-London to compete in this segment. The title referred to the series of stages or phases that the stereo would have previously gone through. The recording stages, which benefited from the previous technological advances of the firm, were processed in a ten-channel
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Those 10-channel and 20-channel console outputs for Phase 4 recordings were originally made on then-novel 4-track tape, but the innovation was in the special scoring used to maximize the technology. Normally in recording techniques of the early-to-mid-60s, to get the kind of layered sound realized in
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Huge amounts of session outtakes exist which appear to be perfectly fine to the casual stereo listener, but, when the master take is confirmed against the outtake it's obvious if a pan cue was missed, or a processing element was omitted. Many of the sound engineer development people had worked in a
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recordings for their ability to reproduce the music in an analogous way as it would be heard in a concert hall, the system in principle did not have a good response at popular level. This was mainly due to the high cost of reproduction equipment that did not correspond to appreciable advantages by
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In 1964 Decca-London decided to include within the label a series with works of classical music known and accepted by the general public (Concert Series). The task initially fell to the easy listening director, Stanley Black. These recordings were not well received by the specialized critic who
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The sound engineer, in close collaboration with orchestra directors and arrangers, controlled the volume of certain musical instruments or orchestral groups to enhance their presence in the recording, or caused them to move between the left and right channels. It was also processed with effects
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The ffrr series was continued at the end of the following decade by another in stereo sound called ffss (full frequency stereo sound), equally appreciated for its quality. The sound shots were obtained by three omnidirectional microphones suspended at nearly 5 ', (1.5 meters) over the orchestral
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The sound engineers Arthur Lilley and Arthur
Bannister made most of the series' recordings, but was Bannister who used sound manipulation with more exaggeration. During the initial stage, some artists of the Decca's easy listening catalogs participated in the series, like
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The emphasis was then placed not on achieving a realistic reproduction of the sound, but rather on dazzling the listener with effects and sound acrobatics that the stereo allowed to achieve artificially at the mixing tables
332:, always aligned with the popularization of the great classics, had no objection in making several recordings for Phase 4 Stereo Concert Series, a way followed by other directors of established fame such as
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music recording through its ffrr (full frequency range recording) series. These recordings took advantage of the technological advances developed by the firm during World War II at the request of the
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In the series of classical composers almost 200 albums were released. At the same time Decca continued recording classical music and popular music with traditional criteria.
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or "four channel stereo." But because there often are sounds in the extreme right or extreme left channels, the records may also give pleasing results when played on
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over twenty years earlier, and many of the younger assistant engineers would go on to perform similar scoring and engineering duties for what would later become
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In the early 1960s, strong competition began among the various record companies in an attempt to introduce the system to the non-specialized client.
356:. It is fair to recognize, however, that in these cases, the sound, although not exempt from exaggerated brightness, was not so artificial.
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167:, "gimmick" records engineered to make the sound travel from speaker to speaker, records featuring percussion effects, and historical
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Phase 4 Stereo recordings were created with an innovative 10-channel, and later 20-channel, "recording console" (actually a
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including electronic reverberation and microphone offset, all of which had to be done live to get the desired effect.
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By the end of the 1940s Decca had consolidated a remarkable prestige among music lovers in the field of
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label in 1961. The process was used on U.K. Decca recordings and also those of its
American subsidiary
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described them as having an unnatural sound and the director's approach being superficial.
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which included songs from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. A selection can be heard on
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The series was phased out in 1979, and almost all Phase 4 Stereo LPs were reissued on
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classical albums was released, and in 2017 another 40-CD box set of soundtrack and
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461:"Sounds Galactic An Astromusical Odyssey John Keating 1971 Full Album"
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400:. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 12 June 1993. p.
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The concept of Phase 4 Stereo has no connection with
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156:systems or other simulated four channel systems.
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227:In the hands of innovative sound engineers like
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242:Although devotees enthusiastically welcomed
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163:were released with the process, including
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431:"Endless Groove - London Phase 4 Stereo"
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516:"London Album Discography, Part 5"
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184:Stereo Concert Series
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