Topic: Vintage Home Recordings on Vinyl - Where to start with transfers?

[mfrench]

You'll probably need a 3mil needle to get the best playback of those shellac and recordio discs. Most modern needles are.7mil, with some older, earlier LP needles being 1mil.  Modern LP's use .7mil (on average, with some smaller, like .5mil)
 
The preamp is a variable that just takes time and listening to know if you need it or not.  The ceramic cartridges, and early magnetic cartridges of the day output such a hot signal that they'll brickwall more modern RIAA-corrected preamps. Early shellacs, the ones recorded/mastered acoustically don't have any EQ'ing, and the later ones have variable, pre-standardization era EQ'ing.

Pre WWII records are definitely shellac.  During WWII there was a giant movement towards recycling shellac records for the war effort, because it was needed for waterproofing army gear.  So, literal trainloads of shellac records were recycled towards that effort.  This also "spawned" the new movement towards more modern formulas like vinyl (PVC), and ushered in the era of the first LP records around 1949.  Those early LP's took the 1mil needles; shellac took 3mil needles; and after around the mid to later fifties, there was a move towards the smaller .7mil needles.

Adding:
During WWII, some labels, for example, Columbia Records, started using an inner core coated in shellac. The inner core was quite often cardboard, or thick matted paper, as an inner core.

[runonce]

UPDATE:

I've been working with a fellow from the Ohio Broadcast Archive and Museum to get some of the bigger, 16 inch transcription discs done.

Here's a bit from the first batch - these disks were among the worst in terms of condition.  But the end result isn't too bad.

http://rovingsign.com/lotusgarden/genebeecherorchestra1937WTAM.m3u

Not totally sure what they are doing as far as editing - not much as far as I can tell.
I was able to tighten it up a bit in Audacity...but they only sent me mp3 files - or at least the only ones I've gotten -so far- are mp3.
(I got these through my uncle...so I have to get back with the fellow - we did discuss formats earlier)

I suspect it would be best to have the wavs, since they need to be edited.

I've been using Audacity's RIAA eq - not sure it's needed - maybe its just a coincidence that curve works.

[ebrjvd]

First of all, start with thorough cleaning of the grooves.
Don't use RIAA EQ, it was used only from the 50s onwards for 33/45 rpm records.
Best is to transfer 78 rpm disks with linear preamp, and later apply EQ using your ears, since each brand used its own EQ.

Merry Christmas!
Jos

[I'm doing transfers of old recordings (any format) for archives.]

[thunderbolt]

I use one of these for my 78s and pre-RIAA records:

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/equipment/0308/rek_o_kut.htm

It helps you dial in the proper equalization curves, and the results can be stunning.