Historical Technical Notes about Early Recordings

For those interested in historical technical information, the private release Solo Collection project was recorded in the early 1990's at Bias Recording Studio in Studio B. At that time, the digital revolution was in its infancy, and not widely commerically available. Multi-track analogue tape with commercial noise reduction was still widely used. That analogue recording medium was used for recording:

• All the early nostalgic love songs before Solo Collection;
• All songs on Solo Collection;
• The unreleased Romantic Duets; and
• The original tracking recordings during Phase I of the Hymns and Songs of My Mother album.

The technology used was:

• 2 inch analog master tape;
• 24 tracks;
• Recorded at 30 inches per second.
• Noise reduction:
  • Initially it was Dolby A;
  • Upgraded to Dolby SR noise.

At the time the (earlier songs, Solo Collection and Romantic Duets) were recorded, Bias was using Dolby A noise reduction on master tapes in Studio B.

They upgraded to using Dolby SR noise reduction, which was used for recording Phase I of Hymns and Songs of My Mother.

Dolby SR is still being used commercially for recordings being made using analogue rather than digital.

The conversion processes used for both Dolby A and Dolby SR enabling us to bring the original analog recordings up to the quality demanded by TortoiseClimbing Audio™ for public releases, includes the following steps:

• The recordings were decoded from the Dolby noise reduction;
• They were converted to audiophile level digital; (24bit, 88 kHz - or higher)
• Vocals were digitally post production processed by TortoiseClimbing Audio™;
• Accompaniments were augmented on a number of songs, while karaoke accompaniments are entirely replaced with new recordings;)
• Digitally Remixed; and
• Digitally Re-mastered.

Critical contribution of Accompanist Ms Nancy Reid

When we first started, Terry arranged for the studio to bring in an artist to build many of the accompaniment parts for "I Am the Starlight." We used karaoke tracks for several numbers. Things really changed when we were introducted to the pianist, Nancy Reid, who played on some of the early recordings, and then on many of those on the 1993 Solo Collection album. It was a privilege to work with the fantastic piano accompanist she is. It is not an overstatement to say she made that album possible. It was privately released as a limited number of Cassettes to friends and family in 1993. For details about Ms. Nancy Reid see Nancy Reid.

Archived Playlist for the 1993 Solo Collection Cassette

Following is the playlist of nostalgic love songs on that private album. They span the period from shortly before, during WWII, shortly thereafter; plus it includes several ballads from the 1970's, and two spanish influenced songs. It is almost entirely solo vocal, and dominantly piano accompaniment. Some used Karaoke track accompaniments. Those are being replaced with live recordings.

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