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Richard Jernigan -> RE: Effects of old microphones on historic flamenco guitar recordings (Apr. 15 2010 9:14:31)
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An interesting thought. But for much of Sabicas' output, perhaps a more accurate analogy would be mid-1950s Rollei, Nikon or Leica lenses.
Can anyone tell us which mics and other gear were used for older flamenco recordings? Sabicas' recordings come in great variety of sound, some quite hi-fi, some not so much. Even the hi-fi ones usually have audible reverb and equalization, which probably alter the sound far more than the mics did.
In person, Sabicas' tone was richer and more resonant than Paco's unamplified sound. In 1965 I heard him in a 900 seat hall. It was the pseudo-Spanish auditorium of Jefferson High School in San Antonio, with a lot of plaster and ceramics. I was on the front row. Sabicas was so loud unamplified that you could hear the reverb from the back wall.
At least until the 1970s recording technology in Spain was far behind contemporary US, British and German gear. So Niño Ricardo's Hispavox recordings are much poorer quality than the ones Pepe Martinez made in Britain. Mario Escudero made recordings in the USA for ABC that were very high quality. Some were made with the Hauser guitar that he played for a while. Escudero avoided the high positions of the cejilla that Sabicas often employed. This gave Escudero a different sonority that came through quite clearly on the recordings.
I'd say the difference between your Zeiss and a 1950s Rollei was more like the difference between 78 rpm discs and LPs. On average, 1950s LPs were poorer than today's average CDs, but the best of the old LPs were better than many of today's CDs. That includes the mics and the rest of the recording chain. A 1950s Neumann in good hands was more faithful than some of the mics used today to record flamenco discs.
RNJ
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