Sid Ramin & Orchestra: New Thresholds in Sound

No Way! That's Even More Dynagroovy!

Okay. It might not be MORE DYNAGROOVY, but it is Definately MORE of the DYNAGROOVE EXPERIENCE!

This one, by Sid Ramin, rocks just as hard as the one by Marty Gold but it's not quite as inventive. There's very little Tuba action here. Still, it's a really great record and I'm sure it helped make a lot of dudes really happy with their recently purchased console stereos back in 1963.

Speaking of which... Remember that in 1963 there weren't that many Stereo systems out there. The amazing Stereo Action series that RCA produced in 1961 and 1962 was aimed at a Very Tiny, but Well Heeled, audience that was made up, mostly, of single men with enough disposable income to shell out for a stereo system (hence the tag "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music").

I had a roomate who worked at a record store back in about 1985. He had all these goofballs who knew not a damn thing about music coming into the store and asking him which CDs they should buy, as CDs were the New Perfect (and, at the time, rather expensive) Thing. He would offer his recommendations and they would purchase a huge load of good music. A week later, they would come back into the store wanting to sell the CDs back and asking which new ones they should get this time. It wasn't that they didn't like what they'd heard, it was just that they had Tiny Brains and Big Fat Wallets.

Too bad that the Record Companies had forgotten how to sell Demonstration Records by that point.

I know that there were at least three others in this series (and I swear I've got a copy of Dick Schory's "Supercussion" around here somewhere), as well as several compilation releases designed to demonstrate the amazing capabilities of Dynagroove, so if any other bloggers offer them you need to grab them up! I'll keep my eyes open in the Thrift Stores around town for 'em. Don't Worry!

Sid Ramin & Orchestra: New Thresholds in Sound

1. Strike Up the Band
2. Granada
3. The Sweetest Sounds
4. April in Paris
5. Varsity Drag
6. Embraceable You
7. Spring Is Here
8. Swanee
9. I Believe in You
10. Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
11. Hernando's Hideaway
12. Bewitched

Marty Gold & His Orchestra: SOUNDPOWER! Music to the Limits of Audibility

Man! That's Dynagroovy!

The Wikipedia entry on Dynagroove reads as follows:

"Dynagroove is a recording process introduced in 1963 exclusive to RCA Victor that, for the first time, utilized computers ("electronic brains") to modify the audio signal fed to the recording stylus (chisel-shaped) of a phonograph record to make the groove shape conform to the tracking requirements of the playback stylus (ball-point shaped). RCA claimed that Dynagroove had the effect of adding brilliance and clarity, realistic presence, full-bodied tone and virtually eliminated surface noise and inner groove distortion. In addition, Dynagroove recordings were mastered on RCA Magnetic Tape. Hans H. Fantel (who wrote liner notes on the first Dynagroove releases) summed it up with, "[Dynagroove] adds up to what is, in my opinion, a remarkable degree of musical realism. The technique is ingenious and sophisticated, but its validation is simple: the ear confirms it!"

"The process was not received well by some industry commentators, such as the founder of Stereophile magazine, J. Gordon Holt, who in December 1964 wrote a highly unfavourable article entitled "Down with Dynagroove!". Dynagroove was also sharply criticized by Goddard Lieberson of the competing label Columbia Records, who called it "a step away from the faithful reproduction of the artist's performance;" and by Harry Pearson, founder of The Absolute Sound, who termed it "Dynagrove, for that wooden sound." Holt, a noted audio engineer and writer of the 1960s and 1970s, slammed Dynagroove as introducing "pre-distortion" into the mastering process, making the records sound worse if they were played on high-quality phono systems.

RCA discontinued Dynagroove without fanfare in the late 1970s."

Whether it was a step forward or a step backward can (and, I'm sure, will) be argued by the experts 'til they're all blue in the face. The fact is that RCA created an entire slate of releases produced specifically in order to show the extreme dynamic capabilities of the Dynagroove process and those records are treasured to this very day for the music more than the recording technology involved.

One such recording (my personal favorite of the lot) is "SOUNDPOWER! Music to the Limits of Audiobility" by Marty Gold and His Orchestra. This is one killer record. Marty uses it as a opportunity to stretched his highs and lows as far apart as possible using the entire orchestra in dramatically inventive and creative ways.

If you've never heard "I Concentrate on You" performed on a Tuba, now's your chance!

Marty Gold & His Orchestra: SOUNDPOWER! Music to the Limits of Audibility

1. I'll Remember April
2. Stella By Starlight
3. The Moon Was Yellow
4. The Terry Theme from "Limelight"
5. Without a Song
6. Harlem Nocturne
7. Shangri-La
8. A String of Pearls
9. I Left My Heart in San Francisco
10. I Concentrate on You
11. Till There Was You
12. Misty