Here is a charming album which is one of several Indian LPs that the label World Pacific released in the very early 1960s to the mid-1970s. Richard Bock did a terrific job in finding excellent musicians to record and presenting them with taste. For the US recording industry, it would take Nonesuch Records in the early 1970s to match his brilliant output.
This LP features veena phenomenon Sundaram Balachander as well as guest N Ramani (a disciple of TR "Mali" Mahalingam) on flute.
This particular copy is in what I call "glorious mono" -- no soloist in one ear and percussion in the other. There is a balance and quiet honesty to the sound that makes perfect sense to me, unlike so many early stereo recordings. There is a good reason that so many mono LPs from the 1960s are highly sought-after by collectors (two examples: the Atlantic Records LPs by John Coltrane released in the years 1960-63 should only be listened to in the mono mix; the Beatles' albums up until the "White Album" were mixed by the band and George Martin in mono and left to a recording engineer to make the stereo mix, with predictable results).
Back in July of last year I posted a cassette by Balachander which is just as "magical" as this LP.
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This LP features veena phenomenon Sundaram Balachander as well as guest N Ramani (a disciple of TR "Mali" Mahalingam) on flute.
This particular copy is in what I call "glorious mono" -- no soloist in one ear and percussion in the other. There is a balance and quiet honesty to the sound that makes perfect sense to me, unlike so many early stereo recordings. There is a good reason that so many mono LPs from the 1960s are highly sought-after by collectors (two examples: the Atlantic Records LPs by John Coltrane released in the years 1960-63 should only be listened to in the mono mix; the Beatles' albums up until the "White Album" were mixed by the band and George Martin in mono and left to a recording engineer to make the stereo mix, with predictable results).
Back in July of last year I posted a cassette by Balachander which is just as "magical" as this LP.
Side 1:
Raga Simhendramadhyam in adi taal
Side 2:
Raga Hindol in adi taal
Rhythm Duet in adi taal
S Balachander: veena
N Ramani: venu (flute)
VG Ramabhadran: mridangam and ghatam
UK Sivaraman: mridangam
Natesan: Tampura
Equipment used in transfer:
Preparation: Ultrasonic cleaning for 20 minutes in pure clean water
Turntable: Audio-technica AT-LP-1240
Cartridge: Audio-technica AT440 mlb
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.
Pre-amplification: Vintage refurbished Pioneer SX-780.
Recorder: Sony PCM-M10 at 24bit/96kHz resolution
Software: Audacity, ClickRepair, and xAct.
Software: Audacity, ClickRepair, and xAct.
(the highest resolution I am capable of recording)
(after decoding into wav, can be burned to a CD)
(highest quality compressed audio file)