Scratchy Old Records...

About my resource collection, technical limitations, etc...

The majority of important recordings related to historical klezmer music were made between 1910 and 1929 on shellac phonograph disks. I have a reasonably good collection of these old disks, including some rare and unique items. But most of my resource collection is on DAT, CD-Rs and cassettes - copies which I have made or which have been made for me by archives and other collectors. Over the years I have added a lot and I have vastly improved the techniques and equipment with which I handle the source recordings. Still there are some severe limitations:
1. The source records, some of them one-of-a-kind, are sometimes in poor condition. Many of them were poorly recorded to begin with, so even in good condition the sound that can be got from them is poor.
2. The equipment I have is very advanced compared to home audio systems, including devices specially made for processing old phonograph records. But, as good as my equipment is, I cannot do as well as a professional working with certain extremely expensive equipment.

Some of the record companies that do issue CDs of this material will only include pieces for which a good-sounding copy exists. But some of the best and most interesting recordings of klezmer music are not to be found in such good condition! My collections are as complete as I can make them, with emphasis on material that I believe to be musically or historically important, regardless of the condition and quality of the source, so there are some almost painfully scratchy old sounds among the resources I offer.

All that having been said, however, sometimes the quality I can provide is indeed quite good and I am pleased to say that many who use these resources find the quality of some things to be superior to that of many of the CDs that are available.

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