User:Mjb/Speiser family recordings

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I am slowly curating and digitizing as much as I can from the Ted & Pat Speiser family's audio & video library. The resulting archive is getting large and difficult to keep track of, so for now, I am collecting as much info as I can here on my wiki.

Audio

Collection info on Discogs

The Speiser collection of commercial and promotional releases is tracked on Discogs:

There are about 370 items.

The most valuable records in the collection, based on average price in previous sales on Discogs:

  • The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out [first pressing] $70.00
  • Various - The Playboy Jazz All-Stars, Volume 3 $42.49
  • Ray Charles - The Great Ray Charles $30.00
  • Various - Jazziz On Disc Two $29.99

There may be some records which are worth more, but they are not listed here because they have not been sold through Discogs yet.

I used to work in a record shop and can say most of the records are not worth very much because they are not in good enough condition to sell, or are just not very sought after.

Shellac 78s

There are about 75 shellac and (post-1930s) shellac-like plastic records, some of which were here already and some of which were on loan from other family members. They have all been digitized to FLAC with basic tags.

To help with organization, transportation, storage, and preservation of the 78s, I bought a special box, dividers, plastic outer sleeves, and generic replacement sleeves—total cost averaging out to $1 per record, which is pretty normal. It is much better than the grocery bags and haphazard piles from before.

The whole collection including the play-graded condition of each 78 is documented on Discogs at https://www.discogs.com/user/speiser/collection ... and if you are logged in as user speiser (ask me for password), the collection is further divided into folders, matching the way they are divided in the box.

Condition varies from Poor (dull, broken, badly skipping) to VG+ (shiny, very light/infrequent noise from dust & scratches). Most collectors of 78s don't care about sleeves since they are not unique to each release, but since so many of these do have the original sleeves, the sleeves are graded, with any curling, creases, marks, stains or tears resulting in downgrades from the secondhand almost-like-new standard of VG+.

Digitization notes

Each 78 often takes longer to digitize (to my satisfaction) than an entire vinyl LP. There are two reasons:

  1. Frequency response was haphazard on the earliest recordings due to technological limitations, and it was not standardized across the industry until the late 1950s. To some extent, the oldest records were made to sound best on the record company's own brand of phonograph, and you were also expected to adjust the sound to your taste using the bass "turnover" and treble "cutoff" knobs on some units, as well as by having a variety of needles or styli on hand, each with a different tip radius so it can ride higher or lower in the groove. Some collectors have published guides to reproduce what they say is the correct EQ for 78s of different labels and eras, but quite a lot of this information is folklore and not very scientific, so I use my own method of analysis and correction.
  2. There is variation in speed. Most 78s are cut at 78.26 RPM, but some are slightly faster or slower, so I have to research and correct those accordingly.

The Internet Archive takes donations of physical and digitized 78s, so I uploaded my rips there; contact me for the URL.

You can read more about my digitization process at User:Mjb/Ripping vinyl#78 notes.

Historical sidetrack

Many of the 78 sleeves have a seal from a particular shop: The Knight-Campbell Music Co. in Denver. You can see historical photos of this amazing music store at http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/search/collection/p15330coll22/searchterm/knight-campbell/order/nosort ... The building is still there at 1627 California Street, but its facade has been downgraded, and it is now a parking garage. If only we could time-travel.

Spare 78 sleeves

The collection includes one each of the following sleeves without the records that belong in them:

  • Edison - selected catalog on back mentions record #s 50045 through 82197
  • Imperial (1950s) - mentions Fats Domino, T-Bone Walker, etc.
  • 3 generic unmarked beige paper sleeves, all different

There is also one each of these brown paper retail bags with Victor advertising on them, from Runge Music Co., Fort Collins, CO:

  • Orthophonic Victor Records
  • The Orthophonic Victrola

Victor 78 sleeves

Many of the Victor 78s have probably had their sleeves swapped willy-nilly over the years. There's no telling which ones really belong with which record.

However, I have managed to categorize them. I created a gallery and summarized my findings in the Discogs wiki at https://reference.discogslabs.com/wiki/Victor-US-78-sleeves.

The two oldest records in the collection were first released in 1923 and 1924, and there is only one each of the two oldest sleeve designs, so I concluded those sleeves were from circa 1923 and 1924.

After matching up chronological sleeves to records in catalog number order, I ended up with the release dates of the records being somewhat later than some of the sleeves would suggest, e.g. the earliest record I could put in one of the sleeves from the last batch was a Sep. 1927 release, whereas the earliest sleeve in that batch advertises a record which had been deleted by Nov. 1926.

Missing 78s

Ted had these, but now they are gone. I have his digitizations of them (as copied via reel-to-reel tape), but some of the transfers are poor quality and I would like to redo them, if the original records can be found again:

Reel-to-reel tapes

There are about 48 homemade reels of various lengths. Some have recorded music or TV shows, some have birthday parties, travelogues, letters on tape, you name it.

Ted's reel-to-reel deck does not work at all, and will cost $570 plus parts and shipping to get it refurbished by Reel Pro Sound Guys out of Montana, so I rented a deck from a local one-man audio repair shop and digitized all of the homemade reels.

Selections on SoundCloud

I selected a few of the most interesting reels, processed, split and tagged them, and uploaded selections from them to SoundCloud.

I also uploaded a vacation slideshow reel. Ted would have played the left channel for the audience, and occasional tones in the right channel would automatically advance the projector to the next slide. Tertia & Eric have the slides and projector.

The remaining homemade reels are digitized but not processed yet.

Vinyl 45s

There are eighteen 7" vinyl or styrene 45s. Most do not have sleeves and are only in fair condition at best.

These have been digitized to FLAC and given basic tags:

  • [1949,195x] Brother Bones - Sweet Georgia Brown
  • [c. 1955] Victor Borge - Caught in the Act vol. II
  • [c. 1956] Musikkorps der Schutpolizei, Berlin - Opa's Lieblingsmelodien
  • [1956] Bill Haley & His Comets - Don't Knock the Rock; Choo Choo Ch-Boogie
  • [1958] Marianne Vasel & Erich Storz - Sunny Lake Walk; The Little Train
  • [c. 1959] various - Top Hit Tunes TH-26-1
  • [c. 1959] various - Top Hit Tunes TH-31-1
  • [c. 1959] various - Top Hit Tunes TH-31-2
  • [1960] Annette with The Afterbeats - Pineapple Princess; Luau Cha Cha Cha
  • [1960] Don Costa & His Orchestra & Chorus - Theme from 'The Unforgiven'
  • [1961] Jack Ross - Happy Jose (Ching-Ching); Sweet Georgia Brown
  • [1961] John D. Loudermilk - Language of Love; Darling Jane
  • [1961] Johnny Burnette with The Johnny Mann Singers - God, Country and My Baby; Honestly I Do
  • [1970,1971] Jose Feliciano - Feliz Navidad; El Jinete [only one side playable]
  • [c. 1977] Will Barnes - She Ran Off with Buck; Marijuana Polka

3 were unplayable or had terrible distortion due to groove damage; I have no plans to attempt to digitize them, and the songs are easily found elsewhere:

  • [1975] Waylon Jennings - Rainy Day Woman / Let's All Help The Cowboys (Sing The Blues)
  • [1978] Janie Fricke - Please Help Me, I'm Falling (In Love With You) / Get Ready For My World
  • [1979] Kenny Dale - Only Love Can Break A Heart / Child Of The Wind

Vinyl LPs

All of these LPs have been digitized to FLAC and have basic tags. Items in bold do not have cover art yet. Items with an asterisk (*) were ripped from a substitute CD or LP of better quality.

Classical

  • [1973] Stravinsky - Petrouchka (1911) [LSO/Mackerras]

Funk, Soul, R&B

  • [1962-1971] Stevie Wonder - Looking Back
  • [1971] Ike & Tina Turner - Something's Got a Hold on Me
  • [1974] Ray Charles - Come Live with Me

Jazz

  • [1950] Benny Goodman - The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert
  • [1954] Eartha Kitt with Henri René and His Orchestra - That Bad Eartha
  • [1956] Shelly Manne & His Friends - Modern Jazz Performances of Songs from My Fair Lady [mono version]
  • [1958] Louis Armstrong - Louis Under the Stars
  • [1959] Lena Horne & Harry Belafonte - Porgy and Bess
  • [1960] Spike Jones and His City Slickers - Thank You, Music Lovers!
  • [1974] George Benson - Bad Benson aka Take Five*
  • [1978] Al Jarreau - All Fly Home*
  • [1986] Bobby McFerrin - Spontaneous Inventions*

Pop

  • [1952] Danny Kaye - Hans Christian Andersen
  • [1965] Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass - Whipped Cream & Other Delights [mono version]
  • [1966] Simon & Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme*
  • [1968] Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Look Around*
  • [1968,1970] Neil Diamond - Velvet Gloves and Spit
  • [1968-1975] Ray Stevens - The Very Best of Ray Stevens
  • [1976] Wings - Wings at the Speed of Sound*

Psychedelic rock

  • [1970] Bo Hansson - Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings

Regional

  • [1953] Larry Adler - A Recital of Spanish and Slavonic Music
  • [c. 1960] various - Musical Memories from Munich to Heidelberg [mono version]
  • [1964] Gregory A. Bueche & Maude Barker Neff - Heritage
  • [1980] various - Jury's Irish Cabaret

Soundtrack

  • [1954] Rosemary Clooney, Guy Mitchell, Joanne Gilbert ‎– Red Garters
  • [1959] Miklos Rozsa - Ben-Hur [mono version]

Spoken word

  • [1963] John Fitzgerald Kennedy - A Memorial Album

I have no plans to digitize the following:

  • [1955] Living French: A Complete Language Course [4x10" LP box set]

Audio cassettes

I kept about 36 homemade tapes which are unlabeled or have labels indicating they may have something interesting or unique on them, like radio broadcasts. I discarded any homemade tapes which were labeled as being copies of LPs from the vinyl collection.

There were only a couple dozen commercial tapes, and none were rare or valuable, so I donated them to charity.

Digitized so far:

Family misc

  • unmarked Fuji DR-I: Ted says "Da-ner hello-o" then Pat says "Hello! Happy Monday morning!", rest is blank
  • unmarked Maxell UDII 90: Ted & Pat listen to coyotes Dec. 1 & 8, 1999
  • To the Speisers - 1984 (March): a letter on tape from Alfred & Virginia Speiser; includes several AM radio airchecks
  • V. Spicer Service 10/31/97: memorial service for Virginia Speiser
  • Songs in Car 1974

German radio

  • AFN Broncos / BFBS Mix: Dec. 1977 German radio recordings of NFL football action + misc. music
  • African Melodies / WDR-3 Mix: German FM 1978: Dixieland jazz; Music from Africa, Pygmies, etc.; commentary; Christmas music
  • Tertia - Germany: German FM & AM radio c. Feb–Apr 1978: misc. pop & easy listening songs & clips from the radio
  • BFBS & Choiman FM: jazz, pop, easy listening songs & clips from the radio ("Choiman" = "German")

Live music on TV

  • Paul Simon - Ch 6- 3-14-81: about half of a TV broadcast of a 1980 concert
  • Soundstage Jan. 2/79: TV broadcast of Soundstage (live music showcase) - this is a clip show so it's just short pieces

Space science

  • Space Sounds N.G.
  • Whistlers & VLF Emiss's

Youth choirs

  • It's Music - Uni Hill 5th+6th Gr. 5/16/79: a choral showcase Tertia was in
  • BYC - St. Aidens 2-10-80
  • Boulder Youth Choir at St. John's
  • Kelly Choir / Tertia's Program: Kelly w/Boulder Children's choir & CU Orchestra ('74); Tertia's 1st & 2nd Grade class programs ('75/'76)
  • Boulder Youth Choir - Choral Treasures of Three Masters 5/20/79
  • Boulder Youth Choir Dec 9, 78 [side 2 of Whistlers & VLF Emiss's]
  • Madison Boy Choir + Boulder Youth Choir

Yet to be digitized:

  • 3 radio recordings of The Goon Show
  • Nova - 2-10-81 - Mt. St. Helens
  • Nova - 15 Mar 1979 - Einstein
  • Nova - 3-10-81 - The Asteroid & The Dinosaur

Audio CDs

Nearly all the CDs in the collection have been ripped to FLAC (tracks + log + cue) and tagged with basic info.

See https://www.discogs.com/user/speiser/collection?sort=format&sort_order=asc for the full list.

A few CDs have not been ripped because they are still sealed; I will keep them sealed in case someone wants to buy them.

Video

VHS videocassettes

The commercial VHS tapes were all junk, stuff readily available on DVD or which no one would ever want to watch, so I donated them all to charity.

I've separated the remaining VHS tapes into categories:

  • Family home videos: 24 tapes from 1991–2005. Running time could be anywhere from 2 to 6 hours each. These are at my computer desk.
  • Interesting ephemera: about 30 tapes with unique TV broadcasts and space science documentaries. These are on top of the piano for now.
  • Boring ephemera: movies, shows, and tennis matches taped from TV, nothing particularly rare. There several dozen of these in boxes.

When digitizing VHS tapes, some loss of color information is unavoidable. There's nothing I can do about this. The color is still on the tape, but the colors in the digital version will always appear washed-out and slightly fuzzy. I can increase the saturation in post-processing, but it doesn't make the colors more accurate. Pro gear which can do near-lossless conversion costs tens of thousands of dollars and is out of reach for most people.

I have digitized one tape so far:

  • Journey Through the Solar System, Episode 10: Jupiter - A Clearer Picture
    • Since it is a public domain NASA video, I uploaded it to the Internet Archive, where other episodes from the series can also be found. I just uploaded the raw DV-AVI capture (erroneously listed on the website as Cinepack format). Their system created the streaming version and the other downloadable formats automatically. I deleted my local copy of the file.

List of family home videos

  • #89 Mercury 3/6/72; Xmas 91: Viet, Mai, Tanya+Laurent; Grand Canyon; Dixiland/Mall; +15 min/Vohkoh images
  • 8/4/91 '91 hikes + several more
  • 91 camcorder videos; Xmas 95/94
  • Kauai - Luau, North Coast, kids dancing (ILan Roth 2/92); Renaissance Festival 7-9-94
  • Kelly Duc Wedding
  • Jerry eclipse plus [illegible]
  • 96 video cam's
  • '97 Kelly's Shower + several more
  • 8/30/97 Quoc/Dung Wedding + several more
  • Feb 98 Orlando Se World Epcot Everglades Pyvdam(?) St. Maarten 2 hrs + 1 hr 3m 4/20/98 Supai hike + natural bridges & enel(?) Arches & Delicate Arch + 8/98-3/99 (2 H) hikes, Dana +? 40 min
  • 3/14/98 Dana starts to walk + several more
  • 10-10-99 Hike to Ouzel Lake + many more

It looks like these have been partially or fully transferred to Digital8 DV; see below:

  • '97 camcorder videos - Orlando Space Shuttle STS 82, Sea World, Disney World, continued next tape [not sure if I have the next tape]
  • 99 Sony Cam - 0-55m 4,5,99 Snow Birds; T @ MI; M's Day; D's B Day; Hike W. C.r. Falls
  • 99 Videos - Japanese drums; Strome & Fauk(?); Ypsilon Lake; Dana swims; Audubon; Xtal Lake; Ouzel R; Kurt Wedding
  • 6-3-01 Tertia & Eric's Wedding; 0-47m John Wilson's video; 47m to 67 min Ted's video
  • June 7 2003 Welcome Adelaide

DV videocassettes

The are about 40 Digital8 DV camcorder tapes which are all family home movies.

Transfers of VHS tapes

These DV tapes are transfers which Ted made from older VHS tapes in the late 2000s.


  • May 1993 trip to Grand Canyon
    • Duration: 122:02
    • Format: DV-AVI (26 GB). Not processed or uploaded anywhere yet.

  • Feb. 1997 trip to Florida
    • Warning: not nearly as exciting as it sounds.
    • Formats: DV-AVI (30 GB) and processed H.264 MP4 (9 GB). Not uploaded anywhere yet.
    • Part 1 (33:55): Cape Canaveral, Space Shuttle Discovery STS-82 pre-launch & launch, Daytona Speedway, Daytona Beach
    • Part 2 (53:07): Daytona Beach, Sea World Orlando, Disney World, Disney-MGM Studios
    • Part 3 (35:06): Disney-MGM Studios, Busch Gardens
    • Part 4 (11:23): Busch Gardens
    • Part 5 (0:56): Melbourne Beach
    • MP4 converted with FFmpeg N-81291-g7387506 with command-line options -vf "yadif=mode=1,hue=s=1.4" -c:v libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 16 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 1 -pix_fmt yuv420p -profile:v main -level:v 3.1

  • March 1997 - Grand Canyon, Havasupai, Arches, etc.
    • Duration: 61:14
    • Formats: DV-AVI (13 GB) and processed H.264 MP4 (4 GB). I uploaded the MP4 to the Internet Archive (follow the link).
    • A home movie documenting the highlights of Ted & Pat Speiser's sightseeing trip to the Grand Canyon, Havasupai Indian Reservation, and Arches National Park in March 1997.
    • MP4 converted with FFmpeg N-81291-g7387506 with command-line options -vf "yadif=mode=1,hue=s=1.4" -c:v libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 16 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 1 -pix_fmt yuv420p -profile:v main -level:v 3.1

  • 4-99 Snow Buds + Tertia Grad'n
    • Duration: 55:27
    • Format: DV-AVI (12 GB in 7 files) and processed H.264 MP4s (950 MB in 7 files).
    • Part 1 (6:46): woodpeckers at the bird feeder - April 3, 1999
    • Part 2 (20:06): Tertia graduation - May 1, 1999
    • Part 3 (8:52): Ann Arbor picnic & Univ. of Michigan - May 2, 1999
    • Part 4 (6:02): Mother's Day incl. Dana petting zoo - May 9, 1999
    • Part 5 (4:30): toddler Dana
    • Part 6 (3:48): Dana 2nd birthday - May 29, 1999
    • Part 7 (5:19): Rocky Mountain National Park hike - May 30, 1999
    • Original VHS tape ("4,5,99") also available.
    • MP4s converted using FFmpeg N-85750-ga75ef15 with these command-line options: -vf "yadif,hue=s=1.2" -c:v libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 23 -pix_fmt yuv420p -profile:v main -level:v 3.1 -c:a aac -b:a 160k -ac 1

  • Dana '00 Bday; TLPT Zion 9-00
    • Format: DV-AVI (26 GB in 7 files).
    • Part 1 (90:52): Zion National Park Sep-Oct 2000
      • MP4 converted using FFmpeg N-85750-ga75ef15 with these command-line options: -vf "yadif=mode=1,hue=s=1.2" -c:v libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 16 -pix_fmt yuv420p -profile:v main -level:v 3.1 -c:a aac -b:a 160k -ac 1
    • Part 2 (0:59): Dana hay bale maze c. Oct 2000
    • Part 3 (7:48): family gathering c. Oct 2000
    • Part 4 (10:16): Dana 2nd birthday 2000-05-28
    • Part 5 (3:17): parachute & jet watching 2000-05-29
    • Part 6 (2:18): 2000 Boulder Creek Fest dancing girls & worst raggamuffin freestyle ever
    • Part 7 (7:22): diaper Dana c. May 2000
    • MP4s converted using FFmpeg N-85750-ga75ef15 with these command-line options: -vf "yadif=mode=1,hue=s=1.2" -c:v libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 23 -pix_fmt yuv420p -profile:v main -level:v 3.1 -c:a aac -b:a 160k -ac 1

  • 6-3-01 Tertia & Eric Wedding
    • Duration: 19:44
    • Format: DV-AVI (5 GB) and processed H.264 MP4 (280 MB). I uploaded the MP4 to Vimeo (follow the link; ask me for password).
    • Original VHS tape ("9") also available with 47 more minutes of video by John Wilson.
    • MP4 converted using FFmpeg N-85750-ga75ef15 with these command-line options: -vf "yadif,hue=s=1.25" -c:v libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 23 -pix_fmt yuv420p -profile:v main -level:v 3.1 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 1

  • Adelaide 6-7-03 (Addie's birth)
    • Duration: 26:30
    • Format: DV-AVI (6 GB) and processed H.264 MP4 (263 MB). Not uploaded anywhere yet.
    • Original VHS tape ("June 7 2003"/"Welcome Adelaide") also available.
    • Warning: Begins with the sound of Tertia vomiting and is just a madcap barrel of monkeys from there.
    • MP4 converted using FFmpeg N-85750-ga75ef15 with these command-line options: -vf "yadif,hue=s=1.25" -c:v libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 23 -pix_fmt yuv420p -profile:v main -level:v 3.1 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 1

Original DV footage

This is material that was originally shot with the Digital8 HandyCam which Ted must have obtained around Christmas 2005.


  • Xmas 05, Sno Mt 06 #3
    • DV-AVI transfer in progress

  • D+Addie Bday, #4, 6-06
    • Part 1 (2:37): eagle spotting
      • Format: DV-AVI (560 MB in 2 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (69 MB).
    • Part 2 (3:41): cottonwood tree removal
      • Format: DV-AVI (800 MB in 3 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (145 MB).
    • Part 3 (8:17): roller derby (Green Barrettes vs. Bad Apples)
      • Format: DV-AVI (1.7 GB in 14 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (210 MB).
    • Part 4 (4:07): Dana figure skating
      • Format: DV-AVI (879 MB in 8 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (45 MB).
    • Part 5 (4:30): Tertia & Addie ice skating
      • Format: DV-AVI (1 GB in 11 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (46 MB). I uploaded the MP4 to Vimeo (follow the link; ask me for password).
    • Part 6 (4:36): owl spotting
      • Format: DV-AVI (1 GB in 4 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (160 MB).
    • Part 7 (15:46): Dana choir
      • Format: DV-AVI (3.3 GB in 14 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (350 MB).
    • Part 8 (4:36): family pool fun
      • Format: DV-AVI (1 GB in 15 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (200 MB).
    • Part 9 (7:26): Dana & Addie birthday
      • Format: DV-AVI (1.5 GB in 11 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (150 MB).
    • All MP4s converted with FFmpeg N-85750-ga75ef15 with command-line options -r ntsc -i "concat:file1.avi|file2.avi|etc" -vf "yadif=mode=1,hue=s=1.2" -c:v libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 20 -pix_fmt yuv420p -profile:v main -level:v 3.1 -c:a aac -b:a 160k

  • 'not all imported'
    • Part 1 (34:25): Alaska
      • Format: DV-AVI (7.2 GB in 48 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (743 MB)
      • MP4 converted with FFmpeg N-85750-ga75ef15 with command-line options -r ntsc -i "concat:file1.avi|file2.avi|etc" -vf "yadif=mode=1,hue=s=1.2" -c:v libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 20 -pix_fmt yuv420p -profile:v main -level:v 3.1 -c:a aac -b:a 160k
    • Part 2 (0:59): Paris
      • Format: DV-AVI (200 MB in 5 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (8 MB)
      • Just a brief shot of the Arc de Triomphe, hotel room, and Paris handbag
    • Part 3 (6:49): Addie Halloween at the zoo
      • Format: DV-AVI (1.4 GB in 19 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (160 MB)
    • Part 4 (0:47): kids choir
      • Format: DV-AVI (175 MB in 2 files) and processed H.264 MP4 (8 MB)
      • I don't recognize anyone in this choir of middle school-aged children. Maybe one is Dana?
      • Parts 2, 3, 4 converted with FFmpeg N-85750-ga75ef15 with command-line options -r ntsc -i "concat:file1.avi|file2.avi|etc" -vf "yadif=mode=1,hue=s=1.2" -c:v libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 23 -pix_fmt yuv420p -profile:v main -level:v 3.1 -c:a aac -b:a 160k