High-Quality Audio Files of Jack Benny

[Greg]

Hi guys. I recently downloaded 533 episodes of Fibber McGee that had been painstakingly restored to HQ (high quality). The sound is spectacular... miles better than anything I've ever heard. Here's the link if you're interested: http://otrplus.com/viewtopic.php?t=4075

Anyways, this work was all done by hobbyists, which leads me to ask whether anyone has ever found a similar Benny set. The episodes that I have are mostly very listenable, but hardly sparkling quality. I listen to one episode every morning on my way to work, which involves highway driving. At high speeds, I rarely have trouble listening to the shows, except for deeper voices. Today, Schlepperman was on and I understood about 20% of his dialogue.

-Greg

[scottp]

Wow, since 9/9/09 a lot of people have been celebrating because "Ringo's drums finally sound like DRUMS!"

And now, the junk falling out of Fibber's closet really sounds like junk?

[mackdaddyg]

It would be nice if somebody could do that. I listen to the shows at archive.org, and while a lot sound fine, there are a few that need some serious help.

For example, an episode was brought up here recently about Dennis being a butler. I listened to the one I could find at their website, and the speed was off just enough to annoy me so I couldn't listen to the show. Some of them tend to run fast.

Come to think of it, where are the transcriptions that these came from? I know collectors have some, but did any of these come from Jack's archives?

[helloagain]

There are so many companies that offer old radio shows. I believe most come from the same source, but a lot of sound quality is lost when transferring the shows from disk to tape to cd. When you make a copy of a copy of a copy, etc., you're bound to lose a little fidelity each time. I used to get a lot of material from The Redmond Nostalgia Company in Washingto state, who are still in business. Their quality used to be pretty good. Also, 'Those were the Days', a Chicago based radio show, devotes the entire month of February to Jack Benny. They have many of his programs restored to a much improved sound quality. They are mentioned on this website and can be listened to online.

[Maxwell]

There are so many companies that offer old radio shows. I believe most come from the same source, but a lot of sound quality is lost when transferring the shows from disk to tape to cd. When you make a copy of a copy of a copy, etc., you're bound to lose a little fidelity each time. I used to get a lot of material from The Redmond Nostalgia Company in Washingto state, who are still in business. Their quality used to be pretty good. Also, 'Those were the Days', a Chicago based radio show, devotes the entire month of February to Jack Benny. They have many of his programs restored to a much improved sound quality. They are mentioned on this website and can be listened to online.

Speaking of that, a year or so back they played a newly restored version of the Hindenburg disaster. It's the first time it had ever been released at the correct speed. Herb Morrison didn't sound like he was breathing helium. (The late Chicago radio personality Wally Phillips used to interview Morrison every year on the anniversary of the crash, and he definitely had an excellent radio voice, but you never would have known it because the event was recorded too slowly.)

[helloagain]

I'm not sure if I've heard the restored version, but 'Those were the days' once aired the entire news broadcast of that event. All we ever seem to hear is the few seconds of hysteria as it burst into flame and crashed. After Morrison regained his composure, he continued for about an hour, I think, interviewing the survivors. Some people stepped off without a scratch. I'm sure this complete recording is available. The company that I mentioned that restores these shows is called 'Radio Archives'. The sad thing is that they don't have the rights yet to do the Jack Benny shows. That's what they told me, anyway.

[Maxwell]

I'm not sure if I've heard the restored version, but 'Those were the days' once aired the entire news broadcast of that event. All we ever seem to hear is the few seconds of hysteria as it burst into flame and crashed. After Morrison regained his composure, he continued for about an hour, I think, interviewing the survivors. Some people stepped off without a scratch. I'm sure this complete recording is available. The company that I mentioned that restores these shows is called 'Radio Archives'. The sad thing is that they don't have the rights yet to do the Jack Benny shows. That's what they told me, anyway.

If you heard the version on TWTD sometime in the last couple of years (I'm getting to the age where I can't gauge how long ago anything was) and it didn't sound like Morrison was breathing helium, that's the restored version. And yes, they played the entire broadcast.

[helloagain]

It's been quite a few years since I heard it, so I'll have to get a hold of the restored version. As far as the Benny shows go, I found a copy of a show from 4-2-50, which had Al Jolson as a guest. I obtained this from Redmond Nostalgia about 35 years ago on a reel to reel tape and it has a fidelity that is missing from all copies that I have found available today. I know they have a lot of original transcription disks and tapes so this one is probably not too many generations away from the original. I would think all the programs that were originally transcribed should have the best sound, since they were professionally recorded in the first place. The key is acquiring the master tapes.

[Yhtapmys]

The key is acquiring the master tapes.

They would have been recorded to disc, not reel.

Yhtapmys

[helloagain]

I was under the impression that tape was used, so that the shows could be edited. Bing Crosby, who was the first radio star to pre-record his program, was involved with Ampex recording tape and equipment. Could it be that tape was used for the master recording, then disks were pressed for the radio stations?

[shimp scrampi]

Sometime in the fifties they definitely went to tape for transcriptions, (viz, the edited-in Mary episodes). I'm sure Laura's pegged the date -- but before that, yeah, discs.

[Yhtapmys]

Could it be that tape was used for the master recording, then disks were pressed for the radio stations?

Why would they need discs? As far as I know stations picked up the show from the network (at least in the U.S).

When Don said "transcribed" in the early 50s, I presume he meant a transcription (which, even in the 70s when I started in radio, meant a disc and not tape) that was run from a network origination. But I could be wrong, and will bow to someone who knows.

Yhtapmys

[Greg]

The OTRR has their own online library now, and it sounds like a bunch of their Benny episodes have been restored. They have quite a nice selection for free download: http://www.otrrlibrary.org/

-Greg

[helloagain]

I am not a professional, so I really do not know what was used. However, I have seen 16" transcription disks which have the network insignia on the label. What were these used for? Could shows be edited from disks? I read that Crosby wanted to record his show so they could be edited for length and content. If there was a fluff in a song or a joke that didn't go over, they could do a re-take and splice it together. Also, there would be no need to do the show over again for the west coast. This is what made me think of tape.

[Maxwell]

I know for sure that transcription discs were used for syndicating shows to individual stations. However, a number of network shows were transcribed on disc during the '40s, simply for later broadcast, not to send out to stations.

Crosby changed it all in the late '40s (around 1948-49 iirc) by using tape. By the '50s tape was the standard means of recording shows for later playback. However, I don't know if the taped shows were transferred to disc for later playback (a la phonograph record production). That would seem to me to be an unnecessary step, though, since the discs wouldn't be mass produced.