Duophonic idiocy

[newpball]

Duophonic recordings, an idiocy developed in the 60s to make fake stereo is still finding its way into remastered recordings on CD.

Annoying to say the least and a disgrace to the original recordings.

Anyone know if (and how) the original mono can be restored?

[Cornucopia]

Depends on how it was achieved to begin with (wide variety of methods, some directly mono downmix compatible, some not). IIWY, I'd take them for what they were: artifacts that reflected that era.

Scott

[newpball]

With the sample I am looking at one channel is slightly delayed but unfortunately the delay seems somewhat frequency dependent. Matching it up helps getting away of most of the delay effects but creates nasty mid-high frequency artifacts and phase issues.

It's a shame as the mono track is often still available.

[Cornucopia]

That sounds like true phase angle delay (e.g. 90 degrees) instead of time-related group delay (e.g. 50msec).Might still be recoverable.

But if you have access to true mono sources, why not cap those?

Scott

[newpball]

But if you have access to true mono sources, why not cap those?

I do not own the mono version, but you are right in that it can be obtained second hand on an LP.

The album I am looking at is:



http://www.discogs.com/Dakota-Staton-The-Late-Late-Show/release/2598810

The CD remasters are duophonic.

Here is a fragment:

Misty - Dakota Staton.wav