Hi-Fi TV Soundtracks (pre 1978) - Why?

[kfbkfb]

I was listening to the closing theme music of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
on MeTV last weekend on my system (Pioneer VSX-D209 + 4 Polk T15s).

IIRC, in 1978, TV sound distribution (USA) was upgraded.

The VTTBOTS soundtrack had amazing fidelity, with musical instruments
whose sounds wouldn't survive the (pre 1978) TV sound distribution
(except in the cities where the Network signal originated - NYC/LA etc.).

I'm wondering why composers created TV soundtrack music using
musical sounds that wouldn't be heard by the majority of TV listeners.

Kirk Bayne

[old_tv_nut]

Can you explain a bit more what the upgrade was and what instruments you think were affected?

[Electronic M]

If it wasn't a live program meant to be aired once then odds are it would have been recorded directly on film or videotape when created and would have had a good Hi-Fi audio recording...If it was intended to become available for rerun some stations would have run it locally off of film or tape at the station and those viewers would have gotten the best quality sound that the studio and recording media could put to air.

Also, I can't imagine it being common for a live program to only survive as a recording from a different station connected to the network so the sound you hear was probably from a direct master studio recording.

[Titan1a]

Just like I remembered one night when I noticed an unreal improvement in sound while watching Lawrence Welk. Instead of telephone line the sound came from microwave!

[kfbkfb]

From the article "TV Sound at the Crossroads"
contained in the Fall 1973 Stereo magazine (USA):

Some (1973) TV audio section specifications:
Sylvania TVs: 47Hz-2kHz 36dB S/N
Magnavox TVs: 50Hz-9kHz 50dB S/N
Zenith TVs: 100Hz-4kHz 45dB S/N

(Network) Film/Video Tape sources:
to 7.5kHz or 12kHz

Musical content in the treble range wouldn't likely
be heard or would be severely attenuated.

1978 TV audio improvement (USA):
https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/13/a...und-of-tv.html
^^^
This action by PBS goaded at&t into improving TV sound
distribution in the late 1970s.

Kirk Bayne

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by kfbkfb

From the article "TV Sound at the Crossroads"
contained in the Fall 1973 Stereo magazine (USA):

Some (1973) TV audio section specifications:
Sylvania TVs: 47Hz-2kHz 36dB S/N
Magnavox TVs: 50Hz-9kHz 50dB S/N
Zenith TVs: 100Hz-4kHz 45dB S/N

(Network) Film/Video Tape sources:
to 7.5kHz or 12kHz

Musical content in the treble range wouldn't likely
be heard or would be severely attenuated.

1978 TV audio improvement (USA):
https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/13/a...und-of-tv.html
^^^
This action by PBS goaded at&t into improving TV sound
distribution in the late 1970s.

Kirk Bayne

I'd bet that these frequency responses were improperly measured as the electrical response at the speaker. Due to the small speakers in TV sets, the high frequencies were rolled off to get a flatter acoustic response. (This also served to attenuate any 15,750 Hz horizontal sweep energy that got into the audio).

[kfbkfb]

https://www.americanradiohistory.com...ng-1973-12.pdf

Letter on page 10 (about NYC originated, LA broadcast):

"But locally on the air it appeared to be compressed
and have incredible high frequency distortion."

I don't know how much of the sound quality decrease
was due to the national TV audio distribution system
and how much was due to the local TV station.

Kirk Bayne

[KentTeffeteller]

AT&T Long Lines was a big issue, especially the further from NY or LA/Hollywood you got. Radio networks had as many issues with audio from AT&T Long Lines as TV did. Mutual Radio Network in East Tennessee did well to have 8 Khz audio on the high end. I remember being in the control room at WATO 1290 in Oak Ridge, right when Mutual News got aired from a Satellite Feed the first time, went from barely acceptable phone feed the hour before to right in the control room with you grade in one upgrade.

[kramden66]

Just wanted to let you know they will be releasing every score done for this series in a cd set , I hope they include the stereo unused version of the theme .
Believe it or not some tv scores were recorded in 2 track stereo and some 3 track , wild wild west , ufo , star trek , space 1999 to mind where surviving stereo tracks exist

Originally Posted by kfbkfb

I was listening to the closing theme music of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
on MeTV last weekend on my system (Pioneer VSX-D209 + 4 Polk T15s).

IIRC, in 1978, TV sound distribution (USA) was upgraded.

The VTTBOTS soundtrack had amazing fidelity, with musical instruments
whose sounds wouldn't survive the (pre 1978) TV sound distribution
(except in the cities where the Network signal originated - NYC/LA etc.).

I'm wondering why composers created TV soundtrack music using
musical sounds that wouldn't be heard by the majority of TV listeners.

Kirk Bayne

[kf4rca]

As I recall my station got network audio via landline while video was microwave in the 70's. Must have been in the late 70's, At&t offered a second audio channel to those stations who wanted it. (Your network paid for it into your facility.) There was already talk of TV stereo which finally came about in '84 using the Zenith system.
Another 10 years later network distribution would move to satellite.

[kf4rca]

Some stations got the audio and video via landline. The video was delivered via the A2A system:
https://www.americanradiohistory.com...l-1955-4.o.pdf
It was easy to add a second audio channel.
But for microwave fed stations, it required an additional subcarrier modulator at the microwave transmitter and an additional demodulator at the microwave receiver.
So it cost a little more for them.

[Chip Chester]

As an audio engineer working during the time of that transition, the thought of mastering at low fidelity would never cross our minds. Mixing to play to the limitations of the presentation method, sure. But we wouldn't make things sound awful because the playback medium sounds awful. The goal was to make things sound good on good systems, and good enough on bad systems. TV and music on records as well. So it's not surprising that old stuff can sound better now than it did on the equipment of the day.

And keep in mind that a common source for high-def video is film from decades ago...

[kfbkfb]

http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~boyk/spectra/spectra.htm
^^^
...a cymbal crash shows no sign of running out of energy at 100 kHz.

I was actually wondering if anyone mentioned to TV soundtrack
(theme music and music in the episodes) composers that, due to
technical limitations, some/most of the harmonics of certain
instruments wouldn't be heard by home TV listeners (using those
instruments for dramatic effect might not have the desired result)?

Kirk Bayne

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by kfbkfb

http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~boyk/spectra/spectra.htm
^^^
...a cymbal crash shows no sign of running out of energy at 100 kHz.

I was actually wondering if anyone mentioned to TV soundtrack
(theme music and music in the episodes) composers that, due to
technical limitations, some/most of the harmonics of certain
instruments wouldn't be heard by home TV listeners (using those
instruments for dramatic effect might not have the desired result)?

Kirk Bayne

Trying to accommodate a wide range of possible degradation would be foolish, and could result in distorting the frequency response of what could get through. Better to master for reasonable limitations, and if the transmission path or particular home receiver were worse, so be it. (Of course, you would not produce something where the plot depended on the possibly missing or unheard highs - thus, a fake lower-frequency mosquito buzz if it was essential to the plot.)

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by kfbkfb

IIRC, in 1978, TV sound distribution (USA) was upgraded.

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

Can you explain a bit more what the upgrade was and what instruments you think were affected?

If I remember discussions of TV sound distribution at that time (I was a teenager just getting my first VCR soon afterward), most or all network TV audio was distributed on two voice-grade AT&T lines, being processed at both ends so that the second line carried the converted higher frequency content. When recombined/converted at the receiving end, the result was sound up to 8 kHz roughly.

I first noticed the potential for improvement when I had the line-level audio from my Sony SL-7200 VCR connected to my stereo system in late 1979. The sound from local station WGN (Channel 9 in Chicago) was quite good, and far better than any of the network stations had.

Is a change away from the voice-grade lines what you are referring to as the "post-1978 upgrade"?