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SECTION
1. PRIVATE RECORDINGS & IN-HOUSE ISSUES.
SECTION 2. VINYL TRANSCRIPTIONS & RE-ISSUES
TO CD.
SECTION 1.
In addition to recordings from the major commercial and larger independent record companies,
the collection contains many 100’s of Private Recordings and In-House Private Issues.
PRIVATE RECORDINGS
A one copy only recording, made
using non-professional equipment, either reel-to-reel, cassette or DAT recorder, recorded by the Director of Music or someone
connected with the choir. These recordings have never been copied or issued and in many cases have remained,
unheard, with the person who made the recording.
These unique recordings are, for the most part, of the greatest historical importance and represent some of
the gems of the Collection. The Collection contains either the original recording or a one-off copy, made
by myself with permission or a copy donated by the owner of the recording, exclusively for the Collection.
IN-HOUSE PRIVATE
ISSUES
In-House
Private Issues are catalogued either by the recording company commissioned by the choir,
or where no recording company is named, they are classified as ‘No label’ This type of recording was mostly for sale
locally but sometimes put general sale and is recorded and produced in various ways.
1. A recording undertaken by someone associated with the choir using their own
equipment, designing the artwork and ‘home-copying’ small quantities for members of the choir or those associated
with the choir.
2.
A recording undertaken by someone associated with the choir using their own equipment, with the master recording being sent
to a company specialising in short run pressings, from a few copies to a few hundred copies. Recordings
of this type are catalogued by the name of the company with the legend (p) appearing after the name of the company
to indicate a specialisation in private pressings.
3. A recording which is commissioned by the choir and undertaken by a small independent
recording company, issued under the choirs own label or with no label, who specialise in short runs from 50 or so upwards.
The finished recordings come complete with artwork. ready for sale by the choir.
4. A recording undertaken by a small
independent recording company specialising in private pressings of choirs and issued under the name and logo of that recording
company. These are either commissioned by the choir or instigated by the recording company themselves
and are available commercially but usually only in the area of the choir or directly from the recording company.
Recordings of this type are catalogued by the name of the company with an * appearing after their
name to indicate a specialisation in private pressings.
5. In-House Private Issues are also undertaken by commercial record companies
but are not part of their main catalogue. This type of recording is catalogued by the label of the
recording company but with (p) after the catalogue number to indicate a private In-House recording
SECTION 2
VINYL TRANSCRIPTIONS AND RE-ISSUES TO CD
In order to make the collection more accessible and convenient
to use all vinyl records are in the process of being transcribed to CD, as have all tapes, cassettes and 78rpm records.
There are two types of vinyl to CD transcriptions in the collection; those undertaken by myself and commercial CD re-issues
by the record companies. The Discography lists only the original recording with release date and catalogue number.
Commercial CD re-issues of vinyl are not separately catalogued, but they are identified in the Discography. nor does
the collection contain re-issued CDs or compilation vinyl's/CDs of previously issued tracks.
Original vinyl’s frequently contains extra photographs and other information which the re-issues
don’t and of course, the glorious 12 inch artwork so often found on the front cover. Vinyl transcriptions undertaken by myself The majority of vinyl recordings in the collection have not had a commercial
CD re-issue and the transcription is undertaken by myself. Before transcription, the record is cleaned
on the ‘Moth cleaning machine’ to give the best surface possible.
The vinyl sleeve
artwork is scanned, colour printed and used as the CD transcription cover. Refer to the original vinyl
for complete sleeve notes and sometimes extra photographs.
Many Directors of
Music, etc., have loaned recordings, particularly rare private pressings and in these instances only the CD transcription
is part of the collection. All CD transcriptions are track numbered for ease of use. Commercial CD re-issues of Vinyl recordingsVinyl recordings from various Cathedral and Oxbridge choirs, particularly
King’s, St John’s and Christ Church have been re-issued onto CD, often many times over from full price to budget
CDs, or as part of compilation CDs of a particular choir or composer. The
collection contains the commercial CD re-issues of vinyl, which saves me the task of transcribing; r after
the vinyl shelf number, (eg..V23r) indicates the transcription is a commercial CD re-issue. In the few
instances where the collection has the CD re-issue only, the is indicated by * after the shelf number.
The original vinyl sleeve is scanned as the case cover for the CD re-issue, except in the rare instance
when the CD re-issue cover is the same as the original vinyl.
There are occasions when the CD re-issue does not contain
all the tracks from the vinyl, or when the tracks are spread over a double CD with tracks from other recordings included or
the running order of the original has been changed.
In those cases, I have used the CD re-issue
as the basis for a correct transcription, adding any missing tracks from the vinyl and collating the running order correctly.
Relevant information as to how this transcription was complied is noted on the inlay.
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