KABOOM!!!

[EddNog]

Was playing this at reference volume today on my system (preamp at 0.00dB):


Got reasonable levels measured at the main listening position (results recorded for the full track):


So about 75dB average and 89dB peak when the canons are firing at my main listening position about 10 feet away. The thing that totally caught me off guard was watching the curtains behind my left speaker jump every time the canons were fired, due to the movement of the air from that speaker’s two rear ports!



Anyone else get interesting physical room interactions with their sound system?

-Ed

 

[DazST]

So about 75dB average and 89dB peak when the canons are firing at my main listening position about 10 feet away

I bet your cats loved that

 

[EddNog]

I bet your cats loved that

Come to think of it, don't know where they went at that time.

 

[Aquaman]

Was playing this at reference volume today on my system (preamp at 0.00dB):
View attachment 35655

Got reasonable levels measured at the main listening position (results recorded for the full track):
View attachment 35656

So about 75dB average and 89dB peak when the canons are firing at my main listening position about 10 feet away. The thing that totally caught me off guard was watching the curtains behind my left speaker jump every time the canons were fired, due to the movement of the air from that speaker’s two rear ports!

View attachment 35657

Anyone else get interesting physical room interactions with their sound system?

-Ed

My land line phone is set to light up only when it‘s being picked up. If I run my system a little harder it‘ll be fully lit most of the time.

 

[Burnside]

So about 75dB average and 89dB peak when the canons are firing at my main listening position about 10 feet away. The thing that totally caught me off guard was watching the curtains behind my left speaker jump every time the canons were fired, due to the movement of the air from that speaker’s two rear ports!

So it literally was as if a curtain had been lifted...

 

[EddNog]

So it literally was as if a curtain had been lifted...

She was flapping her skirt at me.

 

[CptKaos]

when I was much younger we would go to Prichard Stadium on Ft Hood for the Independence Day Celebration and one of the highlights was the 1st Cavalry Division Band playing the 1812 Overture with 105mm howitzers while giant fireworks were going off, it was bone shakingly awe inspiring

 

[dtc]

Best recording ever of cannons in the 1812

 

[QuarryHunslet]

Best recording ever of cannons in the 1812

They aren't just ordinary cannons, they are Digital cannons!

 

[dtc]

Here is a picture of the vinyl tracks. Most players at the time could not play them.

 

[harkpabst]

They aren't just ordinary cannons, they are Digital cannons!

@EddNog, I don't think this was intended as a joke. It's the actual truth concerning this TELARC recording. The "cannon shots" were created artificially.

 

[Roedelheim]

Remember my father's hype for a Charlie Antolini album, I think it was Knock Out. Never understood why people took the risk of destroying some of their gear. Beside that, nothing ever was really destroyed.

 

[dtc]

@EddNog, I don't think this was intended as a joke. It's the actual truth concerning this TELARC recording. The "canon shots" were created artificially.

As I understand it the cannons and bells were real but recorded separately and digitally mixed into the orchestral part. That was a new process then but it pretty standard in the digital age. See, for example, here :

Recording of October 1979: The Telarc 1812 Overture | Stereophile.com

Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture (Op.49), Capriccio Italien (Op.45 ), "Cossack Dance" from Mazeppa (LP), plus Marche slav, Op.31, Polonaise and Waltz from Eugene Onegin , Op.24, Festival Coronation March (CD). Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Kiev Symphony Chorus; Children's Choir of Greater Cincinnati...

www.stereophile.com

"The liner notes indicate they even managed to destroy some windows during the firing of the largest charge!"

If you mean the cannons were entirely digitally produced can you provide some references?

 

[harkpabst]

If you mean the cannons were entirely digitally produced can you provide some references?

My reference would be the contemporary Hi-Fi mags and their record reviews, but I threw away most of them long ago. If I happen to come across one of these reviews I'll come back here.

Truth to be told, I don't know for sure if the term "digital cannons" has been misinterpreted or not. Obviously, TELARC claimed to have recorded real cannons ...

 

[Roedelheim]

All I remember reading was Kunzel/Cincinnati and Dorati/Minnesota both recorded real cannons outside and that was mixed to the orchestral part. Most likely they did not find city halls, churches or a studio which allowed to bring real artillery in.

 

[dtc]

My reference would be the contemporary Hi-Fi mags and their record reviews, but I threw away most of them long ago. If I happen to come across one of these reviews I'll come back here.

Truth to be told, I don't know for sure if the term "digital cannons" has been misinterpreted or not. Obviously, TELARC claimed to have recorded real cannons ...

The Stereophile article I listed was a contemporary review. My guess is that what you are remembering is the fact that the cannons and bells were recorded separately and digitally mixed with the orchestral recording. Digital was very much in its infancy in 1979, so I think there were critics who criticized the idea of recording separate parts and digitally mixing them. As with all digital mixing, levels can be adjusted in the mixing and mastering. But, I think that actual cannons were recorded.

 

[dtc]

Here is a copy of the original digital case of Telarc's 1812. It indeed says "Digital Cannons" but by all accounts that is misleading. The label does reference page 6 of the enclosed pamphlet I do not have the booklet from the original release, but I have found references that it says that the cannons were fired 24 times. The cannons (owed and set off by the Fifth Virginia Regiment) were recorded, digitally I believe, and digitally mixed with the bells and the orchestral recording to produce the final product.

 

[harkpabst]

Here is a copy of the original digital case of Telarc's 1812. It indeed says "Digital Cannons" but by all accounts that is misleading. The label does reference page 6 of the enclosed pamphlet I do not have the booklet from the original release, but I have found references that it says that the cannons were fired 24 times. The cannons (owed and set off by the Fifth Virginia Regiment) were recorded, digitally I believe, and digitally mixed with the bells and the orchestral recording to produce the final product.

View attachment 35991

Yes, that's what I meant to say, the term "digital cannons" might be misleading, indeed.

OTOH, "digitally recorded" doesn't mean "faithfully recorded", not at all. There are reports of heavy clipping in these recordings, which would make them "digital" in a way, that's long thought to be forgotten.

 

[dtc]

Not sure clipping is an ssue with cannons

 

[grantbob]

And then there's digital popping of balloons...