In 1911 a truly outstanding singer called Sophie Tucker recorded “Some of these Days” to an Edison Cylinder. Because they were easier to duplicate, conventional records were outselling Cylinders and Edison were anxious to redress the balance, therefore great pains were taken to obtain the highest possible sound quality. It didn’t work and Sophie’s recording was transferred mechanically to an 81-rpm record in 1926. Electrical recordings were a year or so away. 

In 2007 a friend found a very worn copy in a skip in Birmingham, he retrieved it and took it home to see if anything could be done with it. He enjoys restoring and transcribing these things and it would be a challenge. This one went straight into the washing up where it was scrubbed thoroughly with a nailbrush until clean. 

Using a Garrard 301 with an SME 3009 arm and a moving magnet cartridge, John played it with his choice of four difference styli until he found the one that gave the most music and the least crackle, then using his home made, tone controls, he adjusted the balance to counteract the non standard RIAA type curve of the day and to make it sound as neutral and well balanced as possible. Once a satisfactory result had been achieved he turned it into and MP3 and emailed it to us for interest. 

In 2007 we were at the Bristol Hi Fi Show and I played it from iTunes through our new ADM9s, to my amazement people loved it and the room filled quickly. It was hard to believe that such an old record could have such a mesmerising effect on a modern audience. When it had finished someone asked for Amy Winehouse and I played Rehab, it was full 16 bit, not as well produced as Sophie had been nearly a hundred years before and it certainly wasn’t as nice to listen to. 

In my book this proves that whilst compressed music may not sound as good as the best full 16 bit recordings, it does sound better than many poorer ones, therefore we shouldn’t worry about whether music is compressed or not, only whether we enjoy it. 

If you’d like a copy of Sophie Tucker’s “Some of these days” let me know and I’ll email it to you.