Why do voices from old radio and Television sound out of pitch, tuned a few cents high? Did they purposely detune? I'm certain you could set the speed so I've always wondered this.
Was it a fashionable trend? An effect the industry felt gave a "radio" sound?
Comments
What you may be hearing is shortcomings on the medium on which t
What you may be hearing is shortcomings on the medium on which those old recordings were stored. Tape didn't even come in until the late 40;s early 50's, and up to that time wire recorders were used, there was no pitch control on those machines - but that doesn't mean that they didn't play back faster than the speed they were originally recorded at.... and before that, sound was cut directly to disc, none of which had any speed control other than the set amount of turns (78rpm)... so the pitch/speed would have been caused by playback on an older machine at a later date and recorded as such... and if the older machine playing it back wasn't calibrated or working correctly speed wise, then it would explain the pitch differential.
my guess is that they needed to save time. so, the pitch was an
my guess is that they needed to save time. so, the pitch was an artifact, of speeding up an add, or whatever. if you can shave even an 1/8 of a second, off each add/segement then you will accumulate time. and money works off of time. just my guess. other than that, my guess would be in perception of sound, where upper mids may grab more attention?