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[studiord]

Re: First Indian Stereo soundtrack

That is because EMI/HMV in India were simply behind their foreign counterparts and producing poor quality recordings. Thank God that Polydor entered the market and upped the standards with their premium and other stereo records. When you compare the two, it is like listening to a CD after hearing a radio broadcast.
Fortunately, a majority of RD Burman LP's are on Polydor while some of his well recorded music simply lost it's magic because it was pressed by HMV (eg. Yaadon ki Baaraat, Great Gambler etc.) whereas some titles which were better pressings (HKKN) had one side stereo and other mono which was just inexplicable.

I wonder why it took another 5 years till Sholay for the 2nd stereo record(if there's none other in between). BTW Most of the indian classical pressings of late 60's ('66 onwards) are stereo records with superb sound reproduction.
Bhaskar

 

[sughosh]

Re: First Indian Stereo soundtrack

That is because EMI/HMV in India were simply behind their foreign counterparts and producing poor quality recordings. Thank God that Polydor entered the market and upped the standards with their premium and other stereo records. When you compare the two, it is like listening to a CD after hearing a radio broadcast.
Fortunately, a majority of RD Burman LP's are on Polydor while some of his well recorded music simply lost it's magic because it was pressed by HMV (eg. Yaadon ki Baaraat, Great Gambler etc.) whereas some titles which were better pressings (HKKN) had one side stereo and other mono which was just inexplicable.

I doubt this is the reason because, as pointed out before, Indian classical LPs were already being issued in stereo since the 60s on EMI/HMV and many of them sound pretty darn good.

And I don't know about sound quality but I found Polydor / Music India LPs to be of generally lower quality vinyl in most cases - HMV ones seemed to be heavier.

More likely something to do with the movie industry in general.

 

[prem]

Jal Bin Machhli is technically the first true stereo recording in Bollywood. Not Sholay.

 

[bhaskarcan]

It's true that HMV never really took care of their possession. When they opened their plant in Mumbai Polydor India had quite a contemporary setup compared to HMV Kolkata. Secondly thinner records needed more sophisticated cutting plant which HMV didn't have. Sound quality improved leaps & bounds due to advancement of recording technology. Here also HMV was left behind by Polydor. Actually HMV never upgraded their main recording facility at Dumdum studio. Most of the good sounding film music from HMV are recorded at 3rd party recording studios at Bombay and some abroad.

Now some shocking info: the first stereo record pressed in India was in 1967!! All the Indian classical stereo records b4 that which is labelled as "Made in India by the Gramophone Company of India Ltd." are actually pressed at EMI plant, Sydney, Australia. I have seen the sample records of some of the very well known stereo Indian classical records of 1967. The label of these records are plain white labels with "EMI Sydney" printed on it. I have one of those beauties presented to me. It's strange that HMV/Gramophone company never revealed the truth.

Please note:I don't know if there is any written record of these infos but I've heard all this from the very man who was appointed HMV/EMI technical head during 1965 to 1972 and one may say the father of stereo records, technically. He is the person who was appointed from EMI, Hayes office to setup stereo record pressing facility in India at Dumdum, Kolkata in 1965. This person was actively involved in developing the stereo vinyl records in UK(I am not mentioning his name bcos that's the way he wants it to be).

Feel free to add/correct any info on this bcos I really couldn't find any study/book/record of the development/history of Indian record pressing. Hence have to depend on the memory of a person who has done these more than half a century back.

Bhaskar

 

[Saket]

^ Great insider info. Would read your post 2 times more !

Regards.

 

[studiord]

Re: First Indian Stereo soundtrack

And I don't know about sound quality but I found Polydor / Music India LPs to be of generally lower quality vinyl in most cases - HMV ones seemed to be heavier.

Just making heavier vinyls does not make it better quality. Case in point are most of today's pressings which are 180/200 grams but still inferior sonically to their original pressings. All Polydor/MIL vinyls that I have much better stereo imaging and clarity compared to HMV/EMI. And it does'nt need one to be an audiophile to note the difference in sound quality. IMHO.

 

[Saket]

I have a 'Lawaris' LP, with a gatefold cover, probably first press (not sure) which boasts that the song 'Mere angne mein tumhara kya kaam hai' is recorded in HMV's new Bombay Studio. Again not sure, but there was a comparatively modern HMV studio in Colaba, Mumbai.

Definitely the particular song sounds more lively, but rest of the songs are not badly reproduced either. The sound quality of the LP is very good.

Regards,
Saket

 

[bhaskarcan]

I have a 'Lawaris' LP, with a gatefold cover, probably first press (not sure) which boasts that the song 'Mere angne mein tumhara kya kaam hai' is recorded in HMV's new Bombay Studio. Again not sure, but there was a comparatively modern HMV studio in Colaba, Mumbai.

Definitely the particular song sounds more lively, but rest of the songs are not badly reproduced either. The sound quality of the LP is very good.

Regards,
Saket

In that album only that song (two versions)was recorded in "multitrack" mode. Later Disco Dancer was fully recorded in "multitrack". And they all sound fabulous.

Music of movie 'Star', albums 'Super Runa', 'Disco Diwane', Lata's 'Shradhanjali' were all recorded in EMI studios at UK. And you can feel the difference in SQ.

 

[bhaskarcan]

Re: First Indian Stereo soundtrack

Just making heavier vinyls does not make it better quality. Case in point are most of today's pressings which are 180/200 grams but still inferior sonically to their original pressings. .......................... IMHO.

In early '80s CBS came out with their own records which were very thin & later used to get warped easily(b4 this CBS records in India were pressed by GCI). But I've yet to get a CBS pressing with bad SQ.

Bhaskar

 

[sachu888]

Re: First Indian Stereo soundtrack

In early '80s CBS came out with their own records which were very thin & later used to get warped easily(b4 this CBS records in India were pressed by GCI). But I've yet to get a CBS pressing with bad SQ.

Bhaskar

+1 I have few very thin CBS LPs like Kalakar,Zubin Mehta etc,they all sound excellent.

Regards,
Sachin

 

[G401fan]

I can't speak for Hindi movie soundtracks released by HMV/MIL, but the rock/jazz LPs from Polydor/MIL have always been of abysmal quality - thin, crackly vinyl which fell apart from the very first play. They used a high mix of recycled vinyl - having started operations in '72 just before the oil crisis which led to a worldwide drop in vinyl quality. By contrast, HMV's standards were substantially better - their LPs hold out even today, if they've been well maintained.

Recording quality is a separate issue. It depends on the studio in question and the production team, and not necessarily on the company manufacturing the records.

 

[abhraneel]

Anand Bakshi also sung ' Jagat Musafirkhana Yehin Pe Aa Na Jana' in Balika Badhu.

hello sourav, u got this when i was about to type it down..
good going....
cheers...

 

[souravin]

Hv seen Polydor records ( my comment is based on hindi, R.D.Burman soundtracks only) are of superb quality than the HMV. Even if Polydor / Music India (later converted into Universal) were very careful while releasing these soundtracks on audio CDs. HMV left far behind.

The Train, Savera, Joshila are thick vinyls and sound heavenly. Arjun, Joshilay, Saagar, Bhola Bhala, Kaalia are examples of thinner vinyls but sounds great too.

However bengali soundtracks (Puja releases, basic songs on HMV/EMI) are of great quality since from 1968. The orchestration were minimal but stereo separation, soundstage are excellent.

 

[abhraneel]

here's one more....
3 singers have rendered their voices for amitabh in the film abhiman...
kishore (meet na mila), md. rafi (teri bindiya) and manhar udhar (loote koi)...

 

[abhraneel]

Anand Bakshi also sung ' Jagat Musafirkhana Yehin Pe Aa Na Jana' in Balika Badhu.

gulshan mehta AKA gulshan bawra gave lyrics for ye vaada raha and also acted in the film...
he gave the lyrics for satte pe satta and his voice in song pyar hame kis mod pe...

don't know if anyone else has this rare achievement...

 

[sachu888]

gulshan mehta AKA gulshan bawra gave lyrics for ye vaada raha and also acted in the film...
he gave the lyrics for satte pe satta and his voice in song pyar hame kis mod pe...

don't know if anyone else has this rare achievement...

Gulshan Bawra sings only "Haye" word in that song.Pyar hame kis mod pe le aaya ke dil kare haye after this "Haye" sung by Bawra.
There were total 7 singers in that song including Gulshan Bawra iirc.

Regards,
Sachin

 

[viper08]

Gulshan Bawra sings only "Haye" word in that song.Pyar hame kis mod pe le aaya ke dil kare haye after this "Haye" sung by Bawra.

I always thought it was Shakti Kapoor....... Aauu

 

[sachu888]

I always thought it was Shakti Kapoor....... Aauu

No its Gulshan Bawra.Just two days back while listening to his interview on Vivid Bharti Radio(recorded on 2004 or 2002) I came to know this fact.

Regards,
Sachin

 

[Saket]

We all know how talented was Kishore Kumar both as an actor & singer. But what many of us do not know is that Mohd. Rafi playedback for Kishore Kumar in 2 films: Ragini and Shararat; Man Mora Bawra and Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh Meri songs.
In these songs, the on screen actor was Kishore Kumar, who himself was a singing legend but lip-sync'd the vocals of Mohd. Rafi; another incomparable singer of all times!

Regards,
Saket

 

[sughosh]

Re: First Indian Stereo soundtrack

In early '80s CBS came out with their own records which were very thin & later used to get warped easily(b4 this CBS records in India were pressed by GCI). But I've yet to get a CBS pressing with bad SQ.

Bhaskar

In my experience CBS indian pressings from the 80s were atrocious at least as far as pop/rock albums are concerned - the sound is absolutely thin, flat almost devoid of bass. I almost never play my Bruce Springsteen LPs mainly because of this.

Yet, my copy of "Young Tarang" sounds great, so go figure. Different standards for Indian albums???