POPPY RECORDS Technical Information

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Unless they are marked as stereo, POPPY records are MONO recordings and will give monophonic sound on stereo players. Some Talking Books chapters may contain a mixture of mono and stereo as appropriate.

CD standards

POPPY RECORDS are normally issued on either 'Red Book' standard CDs or 'Orange Book' standard CDRs. The particular type will be indicated on the information webpage for each product
CDs should play on all CD players and on any computer equipped with an appropriate drive and software.
CDRs will play on most modern CD players and computers and on many of the older ones. There are a very few models which are unable to play CDRs and POPPY RECORDS will refund the price of a CDR which fails to play for this reason upon receipt of the details of the player and the prompt return of the CDR in good condition.
If you experience difficulty playing a CDR, you should first have your player checked and/or cleaned by an appropriate person. Very often the failure to play CDRs (when CDs continue to play correctly) is the first indication that the lens system needs cleaning.

Original Material
Many of the recordings on POPPY RECORDS are copied from irreplaceable originals which may be the only surviving copies of that particular performance. Recording standards in the past were often noticeably poorer than nowadays and the records themselves may also have become damaged.
Because of this, the sound quality on some tracks may include a certain amount of distortion and noise - however every possible effort has been made to reduce this to a level which does not intefere with listening pleasure.

Transcription process
The transcription process used on POPPY RECORDS is based on an analogue processor specially designed and built to handle the high noise level of shellac+slate-dust 78 rpm pressings. The original records are played on a variable speed parallel-tracking turntable with a transcription quality cartridge. The best match to the original recording geometry is achieved by means of specially made styli and a variable azimuth angle cartridge mounting.
At this point, a vector analysis of the stylus modulation is performed by an analogue computer working in real time. The components of the sound which could not have originally been recorded (and which must be due to crackle or disc damage) are identified by their vector 'signature' and removed. This leaves a sound quality which is as near as possible to the recording on the master wax.
After appropriate de-emphasis and the suitable objective frequency response correction, the sound is digitised by an Apple Mac-based computer system and edited for re-issue.

Talking Books

These are recorded under controlled studio conditions with an STC4038 ribbon microphone or a pseudo-ribbon microphone of POPPY RECORDS' own design, having similar characteristics to the 4038. The analogue signal is amplified to line level by a POPPY RECORDS wide-band pre-amplifier and fed directly into the digital converter of a high quality DAT recorder. The digital signal is then transferred to Mac G3 computers for editing and production of the master CD.

Live Music Recordings

These are recorded on location with one or more of POPPY RECORDS' own-designed stereo crossed-pseudo-ribbon microphones with integral pre-amplifiers and fed directly into the digital converter of a high quality DAT recorder. The digital signal is then transferred to Mac G3 computers for editing and production of the master CD.

Downloads
The downloadable files on this website are in MP3 format and are intended for identification purposes only. The sound quality may not be as good as that on the CDs and some of the tracks have been edited to give a better idea of the content within the short time available in each clip.

Offensive material

Beacuse of changes in the use and meaning of language over a period of time, some of the material in historic recordings and verses might sound offensive to the modern ear. It is not the intention of POPPY RECORDS to cause offence in any way, but we reserve the right to reproduce historic material accurately and leave it to the lister's good sense to judge it in the context in which it was originally intended to be heard.

Unless they are marked as stereo, POPPY records are MONO recordings and will give monophonic sound on stereo players. Some Talking Books chapters may contain a mixture of mono and stereo as appropriate. *CD standards* *POPPY* RECORDS are normally issued on either 'Red Book' standard CDs or 'Orange Book' standard CDRs. The particular type will be indicated on the information webpage for each product CDs should play on all CD players and on any computer equipped with an appropriate drive and software. CDRs will play on most modern CD players and computers and on many of the older ones. There are a very few models which are unable to play CDRs and POPPY RECORDS will refund the price of a CDR which fails to play for this reason upon receipt of the details of the player and the prompt return of the CDR in good condition. If you experience difficulty playing a CDR, you should first have your player checked and/or cleaned by an appropriate person. Very often the failure to play CDRs (when CDs continue to play correctly) is the first indication that the lens system needs cleaning.
*Original Material* Many of the recordings on *POPPY* RECORDS are copied from irreplaceable originals which may be the only surviving copies of that particular performance. Recording standards in the past were often noticeably poorer than nowadays and the records themselves may also have become damaged. Because of this, the sound quality on some tracks may include a certain amount of distortion and noise - however every possible effort has been made to reduce this to a level which does not intefere with listening pleasure.
*Transcription process* The transcription process used on *POPPY* RECORDS is based on an analogue processor specially designed and built to handle the high noise level of shellac+slate-dust 78 rpm pressings. The original records are played on a variable speed parallel-tracking turntable with a transcription quality cartridge. The best match to the original recording geometry is achieved by means of specially made styli and a variable azimuth angle cartridge mounting. At this point, a vector analysis of the stylus modulation is performed by an analogue computer working in real time. The components of the sound which could not have originally been recorded (and which must be due to crackle or disc damage) are identified by their vector 'signature' and removed. This leaves a sound quality which is as near as possible to the recording on the master wax. After appropriate de-emphasis and the suitable objective frequency response correction, the sound is digitised by an Apple Mac-based computer system and edited for re-issue.
*Talking Books* These are recorded under controlled studio conditions with an STC4038 ribbon microphone or a pseudo-ribbon microphone of POPPY RECORDS' own design, having similar characteristics to the 4038. The analogue signal is amplified to line level by a POPPY RECORDS wide-band pre-amplifier and fed directly into the digital converter of a high quality DAT recorder. The digital signal is then transferred to Mac G3 computers for editing and production of the master CD.
*Live Music Recordings* These are recorded on location with one or more of POPPY RECORDS' own-designed stereo crossed-pseudo-ribbon microphones with integral pre-amplifiers and fed directly into the digital converter of a high quality DAT recorder. The digital signal is then transferred to Mac G3 computers for editing and production of the master CD.
*Downloads* The downloadable files on this website are in MP3 format and are intended for identification purposes only. The sound quality may not be as good as that on the CDs and some of the tracks have been edited to give a better idea of the content within the short time available in each clip.
Offensive material Beacuse of changes in the use and meaning of language over a period of time, some of the material in historic recordings and verses might sound offensive to the modern ear. It is not the intention of POPPY RECORDS to cause offence in any way, but we reserve the right to reproduce historic material accurately and leave it to the lister's good sense to judge it in the context in which it was originally intended to be heard.