# Decca Sound of the 50s & 60s



## Eramirez156 (Mar 25, 2015)

An interesting article on the justly famous *Decca Sound*

http://www.polymathperspective.com/?p=2484


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Interesting. Thanks for sharing it


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Very interesting, many thanks:tiphat:


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## Guest (Nov 25, 2015)

Thank you very much--a great read. To my ears, those early Decca recordings, even in the early 70s, achieved a far more natural sound with just 3-5 mics than more recent ones with veritable forests of mics--nearly one per instrument these days!


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Another informative Michael Gray page, though more difficult to scroll.

http://deccasound.com/decca-sound-evolution.php

The Decca/EMI no poaching agreement didn't stop one Decca sound man (Erik Smith, 1967) from moving to Philips.

Other stuff. Gearslutz is a good place to roam around, picking up conversations of sound men. One link, Wilkinson Legacy...

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/rem...tion-recording/780654-wilkinson-legacy-3.html


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Decca/London always had the best pressings in the LP days too. Much better than Philips or EMI/Angel.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

bigshot said:


> Decca/London always had the best pressings in the LP days too. Much better than Philips or EMI/Angel.


Not to mention those horrible CBS recordings


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

bigshot said:


> Decca/London always had the best pressings in the LP days too. Much better than Philips or EMI/Angel.


Hmm, that wasn't my experience. EMI and RCA were always the worse, and Columbia was bad too. I used to prize Phillips and DG for their great silent surfaces. Decca was a notch below them but way above the others


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Philips had silent surfaces, but at the expense of high frequencies. I think Philips might have lightly polished their metal parts.


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## Eramirez156 (Mar 25, 2015)

More on the birth of the*Decca Sound* from the Arsc Journal

http://www.arsc-audio.org/journals/v18/v18n1-3p4-19.pdf


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Eramirez156 said:


> More on the birth of the*Decca Sound* from the Arsc Journal
> 
> http://www.arsc-audio.org/journals/v18/v18n1-3p4-19.pdf


A lot of reading to do today.:tiphat:


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Triplets said:


> Hmm, that wasn't my experience. EMI and RCA were always the worse, and Columbia was bad too. I used to prize Phillips and DG for their great silent surfaces. Decca was a notch below them but way above the others


the early stereo emi and rca (pressed by decca) were top notch - so were the columbia (UK columbia)
philips in the 50 and 60s was poor - but improved no end in the 70s 80s.

dg was never much good - a pity as they had some of the best artists.


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