Talk:Goddard Lieberson

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Untitled[edit]

Regarding the LP. Goldmark took credit for something that had been around forever. I doubt if he could even patent it. I worked in the CBS studios for years, as player, then in Masterworks A&R, often for Goddard. Late one night in 1982 in the mastering quarters a lacquer cutter who was a collector invited me into his boudoir and showed me a 1930 RCA Victor Red Seal microgroove 10 min. LP, though they didn't call it that. The depression killed it - no one had money to buy a new Victrola. Further - the Edison Diamond Disc of the 20s had microgrooves, and 33 1/3 rpm discs dated from the dawn of radio in the early 20s. THe LP was such a runaway success that who would question its provinance? A success because CBS did something brilliant: Simultaneaous with the LP they offered a $12. plastic 33 1/3 turntable with two bare wires that attached to your table radio's antenna leads. Instant music. 1948 and the rest is history. All that said - Goddard was a truly great record man and a gentleman. I treasure having known him even slightly...Leroy Sam Parkins [the Wikepedia article on the LP covers the RCA predecessor, but I don't think Goldmark had much to do. It isn't rocket science] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sampark2 (talk • contribs) 05:12, 2 March 2007

The 33-1/3 rpm speed had indeed been around forever. As with the credit for many inventions, it goes to the person who developed the process to a commercializable point and commercialized it. I believe Goldmark gets credit for developing "LP equalization" (later displaced by RIAA equalization), for example. The 33-1/3 rpm radio transcriptions you refer to were, I think, direct-recorded acetates, not something that could be mass-produced, and I believe they not considered to have broadcast-quality fidelity. Most radio transcriptions were recorded at 78 rpm onto huge 20-inch disks.

On ordinary consumer equipment, under ordinary conditions, with ordinary recordings, early LPs sounded just as good as 78s. That was an amazing achievement. (I still remember the first LP my dad ever bought... the cast recording of "Guys and Dolls." We all gathered around the new three-speed phonograph. We were stunned by the last track on the second size, which is the reprise at the end of the show—the whole cast sings one chorus of "Guys and Dolls." Here's this incredibly skinny little track, barely an eighth of an inch, how can there be anything there? And it plays, and plays, and plays on and on, for about a full minute!

The Inventor's Hall of Fame just inducted Goldmark specifically for the invention of the LP, so I assume they think the claim has some credibility.

You can always quibble about who "invented" anything. (that word has a real nineteenth-century sound to it; I imagine it's a technical term having to do with the patent system). Most of the people credited as "inventors" were really innovators. Edison deserves credit, not so much for "inventing the light bulb" as for figuring out how to make them reliably in quantity, build generators, calculate graduated wire sizes so that a central generator could light a reasonable-sized chunk of city without either huge power losses in the wiring or unreasonable expenses for thick copper, and building an electric meter so that usage could be measured and billed for.

Goldmark wasn't the first to figure out that you could put more on a disk by turning it more slowly, but he deserves credit for developing the LP record, as we knew it for forty years. Dpbsmith (talk) 13:31, 2 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I took out the reference to Goldmark - the article isn't about him but about Lieberson. Readers can click on the link to LP if they are curious about its introduction. Itsmejudith (talk) 11:43, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Historical Accuracy[edit]

I corrected the historical error that credited Oklahoma! as the first cast recording. That recording was made and released in 1943. The Cradle Will rock was recorded in 1937 and released in 1938. See http://castalbums.org/recordings/The-Cradle-Will-Rock-1938-Original-Broadway-Cast/1917 for further details. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fshepinc (talk • contribs) 18:12, 23 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Isn't The Cradle Will Rock an opera, not a musical? (Sort of a rock opera, I suppose.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.113.148.18 (talk) 09:19, 13 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]