Audio Fidelity Records - Live Mechanical Sound Effects In Stereo

Audio Fidelity Records - Live Mechanical Sound Effects In Stereo

released on LP in 1971

After rummaging through all of the few piles of records available at some thrift store, I came up with this one and some other record. I can't recall which one it was at the moment. It doesn't matter anyway. This record presented in this post is the prize find at that time. Most of the other records were the usual easy-listening popular performers that no one seems to want and the top-40 pop records by the likes of Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow that seems to refuse to quit showing up at these places. I did enjoy eavesdropping on a conversation between two women in their 20s where they were making fun of the record covers although they were very familiar with Neil Diamond and some of the other pop records.

As you can already figure out, I prefer the sounds of machinery, jet engines, lawnmowers, pinball machines, electric pumps, and other mechanical devices over the sounds of Streisand, Diamond, and Manilow. The audio quality of these recordings is excellent. If like me, you enjoy this sort of thing, no doubt you'll enjoy this LP too.

Tracklisting:

Side A

1.  DC 8 Jet Taking Off  {0:29}

2.  Teletype Machines, Newsroom  {0:50}

3.  Car Crashing, Screaming Tires  {0:12}

4.  Electric Pump  {0:47}

5.  Racing Cars (Starting, Racing)  {0:50}

6.  Airplane Interior, Start Engines  {0:34}

7.  Diesel Engine (long train)  {0:43}

8.  Heavy-Duty Motors with Circuit Breakers  {0:26}

9.  Police Car Passing  {0:59}

10. Packaging Machine, Collator  {0:35}

11. Roller Coaster, Girls Screaming  {0:54}

12. Pinball Machine  {0:57}

13. Elevated Train  {0:30}

14. Airplane Interior, Taking Off  {0:56}

15. Lawnmower  {0:45}

16. Escalator Ride  {0:45}

17. Motorcycle: starts, circles, stops (squeal & skid)  {0:31}

18. Telephone Receiver, dial tone, dialing, ringing  {0:43}

19. New York Subway  {0:54}

Side B

1.  Clothes Dryer  {0:37}

2.  Cars and Trucks on Highway  {0:35}

3.  Elevator with Gate  {0:51}

4.  Bulldozer  {0:58}

5.  Adding Machine  {0:29}

6.  Stock Cars in Race: passing, turning, shifting  {0:43}

7.  Electrocardiograph  {1:37}

8.  Fire Engine  {0:35}

9.  Electric Mixer  {0:51}

10. Slot Machine  {0:23}

11. Freight Elevator  {0:21}

12. Packaging Machine: Shrink-wrapper  {0:32}

13. Electric Can-Opener  {0:14}

14. Turnstiles  {1:00}

15. Washing Machine: start, fill, wash  {1:26}

16. Auto Body Crusher  {0:29}

17. Small Cement-Mixer  {0:47}

18. Mechanical Toy  {0:34}

19. Chain-Drive, Overhead Door  {0:25}

Zenith Radio Corporation - Getting Through: A Guide to Better Understanding of the Hard of Hearing

Zenith Radio Corporation - Getting Through: A Guide to Better Understanding of the Hard of Hearing

LP released in 1971

Cool, Just what I needed, a record for people who have problems hearing. The record includes demonstrations on how difficult it is to hear when certain frequencies are not present, guidance for helping people with hearing problems along with "an unfair hearing test" which a form comes included with the record for people to write their answers. Perhaps the previous owner(s) of this LP didn't need a hearing test as my form is unfilled and appears to be in the same condition as it was when this record was released. Gosh, I hope my visitors do not have hearing issues as I do not want anyone to miss out on the educational and entertaining offerings this blog provides. Just in case there are hearing problems, the record provides guidance on selecting a hearing aid. Come to think of it, I'll be needing this record soon as for quite a long time I have been constantly listening to loud music at a higher-than-normal volume level especially that noise stuff from the likes of Merzbow and Wolf Eyes.

Now for some words from Aram Glorig, M.D.:

The ear is truly a marvelous instrument. It can hear sounds which are but a tiny fraction of the sound generated by a dropped pin. And yet it can also cope with sounds which are a million million times louder, and infinitely more complex.The record you are about to hear is an unusual experiment in the field of sound and hearing. It has been made possible by steady progress in a number of fields. In otology, the branch of medicine that deals with the ear. In audiology, the science of hearing. In audiometry, the measurement of hearing. And in electronics, which today permits the precise reproduction of sound.
This material has been prepared for the layman: the hard of hearing, their families and friends. We have used simple language and simple demonstrations to make our points.
We believe that anyone working with the hearing impaired will also find the material useful and informative. In the interest of simplicity of presentation, we have purposely avoided the use of technical terms.



Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Introduction {1:41}

2. Frequency Range {3:06}

3. Filtered Speech {3:00}

4. An Unfair Hearing Test {5:00}

Side 2

1. How a Hearing Aid Can Help {2:45}

2. Difficult Listening Situations {2:42}

3. Getting Through {4:39}

4. How to Select a Hearing Aid {1:19}

Directional Sound - The Sound of Sounds

Directional Sound - The Sound of Sounds

released on LP

This is a stereo test/ sound effects record that I found at the same "community garage sale" and bought from the same people as The Darts LP in the previous post. Most of these sound effects records that I encountered in my years of digging usually have a random assortment of sounds arranged in their tracklistings and each track usually lasts a minute. The tracks on this LP each last about a minute too, but some of the sounds are organized into groups of tracks especially on side one. For example, the first four tracks are recordings of sounds of jets and planes. Side one has car noises grouped into four sequential tracks. One of them even has a sound of a crash. No, the crash was not arranged as the liner notes say and the driver was not seriously injured.

Side two mostly has recordings of nature such as waves, a thunderstorm, horses, livestock, birds, along with hogs being slaughtered. This is the first sound effects record I've encountered that has hogs being slaughtered. Shhhh, don't tell PETA about this post.

The back cover says: The recording contained in this jacket is the direct result of the skills and efforts of DIRECTIONAL SOUND's team of engineers, who spent hundreds of hours recording what we believe to be a unique Sound Effects album. Reproduced with the utmost fidelity and precision are the maximum extremes of sound ever recorded ... from the quiet babbling of a country brook to the dynamic take-off of a 707 Jet; from the chirpings of crickets to the unbelievable power of a full-fledged thunderstorm. Here is an array of sounds to excite any listener and to test to the maximum your playback equipment.

Tracklisting:  (link will be back soon)

Side One

1. Jet Engines in Test Cell, with Afterburner {0:47}

2. Sonic Boom & F-104 Supersonic Jets {1:10}

3. F-86's Taking Off & Flying Overhead {1:49}

4. Boeing 707's Takeoff {1:04}

5. Trains, Steam & Diesel in Yard {0:59}

6. Steam, Electric, Diesel Passing Country Crossing {1:28}

7. Harbor Scene S. S. Matsonia Leaving {1:34}

8. Speed Boats in Race, Passing Under Bridge {1:46}

9. Sports Cars in Pit Area (Elkhart Lake, Wis.) {1:05}

10. Sports Cars on Straightaway {1:29}

11. Sports Cars on Approach to Curve {1:02}

12. Sports Cars on Curve, with Crash {1:20}

Side Two

1. Pigeons in Hayloft {1:19}

2. Passing of a Thunderstorm, with Cicadas {1:58}

3. Incoming Tide at Malibu, with Seagulls {1:39}

4. Horses, Horses {1:10}

5. Jungle Scene {1:07}

6. Hogs Slaughtered {0:53}

7. Wild Geese & Birds {0:39}

8. Babbling Brook {0:51}

9. Frogs {0:39}

10. Livestock {0:58}

11. Day Crickets {1:00}

12. Children Playing {0:53}

13. Fireworks at Pallisades Park {1:01}

14. Magic Mechanical Orchestra {1:05}