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Audio Fidelity Records, was a record company out of New York City, most active during the 1950s and 1960s. They are best known for having produced the first mass-produced American stereophonic long-playing record in November 1957 (although this was not available to the general public until March of the following year). ==Background== Sidney Frey (1920–1968), founder and president of Audio Fidelity, had Westrex, owner of one of the two rival stereo disk-cutting systems, cut a stereo LP disk for release before any of the major record labels, several of which had the Westrex equipment but had not yet produced a stereo disk.〔"(Audio Fidelity Bombshell Had Industry Agog )," ''Billboard'', Dec. 22, 1962, p. 36.〕〔(Discogs.com )〕〔(Booze-Brothers.com )〕 Side 1 was The Dukes of Dixieland;〔(Dukes of Dixieland Website )〕 Side 2 was railroad sound effects. This demonstration disc was introduced to the public on December 13, 1957 at the Times Auditorium in New York City.〔"(Mass Produced Stereo Disc is Demonstrated )," ''Billboard, Dec. 16, 1957, p. 27.〕 500 copies of this initial demonstration record were pressed. On December 16, 1957, Frey advertised in the trade magazine ''Billboard'' that he would send a free copy to anyone in the industry who wrote to him on company letterhead.〔Patmore, David. The Story of Audio Fidelity - a pioneering American LP label. ''Classical Recordings Quarterly'', Summer 2014, No 77, p24-28.〕 That move generated a great deal of publicity and launched a revolution in the way the world listens to music: on two channels, for two ears, in stereo. Frey promptly released four additional stereo disks. The equipment dealers had no choice but to demonstrate on Audio Fidelity Records. Frey became known as "Mr. Stereo" during that era. Stereophonic sound was not entirely new to the public. In 1952, sound engineer Emory Cook developed a stereophonic disk that used two separate grooves and playback needles; the following year he had a catalog of about 25 disks available for audiophiles. Multi-channel sound was integral to the widescreen motion picture processes Cinerama (1952) and CinemaScope (1953). And stereophonic audio tapes had been commercially available to audiophiles, although expensive, since the mid-1950s. After the release of the Audio Fidelity demonstration disks, the other spur to the popularity of stereo disks was the reduction in price of a stereo magnetic cartridge, for playing the disks, from $250 to $29.95 in June 1958.〔"(Audio Fidelity Bombshell Had Industry Agog )", ''Billboard'', Dec. 22, 1962, p. 36.〕 The first four stereo discs available to the general public were released by Audio Fidelity in March, 1958— ''Johnny Puleo and his Harmonica Gang Volume 1'' (AFSD 5830), ''Railroad - Sounds of a Vanishing Era'' (AFSD 5843),〔(YouTube Link to "Railroad-Sounds of a Vanishing Era" )〕 ''Lionel - Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra'' (AFSD 5849) and ''Marching Along with the Dukes of Dixieland Volume 3'' (AFSD 5851). By the end of March, the company had four more stereo LPs available.〔"(CBS Discloses Stereo Step )," ''Billboard'', March 31, 1958, p. 9.〕 In the summer of 1958, Audio Fidelity recorded 13 classical LPs in London's Walthamstow Town Hall. The orchestra was the specially-formed Virtuoso Symphony of London, which consisted of London orchestral players and leading instrumentalists including Anthony Pini, Frederick Riddle, Reginald Kell and Marie Goosens.〔 However, once these recording sessions were over, it was never heard of again. Six of the LPs were conducted by Alfred Wallenstein, who concentrated on the symphonic repertoire (Brahms's 4th Symphony, Tchaikovsky's ''Pathetique'', Berlioz's ''Symphonie Fantastique'', and so on) and six by Arthur Winograd (both conductors were ex-cellists) who recorded lighter fare, such as operatic marches and popular overtures. The 13th LP (Strauss Waltzes) was conducted by Emanuel Vardi.〔 The LPs were expensively produced and retailed at a very high price but reviews of the time were divided between critics who found the stereo sound immensely vivid and others for whom it was over-modulated to the point of distortion. During the period of Sidney Frey's ownership (1954-1965), Audio Fidelity went on to record a varied group of artists including Louis Armstrong,〔("Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong" )〕 Al Hirt,〔(Al Hirt (Space Age Pop) )〕 Lalo Schifrin,〔(Lalo Schifrin Website )〕 Oscar Brand,〔(Oscar Brand Website )〕 Lionel Hampton, Elmo Hope,〔(Sounds from Rikers Island )〕〔(Elmo Hope Hardbop Homepage )〕 Pat Moran McCoy, Larry Adler, Johnny Puleo,〔(Johnny Puleo (Space Age Pop) )〕 Patachou, Mohammed El-Bakkar,〔(Mohammed El-Bakkar )〕〔"(Orientalist Party Music ),"''The Believer'', July/August, 2010. 〕 Leon Berry,〔(Leon Berry Website ) 〕 Fernando Sirvent, Harry Breuer,〔(Harry Breuer (Space Age Pop) )〕 Eddie Cantor, Bobby Christian,〔(Bobby Christian (Space Age Pop) )〕 Myron Cohen, Jo Basile,〔(Joe Basile (Space Age Pop) )〕 The Teemates,〔(Teemates Website )〕〔(The Teemates (60s Garage Bands) )〕 Don Shirley, The Sounds of the Nickelodeons at Paul Eakins' Gay Nineties Village, classical music, and sound effects.〔"(Noise Merchant," ''Time,'' May 19,1961 )〕 In the 1970s, the label recorded the Irish folk group The Clancy Brothers 〔(Liam Clancy Website )〕 and Louis Killen. Sid Frey was a well-respected industry maverick. In his speech, "The Role of the Producer", Tom Wilson 〔(Tom Wilson Producer Website )〕 included Frey in an extraordinary list of impresarios: "If we look at the history of our business, at such companies as Kapp, Columbia, Audio Fidelity, and Motown, we see that these organizations were led to greatness by great listeners, men who had an ear for music, men who were able to make sound creative as well as financial judgments. I’m talking about men like Sid Frey, David Kapp, Goddard Lieberson, and Berry Gordy." (Tom Wilson producer credits include landmark records for Bob Dylan, The Animals, The Mothers of Invention, and many other artists in a career that spanned the 1950s- 1970s.) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Audio Fidelity Records」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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