[pdb-discuss] Another related project: KCL Centre for History and Analysis of Recorded Music (CHARM)

Sat Jul 22 13:52:04 UTC 2006

http://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk/

Summary from their website below.

They already have some discorgraphies up:

<http://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk/content/italian_hmv/index.html>
<http://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk/content/schubert_disco/schubert_songs.html>
<http://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk/content/gray_disco/index.html>

As well as some digitized songs:

<http://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk/content/schubert_songs/index.html>

I've already got in contact and will try to find out more as well as 
if/how we can collaborate.

~rufus

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== Summary taken from Website ==

The CHARM discography and web project

CHARM is developing a major online discography of 78rpm recordings 
issued by the Gramophone Company (HMV), drawing first of all upon data 
collected over many decades by the distinguished discographer Alan 
Kelly. The discography will be complemented by a series of web pages 
intended as a first port of call for research into recorded music, 
including downloadable software, digitized recordings, pages on the 
history and technology of recording, discographies of other labels, and 
links to a wide variety of sites dealing with music on record. We warmly 
welcome suggestions and offers of materials we might usefully include.

Discography

Alan Kelly's matrix lists cover the full range of the Gramophone 
Company's output from its beginnings at the end of the 19th century 
through to the end of the 78 era. Over the next five years this huge 
collection of data will become available online via this web page. A 
trial database, containing the Italian HMV Catalogue, is now available, 
and your comments on its usability will be very welcome.

We plan to include data from many other sources as well, and we welcome 
approaches from compilers of discographies for whom we might act as an 
online publisher.

Transfers from 78rpm discs

During the last two years of CHARM, from April 2007, we shall employ a 
full-time transfer engineer to transfer out-of-copyright recordings for 
download via this page. In the meantime, recordings are being placed 
here from time to time as we transfer them for teaching and research. To 
date there are around 120 disc-sides here, all recordings of Schubert 
songs from before 1954. At present they are offered as mp3 files; other 
formats may be used later. Our policy is to present sound files one side 
at a time, with no editing and only limited noise reduction, aiming to 
represent the source as faithfully as possible. Comments on this policy 
and on any aspect of transfer procedure and presentation are most welcome.