sentence-transformers/squad huggingface dataset:
Passage: It was not unusual for electric recordings to be played back on acoustic phonographs. The Victor Orthophonic phonograph was a prime example where such playback was expected. In the Orthophonic, which benefited from telephone research, the mechanical pickup head was redesigned with lower resonance than the traditional mica type. Also, a folded horn with an exponential taper was constructed inside the cabinet to provide better impedance matching to the air. As a result, playback of an Orthophonic record sounded like it was coming from a radio.

Question: What is one example of an acoustic phonograph on which one would listen to electric recordings?

Question: What allowed better sounds inside the cabinet of the orthoponic phonograph?

Question: What adjustments were made to the orthophonic to accommodate electric recordings?

Question: Was it common to hear electric recordings on phonographs?

Question: How similar was the sound of a orthodontic record to a radio?
Passage: Eventually, when it was more common for electric recordings to be played back electrically in the 1930s and 1940s, the overall tone was much like listening to a radio of the era. Magnetic pickups became more common and were better designed as time went on, making it possible to improve the damping of spurious resonances. Crystal pickups were also introduced as lower cost alternatives. The dynamic or moving coil microphone was introduced around 1930 and the velocity or ribbon microphone in 1932. Both of these high quality microphones became widespread in motion picture, radio, recording, and public address applications.

Question: What are two examples of high quality microphones?

Question: What was used to dampen resonances in recordings?

Question: When would you have first found the moving coil microphone?

Question: What was a more economical option to magnetic pickups?

Question: In what years would you find electronic recordings played electronically?
Passage: Over time, fidelity, dynamic and noise levels improved to the point that it was harder to tell the difference between a live performance in the studio and the recorded version. This was especially true after the invention of the variable reluctance magnetic pickup cartridge by General Electric in the 1940s when high quality cuts were played on well-designed audio systems. The Capehart radio/phonographs of the era with large diameter electrodynamic loudspeakers, though not ideal, demonstrated this quite well with "home recordings" readily available in the music stores for the public to buy.

Question: What was a benefit of the use of magnetic pickup cartridge?

Question: In what era could you find good quality recordings and playbacks at home?

Question: What was a unique feature of the Capeart radio phonographs?

Question: How similar were live and recorded versions?
Passage: There were important quality advances in recordings specifically made for radio broadcast. In the early 1930s Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric announced the total reinvention of disc recording: the Western Electric Wide Range System, "The New Voice of Action". The intent of the new Western Electric system was to improve the overall quality of disc recording and playback. The recording speed was 33 1⁄3 rpm, originally used in the Western Electric/ERPI movie audio disc system implemented in the early Warner Brothers' Vitaphone "talkies" of 1927.

Question: When was the Western Electric System introduced?

Question: What two companies worked together to develop the Western Electric System?

Question: What system was used by Warner Brothers?

Question: What speed was used in the Western Electric System?

Question: What was the Western Electric System believed to do?
Passage: The newly invented Western Electric moving coil or dynamic microphone was part of the Wide Range System. It had a flatter audio response than the old style Wente condenser type and didn't require electronics installed in the microphone housing. Signals fed to the cutting head were pre-emphasized in the treble region to help override noise in playback. Groove cuts in the vertical plane were employed rather than the usual lateral cuts. The chief advantage claimed was more grooves per inch that could be crowded together, resulting in longer playback time. Additionally, the problem of inner groove distortion, which plagued lateral cuts, could be avoided with the vertical cut system. Wax masters were made by flowing heated wax over a hot metal disc thus avoiding the microscopic irregularities of cast blocks of wax and the necessity of planing and polishing.

Question: What was a benefit of vertical groove cuts?

Question: What could be avoided by using vertical groove cuts?

Question: How was the moving coil microphone unique to the Wente type?

Question: How was sound improved using the moving coil microphone?

Question: How was wax used to improve recordings?
Passage: Vinyl pressings were made with stampers from master cuts that were electroplated in vacuo by means of gold sputtering. Audio response was claimed out to 8,000 Hz, later 13,000 Hz, using light weight pickups employing jeweled styli. Amplifiers and cutters both using negative feedback were employed thereby improving the range of frequencies cut and lowering distortion levels. Radio transcription producers such as World Broadcasting System and Associated Music Publishers (AMP) were the dominant licensees of the Western Electric wide range system and towards the end of the 1930s were responsible for two-thirds of the total radio transcription business. These recordings use a bass turnover of 300 Hz and a 10,000 Hz rolloff of −8.5 dB.

Question: What were used to make vinyl pressings?

Question: What were the top licensees of the Western Electric system in the 1930s?

Question: Who was responsible for 2/3 of all recordings in the 1930s?

Question: How was gold spluttering used in vinyl creation?
Passage: The complete technical disclosure of the Columbia LP by Peter C. Goldmark, Rene' Snepvangers and William S. Bachman in 1949 made it possible for a great variety of record companies to get into the business of making long playing records. The business grew quickly and interest spread in high fidelity sound and the do-it-yourself market for pickups, turntables, amplifier kits, loudspeaker enclosure plans, and AM/FM radio tuners. The LP record for longer works, 45 rpm for pop music, and FM radio became high fidelity program sources in demand. Radio listeners heard recordings broadcast and this in turn generated more record sales. The industry flourished.

Question: When was the business booming for do it yourself sound fanatics?

Question: What kind of recordings worked best for pop music?

Question: What was used for longer recordings?

Question: What opened doors for long recordings?

Question: What aided in records sales in the 1950s?
Passage: There is a theory that vinyl records can audibly represent higher frequencies than compact discs. According to Red Book specifications, the compact disc has a frequency response of 20 Hz up to 22,050 Hz, and most CD players measure flat within a fraction of a decibel from at least 20 Hz to 20 kHz at full output. Turntable rumble obscures the low-end limit of vinyl but the upper end can be, with some cartridges, reasonably flat within a few decibels to 30 kHz, with gentle roll-off. Carrier signals of Quad LPs popular in the 1970s were at 30 kHz to be out of the range of human hearing. The average human auditory system is sensitive to frequencies from 20 Hz to a maximum of around 20,000 Hz. The upper and lower frequency limits of human hearing vary per person.

Question: What is generally the lowest sound a human can hear?

Question: What is believed to better offer sounds of higher frequencies, compact discs or records?

Question: What is the higher end of typical human hearing?

Question: Does the hearing range of the human vary?
Passage: For the first several decades of disc record manufacturing, sound was recorded directly on to the "master disc" at the recording studio. From about 1950 on (earlier for some large record companies, later for some small ones) it became usual to have the performance first recorded on audio tape, which could then be processed and/or edited, and then dubbed on to the master disc. A record cutter would engrave the grooves into the master disc. Early versions of these master discs were soft wax, and later a harder lacquer was used. The mastering process was originally something of an art as the operator had to manually allow for the changes in sound which affected how wide the space for the groove needed to be on each rotation.

Question: Who would engrave the master disc of a vinyl record?

Question: What was used in first recordings of vinyl records?

Question: What was used in final recordings of vinyl records?

Question: After the 1950s what was a typical recording process?

Question: Where were sound recordings originally made to?
Passage: As the playing of gramophone records causes gradual degradation of the recording, they are best preserved by transferring them onto other media and playing the records as rarely as possible. They need to be stored on edge, and do best under environmental conditions that most humans would find comfortable. The medium needs to be kept clean, but alcohol should only be used on PVC or optical media, not on 78s.[citation needed] The equipment for playback of certain formats (e.g., 16 and 78 rpm) is manufactured only in small quantities, leading to increased difficulty in finding equipment to play the recordings.

Question: Should alcohol be used to clean gramophone recordings?

Question: Is gramophone equipment readily available?

Question: What is the recommendation of gramophone recordings to preserve integrity?

Question: What is a drawback of gramophone use?

Question: How are gramophones best stored?
Passage: Where old disc recordings are considered to be of artistic or historic interest, from before the era of tape or where no tape master exists, archivists play back the disc on suitable equipment and record the result, typically onto a digital format, which can be copied and manipulated to remove analog flaws without any further damage to the source recording. For example, Nimbus Records uses a specially built horn record player to transfer 78s. Anyone can do this using a standard record player with a suitable pickup, a phono-preamp (pre-amplifier) and a typical personal computer. However, for accurate transfer, professional archivists carefully choose the correct stylus shape and diameter, tracking weight, equalisation curve and other playback parameters and use high-quality analogue-to-digital converters.

Question: Is it difficult to transfer recording from historic interest to newer technologies?

Question: What would offer the highest quality transfers of historic interest?

Question: What would a hobbiest need to transfer historic recordings to digital formats?

Question: Is an original destroyed when transferred to digital format?

Question: What is one benefit of transferring an older format to a newer format?
Passage: Groove recordings, first designed in the final quarter of the 19th century, held a predominant position for nearly a century—withstanding competition from reel-to-reel tape, the 8-track cartridge, and the compact cassette. In 1988, the compact disc surpassed the gramophone record in unit sales. Vinyl records experienced a sudden decline in popularity between 1988 and 1991, when the major label distributors restricted their return policies, which retailers had been relying on to maintain and swap out stocks of relatively unpopular titles. First the distributors began charging retailers more for new product if they returned unsold vinyl, and then they stopped providing any credit at all for returns. Retailers, fearing they would be stuck with anything they ordered, only ordered proven, popular titles that they knew would sell, and devoted more shelf space to CDs and cassettes. Record companies also deleted many vinyl titles from production and distribution, further undermining the availability of the format and leading to the closure of pressing plants. This rapid decline in the availability of records accelerated the format's decline in popularity, and is seen by some as a deliberate ploy to make consumers switch to CDs, which were more profitable for the record companies.

Question: What was a major cause of declined vinyl sales?

Question: Which allows for more profits, vinyl or compact discs?

Question: When did vinyl record sales decline?

Question: When did compact disc popularity take hold?

Question: When were groove recordings developed?
Passage: In spite of their flaws, such as the lack of portability, records still have enthusiastic supporters. Vinyl records continue to be manufactured and sold today, especially by independent rock bands and labels, although record sales are considered to be a niche market composed of audiophiles, collectors, and DJs. Old records and out-of-print recordings in particular are in much demand by collectors the world over. (See Record collecting.) Many popular new albums are given releases on vinyl records and older albums are also given reissues, sometimes on audiophile-grade vinyl.

Question: Are records generally out of print as of date?

Question: Are albums ever reproduced?

Question: What types of vinyl hold the most popularity?

Question: Does vinyl record maintain any popularity?
Passage: Many electronic dance music and hip hop releases today are still preferred on vinyl; however, digital copies are still widely available. This is because for disc jockeys ("DJs"), vinyl has an advantage over the CD: direct manipulation of the medium. DJ techniques such as slip-cueing, beatmatching, and scratching originated on turntables. With CDs or compact audio cassettes one normally has only indirect manipulation options, e.g., the play, stop, and pause buttons. With a record one can place the stylus a few grooves farther in or out, accelerate or decelerate the turntable, or even reverse its direction, provided the stylus, record player, and record itself are built to withstand it. However, many CDJ and DJ advances, such as DJ software and time-encoded vinyl, now have these capabilities and more.

Question: What is a reason a DJ would prefer vinyl to CD?

Question: In what techniques would a DJ require a vinyl record?

Question: Are all turn tables capable of DJ manipulation of vinyl records?

Question: What is commonly preferred by DJs vinyl or CD?

Question: Had vinyl technology ceased expanding?
Passage: In 2014 artist Jack White sold 40,000 copies of his second solo release, Lazaretto, on vinyl. The sales of the record beat the largest sales in one week on vinyl since 1991. The sales record was previously held by Pearl Jam's, Vitalogy, which sold 34,000 copies in one week in 1994. In 2014, the sale of vinyl records was the only physical music medium with increasing sales with relation to the previous year. Sales of other mediums including individual digital tracks, digital albums and compact discs have fallen, the latter having the greatest drop-in-sales rate.

Question: Whom set the most recent sales record of vinyl records since 1991?

Question: What medium has seen the biggest fall in sales as of late?

Question: What was unique to vinyl sales in 2014?

Question: Who sold 34,000 vinyl records in 1994?

Question: Prior to 2014 when was the most recent large sale of vinyl records?
Passage: Historically, the channel's programming consisted mainly of featured classic theatrically released feature films from the Turner Entertainment film library – which comprises films from Warner Bros. Pictures (covering films released before 1950) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (covering films released before May 1986). However, TCM now has licensing deals with other Hollywood film studios as well as its Time Warner sister company, Warner Bros. (which now controls the Turner Entertainment library and its own later films), and occasionally shows more recent films. Turner Classic Movies is a dedicated film channel and is available in United States, United Kingdom, France (TCM Cinéma), Spain (TCM España), Nordic countries, Middle East and Africa.

Question: Warner Bros. pictures before what year are part of the Turner Entertainment library?

Question: Up until what month and year of release are films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer part of the Turner Entertainment library?

Question: What company owns TCM and Warner Bros.?

Question: What is Turner Classic Movies called in France?

Question: What is the Spanish version of Turner Classic Movies?
Passage: In 1986, eight years before the launch of Turner Classic Movies, Ted Turner acquired the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio for $1.5 billion. Concerns over Turner Entertainment's corporate debt load resulted in Turner selling the studio that October back to Kirk Kerkorian, from whom Turner had purchased the studio less than a year before. As part of the deal, Turner Entertainment retained ownership of MGM's library of films released up to May 9, 1986. Turner Broadcasting System was split into two companies; Turner Broadcasting System and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and reincorporated as MGM/UA Communications Co.

Question: How much did Ted Turner pay for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer?

Question: In what year did Ted Turner buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer?

Question: Who did Ted Turner sell Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to?

Question: Who did Ted Turner buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from?

Question: Up to what date of release did Turner retain ownership of the MGM film library?
Passage: The film library of Turner Entertainment would serve as the base form of programming for TCM upon the network's launch. Before the creation of Turner Classic Movies, films from Turner's library of movies aired on the Turner Broadcasting System's advertiser-supported cable network TNT – along with colorized versions of black-and-white classics such as The Maltese Falcon. After the library was acquired, MGM/UA signed a deal with Turner to continue distributing the pre-May 1986 MGM and to begin distributing the pre-1950 Warner Bros. film libraries for video release (the rest of the library went to Turner Home Entertainment).

Question: On what network did Turner Entertainment's film library air prior to the creation of TCM?

Question: What was a notable film that Turner colorized?

Question: Who did Turner ink a deal with to distribute Warner Bros. films from before 1950?

Question: The MGM/UA-Turner deal concerned MGM films released prior to what date?
Passage: At the time of its launch, TCM was available to approximately one million cable television subscribers. The network originally served as a competitor to AMC – which at the time was known as "American Movie Classics" and maintained a virtually identical format to TCM, as both networks largely focused on films released prior to 1970 and aired them in an uncut, uncolorized, and commercial-free format. AMC had broadened its film content to feature colorized and more recent films by 2002 and abandoned its commercial-free format, leaving TCM as the only movie-oriented cable channel to devote its programming entirely to classic films without commercial interruption.

Question: How many subscribers had access to TCM upon it launch?

Question: When TCM premiered, what was AMC called?

Question: What sorts of films did American Movie Classics primarily show?

Question: By what year was AMC showing commercials?
Passage: In 1996, Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner, which besides placing Turner Classic Movies and Warner Bros. Entertainment under the same corporate umbrella, also gave TCM access to Warner Bros.' library of films released after 1949 (which itself includes other acquired entities such as the Lorimar, Saul Zaentz and National General Pictures libraries); incidentally, TCM had already been running select Warner Bros. film titles through a licensing agreement with the studio that was signed prior to the launch of the channel. In March 1999, MGM paid Warner Bros. and gave up the home video rights to the MGM/UA films owned by Turner to Warner Home Video.

Question: With what company did Turner Broadcasting Systems merge in 1996?

Question: Along with Lorimar and National General Pictures, what library was included in the Warner Bros. library?

Question: When did MGM give Warner Home Video the rights to MGM/UA's films on home video?
Passage: In 2000, TCM started the annual Young Composers Film Competition, inviting aspiring composers to participate in a judged competition that offers the winner of each year's competition the opportunity to score a restored, feature-length silent film as a grand prize, mentored by a well-known composer, with the new work subsequently premiering on the network. As of 2006, films that have been rescored include the 1921 Rudolph Valentino film Camille, two Lon Chaney films: 1921's The Ace of Hearts and 1928's Laugh, Clown, Laugh, and Greta Garbo's 1926 film The Temptress.

Question: In what year did TCM begin the Young Composers Film Competition?

Question: How often is the Young Composers Film Competition?

Question: What is the grand prize in the Young Composers Film Competition?

Question: In what year was Laugh, Clown, Laugh released?

Question: Who starred in The Temptress?
Passage: In 2008, TCM won a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting. In April 2010, Turner Classic Movies held the first TCM Classic Film Festival, an event – now held annually – at the Grauman's Chinese Theater and the Grauman's Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Hosted by Robert Osborne, the four-day long annual festival celebrates Hollywood and its movies, and features celebrity appearances, special events, and screenings of around 50 classic movies including several newly restored by the Film Foundation, an organization devoted to preserving Hollywood's classic film legacy.

Question: In what year did TCM receive a Peabody Award?

Question: For what reason is a Peabody Award granted?

Question: When did the inaugural TCM Classic Film Festival take place?

Question: In addition to the Grauman's Chinese Theater, where did the first TCM Classic Film Festival take place?

Question: Where is Grauman's Chinese Theater located?
Passage: Turner Classic Movies essentially operates as a commercial-free service, with the only advertisements on the network being shown between features – which advertise TCM products, network promotions for upcoming special programs and the original trailers for films that are scheduled to be broadcast on TCM (particularly those that will air during the primetime hours), and featurettes about classic film actors and actresses. In addition to this, extended breaks between features are filled with theatrically released movie trailers and classic short subjects – from series such as The Passing Parade, Crime Does Not Pay, Pete Smith Specialties, and Robert Benchley – under the banner name TCM Extras (formerly One Reel Wonders). In 2007, some of the short films featured on TCM were made available for streaming on TCM's website. Partly to allow these interstitials, Turner Classic Movies schedules its feature films either at the top of the hour or at :15, :30 or :45 minutes past the hour, instead of in timeslots of varying five-minute increments.

Question: What were TCM Extras previously known as?

Question: When did short films from TCM begin to stream on TCM's website?

Question: Along with The Passing Parade, Crime Does Not Pay and Pete Smith Specialties, what short subjects feature on TCM?

Question: Along with :45, :30 and :15 past the hour, at what time do TCM features begin?