Editing Columbia Records (section)

==== Stereo ====
Although Columbia began recording in stereo in 1956, stereo LPs did not begin to be manufactured until 1958. One of Columbia's first stereo releases was an abridged and re-structured performance of [[Handel]]'s ''[[Messiah (oratorio)|Messiah]]'' by the [[New York Philharmonic]] and the [[Westminster Choir]] conducted by [[Leonard Bernstein]] (recorded on December 31, 1956, on {{1/2}}-inch tape, using an Ampex 300-3 machine).<ref>This stereo LP Box Set (2 LPs) have released first as M2S-603 (MS 6038-9) in 1958.</ref> Bernstein combined the Nativity and Resurrection sections, and ended the performance with the death of Christ. As with RCA Victor, most of the early stereo recordings were of classical artists, including the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by [[Bruno Walter]], [[Dimitri Mitropoulos]], and [[Leonard Bernstein]], and the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by [[Eugene Ormandy]], who also recorded an abridged ''Messiah'' for Columbia. Some sessions were made with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble drawn from leading New York musicians, which had first made recordings with Sir Thomas Beecham in 1949 in Columbia's New York City studios. [[George Szell]] and the [[Cleveland Orchestra]] recorded mostly for Epic. When Epic dropped classical music, the roster and catalogue was moved to [[Columbia Masterworks Records]].

Columbia released its first pop stereo albums in the summer of 1958. All of the first dozen or so were stereo versions of albums already available in mono. It was not until September 1958, that Columbia began simultaneous mono/stereo releases. Mono versions of otherwise stereo recordings were discontinued in 1968. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the LP, in 1958 Columbia initiated the "Adventures in Sound" series that showcased music from around the world.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Billboard|date=January 6, 1958|title=Columbia's 1958 Tee-Off Cues Big Product Campaign: Program Set to Tie in with LP Disk's 10th Anniversary Year|magazine=Billboard|page=15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Designed for Hi-Fi Living : The Vinyl LP in Midcentury America|last=Borgerson|first=Janet|publisher=MIT Press|others=Schroeder, Jonathan E., 1962|year=2017|isbn=9780262036238|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=283–297|oclc=958205262}}</ref>

As far as the catalog numbering system went, there was no correlation between mono and stereo versions for the first few years. Columbia started a new CS 8000 series for pop stereo releases, and figuring the stereo releases as some sort of specialty niche records, didn't bother to link the mono and stereo numbers for two years. Masterworks classical LPs had an MS 6000 series, while showtunes albums on Masterworks were OS 2000. Finally, in 1960, the pop stereo series jumped from 8300 to 8310 to match ''Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Sing [[Duke Ellington|Ellington]]'', the [[Lambert, Hendricks & Ross]] album issued as CL-1510. From that point, the stereo numbers on pop albums were exactly 6800 higher than the mono; stereo classical albums were the mono number plus 600; and showtunes releases were the mono number MINUS 3600. Only the last two digits in the respective catalog series' matched.

Pop stereo LPs got into the high 9000s by 1970, when CBS Records revamped and unified its catalog numbering system across all its labels. Masterworks classical albums were in the 7000s, while showtunes stayed in the low 2000s.

Columbia's engineering department developed a process for emulating stereo from a mono source. They called this process "Electronically Rechanneled for Stereo". In the June 16, 1962, issue of ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine (page 5), Columbia announced it would issue "rechanneled" versions of greatest hits compilations that had been recorded in mono, including albums by Doris Day, Frankie Laine, Percy Faith, Mitch Miller, Marty Robbins, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, and Johnny Mathis.