Dean Martin at Capitol Records 1948- 1962

Ah, interesting, thanks. I assumed the RCA 77U was positioned to pick up the reflections of the room. But that makes more sense.

 

...and I believe Davies may have engineered COME SWING WITH ME!. The French horns have a nice "bloom" on there, so he obviously knew what to do with them, at least in 1961. No idea how them came off in that Newsom album...

 

Oh and...on my Capitol Collectors Series disc...it must've been mastered on a true MONO 1 channel machine. The numbers when ran on a DR check are the same in each channel, peaks and RMS, as compared to many mono masters that were done on a stereo machine, hence varying levels on songs ! I wish all the mono mastering engineers had access to these true machines.

 

Good. Releases that use mono source tapes transferred by a machine equipped with stereo heads can be distracting and take away from the enjoyment of the music.

 

Although I have mixed feelings about electronic overdubs, one thing I enjoy about the Forever Cool project is that Capitol issued so much studio chatter. The fact they had to dig (as Steve has indicated) into the session reels for this material proves that Dean is still a strong seller, and I hope that we'll hear more outtakes in the future.

 

Even if they are transferred using stereo heads and summed to mono, that's better than the alternative. Yuck.

To me, the phenomenon of channel imbalance in an analog-to-digital transfer is the same as needledropping. Somehow, surface noise becomes so much more apparent. I wish I had an explanation for it. If I'm playing an open reel tape in headphones, it doesn't bother me. In fact, I quite enjoy a little dropout here and there from a mono signal. Adds to the charm. Ditto for an original LP and its minimal surface noise. But, if it's a digital source, I'm...annoyed.

@MLutthans, it's like that twitchy thing you do when violins are mixed stereo right.

 

I suppose so. There could be weird phasing issues if they are summed. But which channel is preferred? The softer, or the louder? Depends on whether the tape levels were properly set, I guess. Either way, the french horn players had beans for dinner. And, because it's a mono mix, we're stuck with 'em.

 

Warping is the worst. Really turns a good day bad. And squeaky reel syndrome. But, nothing lasts forever, except digital! Yay.

 

Any idea if we'll see more audiophile reissues of Dean now that Universal owns the catalogue?

 

No idea?

 

An observation while archiving to digital my vinyl copy of "Sleep Warm" and it has to do with Dean's vocals sounding different in one particular session versus the other two. In all the songs recorded in this session,
14 October 1958 [7333, 22:00-01:00] Capitol Recording Studio, 1750 North Vine St., Hollywood, CA – Dean Martin (orchestra cond. by Frank Sinatra)

SLEEP WARM
LET'S PUT OUT THE LIGHTS
BRAHMS' LULLABY
GOODNIGHT MY LOVE

Dean's voice sounds different, almost distorted at times to me. 'Distorted' may be too strong of a word but not for "Let's Put Out The Lights" as it seems to be more noticeable there. But there was definitely something wrong with the vocal taping on that day. The rest of the music sounds wonderful to me but it is just the vocals that are a bit tweaked and distorted in places on those four songs. It is a muffled type sound at times similar to the sound when you are too close to a microphone. But I know that could not have been the case. Does anybody else notice this or is it just me? Incidently, the session was the middle of the three.

Absolutely breathtaking sound at times to me overall, however.

 

I think I've heard what you're referring to, but I've only really noticed it on "Let's Put Out The Lights (And Go To Sleep)". Perhaps Dean was up against the mike for this track. Or if he wasn't singing out, perhaps the feed was turned up and that caused some mild distortion artifacts.

Dunno. Matt? Thoughts?

 

I have an original stereo pressing.
Side One: ST1-1150-N1
Side Two: ST2-1150-D3

It looks like it was pressed at the Scranton, Pennsylvania plant as I am seeing the anvil stamped in the deadwax as well.

 

I can hear some slight distortion at the very first of "Sleep Warm" as I am listening to it just now again. The song starts out with Dean singing....."Sleep warm. Sleep tight. When you turn out the lights." It sounds like Dean (albeit a more mellow tone almost like he has a cold, which he may have) until he says the words 'turn out' and it almost sounds fabricated to a point, distorted. But yes, really pick up some distortion on "Let's Put Out The Lights" throughout. The other two songs also just do not have the vocal integrity and clarity to me that the other two session's vocals have.

 

And... Impossible not to LOVE Dean Martin!

 

I have had this CD for at least 15 years and never noticed it before, but listening to it now on a budget-priced 10-CD set from the UK ("11 Original Albums & 56 Bonus Tracks"), I notice it tremendously. At times, it sounds like someone else singing, in my opinion--someone quite good but not Dino. I would say that he had a cold or something going on with his voice, more than a difference in the microphone, but maybe it sounds different on vinyl.

 

"Swingin' Down Yonder" is my favourite Dean Martin album from this period. I'm not sure the original LP was actually released in the UK in the 50's though. I've seen the EP's but never the original LP.

 

The post Matt made about Gordon MacRae's "In Concert" album points to a similarity in the Capitol legacies of Sinatra, Martin and Nat King Cole. The "BIG" showstoppers are missing in the work of all 3 on Capitol. If Sinatra had made "Carousel" there would have been some R & H by him on Capitol instead Gordon did the film and the LP. Perhaps Capitol felt Gordon was their "go to" guy for this type of material? As soon as Sinatra leaves Capitol he returns to this genre on Reprise. It would have been interesting to hear Dean and Nat do some of these songs.