New Analogue Productions Nat King Cole vinyl: "Mixing directly to 45 RPM lacquer" adventures!

As some of you know, Kevin Gray and I have been working on a bunch of wonderful Nat "King" Cole Capitol Records' reissues for Acoustic Sounds/Analogue Productions over the past 1/2 year. We are doing three-channel surround SACD's direct from three-track tapes with a two-channel and CD layer plus some extra-special 45 RPM 180 gram vinyl. So you will be able to hear Nat coming out of your center channel (on the three-channel SACD layer) and nicely balanced on your CD and SACD two channel layers and then on the uniquely mixed vinyl versions. Get an SACD player.

Do you have a turntable? If you are on the fence about getting one, I would do it if you love Nat. These records are going to be just killer and that is not just hot wind from a mastering engineer. The unique thing about these albums that will be on vinyl is the fact that the mixes will be unique, having been done by mastering the three-channel tapes DIRECTLY to the lacquer without any second-step "master" mixes to tape being done ahead of time.

In other words, the mixes that were cut into the acetate lacquers for pressing into records are unique, differing from our SACD/CD versions by the very nature of the mastering process. And yes, if we have to do recuts, THOSE sides will be slightly different mixes as well. This is an opportunity to get about as close to the voice of Nat Cole as humanly possible on this earth.

When Chad, founder of Acoustic Sounds/Analogue Productions came to Kevin and I with the idea of doing some Nat Cole reissues he just came out and asked me if I could top myself and do better than the DCC Gold CD and vinyl versions I did about 10 years ago. I told him YES. He then asked if we could possibly cut records directly from a three-track 1/2" unmixed tape and I said that it would be very tricky but it had been done before (Decca, USA cut their stereo albums from the three-track from 1958-63) and could probably be done again with some new gear. Those old Decca tapes already had EQ and echo right on them so it was easier. We would have to build an echo chamber and do all the mixing, EQ'ing, etc. live as we were cutting. Gulp. It sounded like a fun challange...

So, having committed Kevin (which he has yet to forgive me for) we set about to see if we could cut a record from a tape with more than two channels. You see, the preview heads of the analog tape machine have to reproduce all the information a split second before it hits the actual playback heads so the computer knows what is coming, sound wise and then open or close the groove on the acetate, getting the most sound on a side of a disk. This "Margin Control" (as the Mercury Living Presence records used to call it) has been around for a long time (since the 1950s) but no system exists to do more than two channels at once. So, Kevin just went ahead and BUILT A NEW CUTTING SYSTEM (including two sets of custom three-track heads and triple EQ rack) especially for these Nat "King" Cole albums to be cut to vinyl from their original sessions.

In the old days at Capitol a song would have been recorded on the three-track machine (music left, voice center, music right) and then that tape would have been "reduced" or mixed as we call it today on to a new two-track tape with the center channel split evenly between the left and right, giving a phantom center. Echo, EQ and compression would have been added at the same time on to the two track mix to give it the right amount of "Hi-Fi" for the era. This usually meant drenching everything in reverberation until all the detail and intimacy was obscured.

In the 1990s I bypassed the old mixes for the DCC Gold CD and LP versions of three Nat albums and thought they came out nicely, revealing a hidden magic in the original sessions that was lacking on the old mixes. However, I still had to remix the songs one by one on to a new tape and then cut records from that. (Did you see the CNN report back in 1997 on audiophile vinyl? It showcased Kevin and I at Future Disk Systems working on Nat's "LOVE IS THE THING" album for the new "vinyl revival".)

Acoustic Sounds wanted us to go to the next step this time and not only bypass the original flawed (drenched in reverb and compression) mixes but also bypass ANY and all mixes and go directly to vinyl DOING THE MIX LIVE AS WE WERE CUTTING. Yikes.

Well, that's what we did even though it was the biggest, most draining pain in the butt either of us ever experienced. I realized that if I made a mixing mistake or Kevin made a cutting error on the side we were working we would have to stop and start the side over. At 45 RPM we put three songs on a side and that was the most I could handle in one sitting anyway. By the last part of that third song I was ready to scream if I missed a mixing cue. I did my homework very well and knew most of those songs totally by heart but still we blew lacquers like crazy (what with not using any overall compression or anything); one over-mod peak and the groove could break. Nat's voice was VERY dynamic.

So last Thursday Rick Hashimoto of Record Tech in Camarillo gave me the fresh test pressings on a few of these 45's and today I got up courage and cracked the seal on JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS (with Billy May and his orchestra) and to my delight (trying hard to listen to it dispassionately) it sounded ****ing magical. I mean I yelled to my wife to come upstairs and listen to this thing and I haven't done that in years. It sounded like Nat Cole was freaking standing right there. Gave me a chill, dudes. It's like it was 1957 and I was at Capitol Studio A sitting directly in front of Nat and the band (see photo in my post #2 with Billy May and the gang). Man, I can't wait to hear the rest of these.

So, we've done the following for SACD three channel/two channel hybrids and 45 RPM vinyl:

1956, After Midnight (mono with 6 bonus tracks from original sessions)
1956, Love Is The Thing (with complete original 12 "Closed miked" mono mixes as bonus tracks on the SACD version)
1957, Just One Of Those Things (with YOU'LL NEVER KNOW bonus track, rejected from original session)
1958, Songs From "St. Louis Blues" (Overture restored for first time since 1958)
1958, The Very Thought Of You (with bonus tracks DON'T BLAME ME, THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE, rejected from original session)
1962, Where Did Everyone Go? (with bonus tracks HAPPY NEW YEAR and A FAREWELL TO ARMS rejected from original session)
1961, The Nat "King" Cole Story, three-volume set (36 songs with bonus tracks RAMBLIN' ROSE and THOSE LAZY-CRAZY-HAZY DAYS OF SUMMER, making 38 songs in all) (This will be a 10 record vinyl set and two SACD set)

Friends, if you love Nat Cole you will be all over these but even if you are just a fan of recordings from the Golden Age Of Hi-Fi you should check these out; it's amazing music and the sound quality (as engineered by John Kraus, Pete Abbott and the Capitol Tower engineering staff of the 1950's and 1960's) will knock you out.

All songs produced by Lee Gillette (an amazing A&R man who produced every NKC record starting in the early 1940's). Please note that our release of the three Nat Cole/Gordon Jenkins collaborations (LOVE IS THE THING, THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU and WHERE DID EVERYONE GO?) fulfills a cherished dream of mine so thank you Chad and Acoustic Sounds/Analogue Productions for agreeing to it..

A note regarding the recording of LOVE IS THE THING in December of 1956:

This was the first Nat Cole to be recorded in both mono AND stereo and a number one selling album in 1957. It was recorded with two microphone setups, the mono being multi-miked, fully mixed as it was being recorded as done from the downstairs control room. The stereo "binaural" version was done in the snack room lounge upstairs from Studio A using an Ampex 300-3 and three microphones (for far-left orchestra, far-right orchestra and Nat's voice-split feed from mono microphone). The two versions differ in sonics due to this unique way of "double recording". Please note that the original stereo mixes of LOVE IS THE THING were done in January, 1957 at 7 1/2 ips for the open reel two-track release of the album. These wonderful mixes were light on reverb, fully dynamic and quite wonderful (try and find the commercial two-track tape on eBay, it's neat). When the stereo LP came out years later this tape was destroyed (deemed too dynamic for record cutting) and a new wimpy-butt stereo mix was done in 1959, taming the dynamics and EQ'd to sound muddy and uninvolving. My goal in remixing LOVE IS THE THING was to get it to sound like the original reel-to-reel version but with much better signal to noise, etc. I think I succeeded. We are also including the original monaural masters on our SACD/CD version as a bonus. This mono presentation of LOVE IS THE THING is the first to be released since 1957.

These projects were time-consuming and quite challenging. However, as Gordon Jenkins wrote (and Nat Cole sang) .."But when I look back upon it from a distance, it wasn't too bad...."

 

At the bottom of this post:

Photos of the other two album covers (and a record that Kevin bashed over my head after putting him through this 9 month ordeal) plus BILLY MAY conducting in Studio A and NKC during the December, 1956 recording sessions for "LOVE IS THE THING", courtesy of a generous SH FORUMS member.

We have many shots of our in-studio efforts but those are controlled by Acoustic Sounds and we will leave it to them to publish..

A special thanks to SH Forum members Jtaylor and especially Apileocole for some amazing help. Thanks for keeping the secret all these long months. Check out these two helpful Nat Cole discogs:

http://apileocole.alongthehall.com/
http://www.classictvinfo.com/NKCDiscography/

Please direct all inquiries about RELEASE DATES to Acoustic Sounds. Thanks.
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Acoustic Sounds/Analogue Productions NAT “KING” COLE projects complete song list subject to change at any time.

Capitol LP W-782 AFTER MIDNIGHT mono recording/King Cole Trio plus an all-star group.

Just You, Just Me
Sweet Lorraine
Sometimes I’m Happy
Caravan
It’s Only A Paper Moon
You’re Looking At Me
Lonely One
Don’t Let It Go To Your Head
I Know That You Know
Blame It On My Youth
When I Grow Too Old To Dream
(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66

Bonus tracks from AFTER MIDNIGHT sessions:

I Was A Little Too Lonely (And You Were A Little Too Late)
You Can Depend On Me
What Is There To Say
Two Loves Have I
Candy
You’re Looking At Me, Alternate take

Capitol LP SW-824 LOVE IS THE THING mono and stereo versions/Gordon Jenkins

When I Fall In Love
Stardust
Stay As Sweet As You Are
Where Can I Go Without You?
Maybe It’s Because I Love You Too Much (mono only)
Love Letters (mono only)
Ain’t Misbehavin’
I Thought About Marie
At Last
It’s All In The Game
When Sunny Gets Blue
Love Is The Thing

Capitol LP SW-903 JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS stereo/Billy May

When Your Lover Has Gone
A Cottage For Sale
Who’s Sorry Now?
Once In A While
These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You
Just For The Fun Of It
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
I Understand
Just One Of Those Things
The Song Is Ended
I Should Care
The Party’s Over

Bonus Track from the JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS sessions:
You’ll Never Know (unissued)

Capitol LP SW-993 NAT “KING” COLE SINGS SONGS FROM ‘ST. LOUIS BLUES’ stereo/Nelson Riddle

Overture (introducing “Love Theme” and “Hesitation Blues”) (long version restored)
Harlem Blues
Chantez Les Bas
Friendless Blues
Stay
Joe Turner’s Blues
Beale Street Blues
Careless Love Morning Star
Memphis Blues
Yellow Dog Blues
St. Louis Blues

Capitol LP SW-1084 THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU stereo/Gordon Jenkins

The Very Thought Of You
But Beautiful
Impossible
I Wish I Knew
I Found A Million Dollar Baby
Magnificent Obsession
My Heart Tells Me
Paradise
This Is All I Ask
Cherie, I Love You
Making Believe You’re Here
Cherchez La Femme
For All We Know
The More I See You

Bonus tracks from THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU sessions:
Don’t Blame Me (unissued)
There Is No Greater Love (unissued)

Capitol LP SW-1859 WHERE DID EVERYONE GO? stereo/Gordon Jenkins

Where Did Everyone Go?
Say It Isn’t So
If Love Ain’t There
(Ah, The Apple Trees) When The World Was Young
Am I Blue?
Someone To Tell It To
The End Of A Love Affair
I Keep Goin’ Back To Joe’s
Laughing On The Outside (Crying On The Inside)
No, I Don’t Want Her
Spring Is Here
That’s All There Is

Bonus tracks from the WHERE DID EVERYONE GO? sessions:
A Farewell To Arms (unissued)
Happy New Year (unissued)

Capitol LP set SWCL-1613 THE NAT “KING” COLE STORY stereo/Ralph Carmichael, etc.

Straighten Up And Fly Right
Sweet Lorraine
It's Only A Paper Moon
(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66
(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
Nature Boy
Lush Life (Pete Rugolo conducts)
Calypso Blues
Mona Lisa
Orange Colored Sky - two track only, no surround version (Stan Kenton conducts)
Too Young
Unforgettable
Somewhere Along The Way
Walkin’ My Baby Back Home (Billy May conducts)
Pretend
Blue Gardenia
I Am In Love
Answer Me, My Love
Smile
Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup
The Sand And The Sea
If I May
A Blossom Fell
To The Ends Of The Earth
Night Lights
Ballerina
Stardust (Gordon Jenkins conducts)
Send For Me
St. Louis Blues (Nelson Riddle conducts)
Looking Back
Non Dimenticar (Don’t Forget) (Nelson Riddle conducts)
Paradise (Gordon Jenkins conducts)
Oh, Mary, Don’t You Weep - two track only, no surround version (Gordon Jenkins conducts choir)
Ay, Cosita Linda - two track only, no surround version (Dave Cavanaugh)
Wild Is Love (intro and song), two track intro and three track edited together (Nelson Riddle conducts)
Ramblin’ Rose (Belford C. Hendricks conducts)
Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer