DCC Archive Original Master Tape for Dark Side of the Moon

Perhaps this has already been mentioned in an earlier post, but Gregg Schnitzer, the Director of Product Development for MFSL from 1980 to 1986, dropped this little bombshell regarding the fate of the original master for DSOTM:

<<Did you know that the Dark Side of the Moon master was ruined? Somebody put it on a recorder instead of a playback only mastering deck and a little piece of Super Tramp got dubbed onto the outro of Breath. Big secret, that. Stan had left the company so a redux wasn't gonna happen. Makes me seriously wonder where MFSL got the source for the Dark Side of the Moon CD. Hmmm. It would have had to have been a second generation safety or the digital master I made for the cassette run.>>

The complete interview can be found at http://pages.prodigy.net/amicus1/violet.htm. Gregg has some interesting things to say about the cassette master he prepared for the MFSL DSOTM cassette run. He also says his favorite MFSL DSOTM release was the PCM VHS/Beta cassette that was released in extremely limited quantities in the early 80's. I don't think I've ever seen one of them on eBay, although some of the Sony PCM machines, like the PCM-F1 and 601ES turn up every once in a while.

Of course, to add to the confusion, I've read that the original master tape of DSOTM is actually a Dolby encoded dub of the non-Dolby stereo mixdown master (which the band thought sounded too bright).

 

That is correct, it IS dolby encoded. So were a lot of masters, though.

Steve mentioned he knows the DSOTM reel was repaired, and it's in fine shape.

 

I believe Steve said they spliced in the bit that was recorded over (not much) with a safety copy. No big deal...

 

Actually, here's what Steve said (you might want to read the whole thread):
http://cgi.dhot.com/cgi-bin/ubb_forums/dcc/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=000274

 

Here's another bit from the Gregg Schnitzer interview:

Anyone heard any of these clicks/zits? I just popped in my '83 toshiba/EMI cd, and didn't notice anything right off the bat. Has anyone else spotted what he's talking about?

[ November 14, 2001: Message edited by: Holy Zoo ]