Sinatra / Capitol Sound Quality (and general discussion): Singles, Soundtracks, Etc.

It's centered, but it's not, you know........centered. It's definitely "faked up" and spread to a significant degree.

 

@MMM and anybody else, here's a clip: Box

 

Re: It's Over, It's Over, It's Over:

This is inaccurate. (Never assume!) I just checked, and the 1996 Norberg version is a heavily re-processed re-use of the 1988 (Walsh?) remix from the All the Way USA CD. The giveaway that led me to check? Strings on the right! The Norberg remixes in the set have strings on the left (where they should be).

 

"Once there was a man named Oscar (everybody sing) Oscar, Oscar, Os-car!"


I always ass-ociate that ass-ume bit with George Plimpton's Paper Lion, but maybe I'm imagining that in my old age.

 

I may still be adding a pair of clips, but for now, here's what I've got for It's Over, It's Over, It's Over: Non-Album Tracks, 1960

•Original mono mix: Not my favorite mix -- a tad (just a tad) on the soupy side, but I think the 1984 Dutch DMM All the Way (audio clip) and the 2016 UMe All the Way (audio clip) LPs are the best two versions.

•My favorite mono version? It's actually the 1966 UK World Record Club All the Way LP, which uses the stereo mix, summed to mono, making the vocal nearly dry, but with very good tone. It's quite appealing, actually, although purists will balk. Here's a clip.

•Stereo releases come in three flavors: Mediocre, a little too airy, and "warm & plush." The latter seems to suit this song very well, I think. The version that tops them all, for me, is the 1976 SM-series (yellow label) All the Way LP that I have, cut by Gene Thompson from the master tape. This being the All the Way album, the stereo mixes are backwards, with strings on the right. Regardless, it's my favorite version of the bunch. Here's a clip. I think the very-close second place winner is the 1984 UK "Dell" All the Way LP the @bferr1 submitted -- and it has the mix correctively re-reversed, so the strings are on the left, where they belong. (Nice!) Here's a clip.

•Best CD is a toss-up, basically. The 1988 USA CD (audio clip) is a remix, and is mildly thin/airy, while the 1998 UK CD (audio clip) uses the original mix, but with some subtly-audible compression. Both are basically okay, but not terrific. I'd probably go with the latter as the better of the two.

•The MFSL LP is very well done, but a little on the airy/fluffy side. A pleasant listen, just a little brighter, which some may prefer.

So, there you go. That's the last song on the final "singles only" session Sinatra did at Capitol. Thanks also to @stevelucille and @rangerjohn for their help on this title.

We've only got these songs left to cover:

•Hidden Persuasion
•Sentimental Baby
•Ol' MacDonald (all three recorded in sessions also used for Sinatra's Swingin' Session)
•I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues, recorded at United in 1962 to fulfill Sinatra's final Capitol obligation

I don't think that I have 45s of any of these (not all even appeared on 45 release), so if somebody has one and can send a clip, please drop me a line via PM.

The end is in sight!

 

Actually, I'm adding not two, but three clips, all thanks to @stevelucille, with apologies for my own senility and not posting these the first time.

Steve sent along three clips from The Great Years: one from a D1 mono pressing, one from an X4 stereo pressing, and one from his 3.75 IPS reel-to-reel tape.

Thanks, Steve!

All are posted at the same link, down near the bottom of the page: Non-Album Tracks, 1960 .

 

Wanna hear some reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally bad CD mastering? Check out these two clips from this Australian EMI/Axis CD from 1989.
•It's All Right with Me: http://www.11fifty.com/Site_108/195...htwithMeClipAussieColePorterCD-GAIN_01-03.mp3
•C'est Magnifique: http://www.11fifty.com/Site_108/195...t MagnifiqueAussieColePorterCD-GAIN_01-03.mp3

Crank it! I dare ya!

 

Let's check one off the list: Hidden Persuasion, first released on Sinatra Sings...of Love and Things.

Lots of middling releases of this one. See: Non-Album Tracks, 1960 .

To my ears, the mono mix is superior to the original stereo mix, but the mastering has been spotty. The early releases are mediocre, and have zero dynamics (heavy limiting during the LP cutting process). Later releases have dynamics, but are not perfect. The 1984 Dutch DMM mono LP (audio clip) is a little too bright, but it's got pop, and you can always turn down your treble control a notch, right?

The original stereo mix is soupy and a little dark and muddy, and most masterings don't allow the brass to shine much at all. I think the 1984 UK "Dell" LP is the best of that so-so bunch, as the brass are allowed to strut a little bit vis-a-vis other versions. (Audio clip - thank you @bferr1.)

Even though it subtly reduces the stereo width, the 1987 remix by Larry Walsh is, to me, the best stereo choice, I think, despite its imperfections. (It fares better in the quiet parts, and gets a little claustrophobic/congested on the louder parts.) The brass and hi-hat come through with presence, and the vocal is dry, which is nice, but a little warmth on the vocal would be go a long way toward making this mastering spot-on. (The vocal's a little too naked/unrefined sounding.) Here's a clip.

I've listed things this way on the webpage:

If you're bored, please have a listen and share your thoughts.

Three to go!

 

On to Sentimental Baby, the penultimate non-album track recorded by Sinatra at the Capitol Tower.

Again, the mono mix strikes me as being a better mix than the stereo mix, but to a lesser degree than the previous tune, Hidden Persuasion (above). (Lots of clips of both songs posted here: Non-Album Tracks, 1960.) Here's one of the better-mastered mono mix editions, the 1983 Australian The Rarities - Volume Two LP (audio clip).

My favorite stereo version is the MFSL LP (audio clip), original stereo mix. To my ears, the 1987 remix, with the dry vocal, just doesn't work as well on a ballad as it does on some of the swing material from the same disc.

There's also something curious about this track. I don't know how many of these "singles" tracks we've looked at, but it's a lot. Consistently, the "Dell" LPs appear to be sourced from digital dubs of the US tapes, while the "Dell" CDs are from some lesser source (possibly UK dubs), almost always with some serious limiting added (meaning that, on the five compilation-style albums, the CDs are typically much "louder" than the LPs in the "Dell" series). For whatever reason, this song, uniquely(?), is sourced from some lesser-quality tape source on both the 1984 UK LP and 1998 UK CD, with identical tape dropouts on both releases. I'd love to know the story there.

 

October 31, 1960, Biillboard:

 

I'll post some more about this on Tuesday, but audio clips and comments regarding Sinatra's final single recorded at the Capitol Tower are now posted down the page, here: Non-Album Tracks, 1960 .

 

Of course! Thanks.

 

Re: Ol' Mac Donald:

As mentioned, this was Sinatra's last single recorded at the Capitol Tower. He did however wind up recording one additional song to fulfill his contractual obligations, but that single recording was not done for about a year and a half, and was recorded at United as part of a Reprise session. The schedule for these 1960 sessions has always seemed a little odd to me. Logic would dictate doing 4 sessions, 16 songs -- 4 songs each session, with 12 album songs and 4 singles, but these sessions went this way:

Aug. 22, 1960: Five Swingin' Session songs, E34373 through E34376, plus E34381
Aug. 23, 1960: Four Swingin' Session songs, E34386 through E34389
Aug. 31, 1960: Three songs (two of them for Swingin' Session) E34409 through E34411
Sept. 1, 1960: Three songs (one of them for Swingin' Session) E34413 through E34415

That's four sessions, but only 15 songs, and with some odd breaks in the matrix numbers. The number that is most glaring in its absence, to me, is #E34412. Was there another song scheduled for either Aug. 31 or Sept. 1?

As far as Ol' Mac Donald goes, boy, there are many middling-to-poor masterings of this one, some with very steel-y, edgy vocal tone. Only a small handful of masterings seem to have kept in mind the fact that this is, despite the great, swinging arrangement, a vocal performance at its heart. Only a few had warm, pleasant vocal tone, including the 1976 yellow-label SM-series LP from 1976. Here's a clip. Compare that vocal tone to that of the 1987 CD remix, which is quite startlingly "hard" sounding by comparison (audio clip).

Many more clips posted here: Non-Album Tracks, 1960

Sinatra still had more albums to record at The Tower, but where singles are concerned, that's all she wrote! Following this session, the next time he entered a recording studio, it was down the street at United Recorders for Ring-a-Ding Ding!

Thanks to @bferr1, @MMM, @rangerjohn, and @stevelucille for sharing clips on this one, and thanks to MMM also for a clip he sent of It's Over, It's Over, It's Over, which I've now posted at the bottom of the page here.

 

The Dutch DMM dub is from a few years ago, and the others are new dubs, so that may be my fault, not the LP's problem.

Thanks for the comments on all three tracks; I essentially am in agreement.

 

I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues is the next, and final, song to be examined in this thread. Some preliminary comments first:

1. "Ol' Mac Donald," the previous song we looked at, was recorded on September 1, 1960. Here's the timeline that followed, to give some idea about just how disconnected "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues" is from the rest of the Capitol catalog, especially where the singles (etc.) are concerned.

•Ol' Mac Donald recorded at Capitol, September 1, 1960
•Sinatra's Swingin' Session finished later the same day
•Ring-a-Ding Ding recorded for Reprise at United, Dec. 1960
•Singles session for The Last Dance/The Second Time Around/Tina - Recorded for Reprise at Sound Enterprise, Dec. 1960
•Come Swing with Me recorded at Capitol on the same days as (largely) unreleased sessions for I Remember Tommy were being recorded for Reprise at Radio Recorders, March 1961
•The final, released version of I Remember Tommy - Recorded for Reprise at United, May, 1961
•Swing Along with Me - Recorded for Reprise at United, May, 1961
•Point of No Return - Recorded at Capitol, September, 1961
•Sinatra and Strings - Recorded for Reprise at United, November, 1961
•All Alone - Recorded for Reprise at United, January, 1962
•Everybody's Twistin'/Nothing but the Best single - recorded for Reprise at United, February, 1962
•I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues - Recorded for Capitol at United, March 6, 1962

2. This is the one instance of Bill Putnam's sound from United infecting a Capitol release, and I think that whoever did the stereo mix at Capitol for Sinatra Sings...of Love and Things just applied "the usual" Capitol chamber reverb, etc., during the process, and it sounds awful. What a sonic turd! The original mono mix fares much, much better than the original stereo mix.

3. It took getting all the way to the very last Capitol track, but I think we actually/finally have a track here that really benefits from Robert Norberg's mixing/mastering style! (Kismet, perhaps?)

More to follow, along with audio clips, then we can close the door on this puppy.