SH Spotlight "The most complicated project SH ever worked on?" Franz Waxman "The Nun's Story" WB soundtrack CD

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Nov 13, 2013.

  1. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore

    And you all thought that Steve has a 'fun' job...

    Seriously, it's this dedication to thoroughness that distinguishes your work from so many other mastering engineers. :righton:
     
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  2. Jose Jones

    Jose Jones Outstanding Forum Member

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    I loved the story (Steve's efforts). My first grade music teacher was an elderly nun. I wonder what her "story" was---all I can remember is her playing "Three Blind Mice" on a tiny spinet piano in her nun outfit.
     
  3. Steel Horse

    Steel Horse Forum Resident

    Location:
    Uppsala, SWEDEN
    Thats a crazy story..... Real dedication needed. And some strong nerves I guess.
     
  4. SixtiesGuy

    SixtiesGuy Ministry of Love

    Thanks for sharing a great story. If the CD only sold about 2,000 copies I would imagine that the labor and studio time costs for this project were never recouped. Nowadays there's Film Score Monthly, which seems to issue discs of more obscure stuff than The Nun's Story. I realize that not all material is as badly archived as what you dealt with, but if they go through even half of what you endured, I wonder how they can make a profit on their projects?

    A concern: you said that the WB music storage vault was destroyed. Does this mean that the original recordings made by Korngold and Steiner are lost forever?
     
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  5. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Badly archived? No, nicely archived, or else there would have been nothing to work with. I bitch but at least there was something left from a movie released in 1959. That's rare. We lost money, yes. But, it's not all about money with the people I work with..
     
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  6. paulmock

    paulmock Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA
    WOW! And I thought piecing together all of Sonny Burke's edits on Sinatra's Reprise recordings was tough work for you. Amazing stuff. Thanks for sharing.
     
  7. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Well, without sprocket holes to keep the reels in sync with each other, it was almost impossible to do unless we did a minute at a time (before they started to drift out of sync) and edit together. Life is too short.
     
  8. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    That was nothing compared to this!
     
  9. PhoffiFozz

    PhoffiFozz Forum Resident

    Thanks! Great story. So exactly what was "fake quad"? I know you didn't work on that project, but was there something that was to quad as duophonic was to stereo?
     
  10. krlpuretone

    krlpuretone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Grantham, NH
    One more question - why the gas mask?
     
  11. I can answer that for Steve...vintage film reels suffer from what's known as "Vinegar Syndrome" where the materials deteriorate and emit toxic fumes. He had to do the same thing when he remastered the Everest catalog's 35mm magnetic film reels for DCC...
     
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  12. EasterEverywhere

    EasterEverywhere Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
    I did.I have it in mono.I have a fair amount of rare and obscure soundtracks and cast LPs,I picked up at thrift stores over the years.If it's a foreign movie soundtrack,a soundtrack that never turns up,or a really obscure movie I never heard of,I'll buy it.Especially if it's a buck or less.

    So you did the DCC Everest reissues? And they were they still on the original 35mm film?I know there are a couple of the 35mm film playback machines left that Mercury,Everest,and Command used for their 35mm recordings.Wlima Cozart-Fine was using them,during the original CD reissues of the 35mm Living Presence albums.

    Great story,Steve!
     
  13. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Thanks, Luke. The film stock breaks down (especially the light brown 35mm mag) mainly because it was stored in METAL CANS. The cheap studios that stored their stuff on pancakes and cardboard out of cheapness just lucked out, pure dumb luck. No chemical reaction.
     
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  14. MickAvory

    MickAvory Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    Steve, it is a fantastic story... Love reading this stuff from you.

    As far as the Everest reissues.. I've got a small stack of still sealed classical Everest records from the 60s I picked up at a thrift store. Some of them are marked that they were recorded on 35mm film on the jacket. I guess these are what you worked on. I've also got some from Vox, Parliament, and Audio Fidelity that came in the same stack. Anybody know any links to Steve's work on this stuff? I'd be interested in knowing what I've got in these old sealed LPs.
     
  15. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Mine are the reissue versions on DCC Compact Classics done in the 1990s on 180 gram vinyl, not the originals. I'm old but I'm not THAT old.
     
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  16. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Outstanding story, Steve. Thanks for sharing.
     
  17. MickAvory

    MickAvory Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    Steve..

    Ha.. I know you're not that old.. I meant that I don't know anything about Everest Records. I wasn't familiar with them as a label until I saw those LPs in a thrift store and decided to pick them up on a whim. I will usually buy most anything that is still sealed if I'm getting it for $1. I don't really collect classical, so I just took a gamble on a bunch of still sealed stuff. I thought Everest was some sort of budget label since the covers and text on the back seemed rather generic. I've never opened them and never really thought about them until the other poster mentioned you worked on some of their stuff.

    Is there a link to any titles that you worked with?

    I'm curious to see if I have those as original pressings. But, it looks like only two of mine are from the 35mm source. The rest are rechanneled stereo. The two titles I have from 35mm are Tschaikovsky Serenade For Strings Cond: Hans Hagen (3103) & Brahms: First Symphony Cond: Heinrich Hollreiser (3101). They are still sealed as pristine as the day they were pressed.
     
  18. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Only the first press Silver and Blue EVEREST titles used actual 35mm mastering. The reissues sound like crap and use bad tape dubs. You can tell an original, the inner sleeve has a long round handle that looks like a pencil that you yank on to get the record out. It sticks out from the cover and has the album title written on it. If you don't have that, you have a reprint, lose them.
     
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  19. EasterEverywhere

    EasterEverywhere Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
    I have a near complete run of original stereo Belock Everest classical records.I'm missing four of them.I also own two of the yellow label mono promotional copies.There are two different labels.This is the first one

    [​IMG]

    This is the second one.
    [​IMG]

    The first label records were issued with dowel rod covers,that looked like this.

    [​IMG]

    But the purple and gold ones were not,for the most part.
     
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  20. EasterEverywhere

    EasterEverywhere Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
    When Everest stopped making 35mm records,in 1963,they sold their equipment for making them to Mercury.Command was the only label that made 35mm records up until 1969.The Command classical records were produced by C.Robert Fine,and mastered by George Piros,just like the Mercuries were.
     
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  21. MickAvory

    MickAvory Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    Thanks Steve. They are all reprints. No dowel rods on the covers.
     
  22. ShockControl

    ShockControl Bon Vivant and Raconteur!

    Location:
    Lotus Land
    Did this experience shed any light on the locations of other WB album (not film) masters dating from this early period of Warner LPs? I have always hoped the Frank Comstock album "Project Comstock: Music from Outer Space" would come out on CD, but I don't believe there has ever been a legit version. I have heard alternately that the tapes are missing and/or there may have been contractual issues with some of the early WB LPs, particularly involving missing contracts. Any info?
     
  23. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Sorry, can't help you...
     
  24. kevinsinnott

    kevinsinnott Forum Coffeeologist

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    I just viewed "The Nun's Story" DVD. As I said, by coincidence it was in my queue at Netflix. It is great. Very emotional. Powerful. I decided to see it after seeing "Day of the Jackal" and "Man For All Seasons". Zinnemann was quite a director. Now I must get the soundtrack.
     
  25. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Yeah, great flick. Glad you liked it.
     

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