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. kozy814

    kozy814 Forum Resident

    This story is amazing just for the knowledge that it can take such a massive feat to do what most people take granted (present company excluded). Gonna search out this CD just to hear to hard-earned results. Never a bad story here, I must say.
     
  2. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Yeah, not possible then. Even 10 years later it would have sounded ungreat. Now, we could do it in a snap.
     
  3. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Dunno, probably.
     
  4. Jskoda

    Jskoda Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I've got one! Heck, I've even got a stereo copy of the original LP. Great work, and fascinating to read the story behind the CD.
     
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  5. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Really? Nice. I still have my 5 copies. I kept unearthing more, as if adding to the pile was going to somehow help me figure out the mess.

    Great score, isn't it?
     
  6. Mike in OR

    Mike in OR Through Middle-earth...onto Heart of The Sunrise

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Great story Steve, wow what a pain that must have been...
     
  7. TSmithPage

    TSmithPage Ex Post Facto Member

    Location:
    Lexington, KY
    OK, I just got the Nun's Story CD in the mail from amazon and see it is close in time to For Whom the Bell Tolls. To the best of my recollection, the Nun's Story is not listed in the SH discography. Which leads the completist in me to inquire: Did Steve remaster this entire run of Stanyan CDs (STZ 101- 118)? I see he did the Rod McKuen CDs in the series- how about the Complete Showboat? Gone with the Wind? Spellbound? Having finally tracked down all of the obscure AVM/DCC classical CD releases, do I have a new quest?
     
  8. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    I mastered all of those, yes.
     
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  9. BIG ED

    BIG ED Forum Resident

    GREAT "story" (p.i.)!
    i would have guessED: the "Club Verboten" box set.
    Glad you survived the ordeal:

    "All The Unexpected Drama"
     
  10. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Club Verboten was prepared for me for the most part. That was easy and fun to do.

    People, THE NUN'S STORY is a really great movie. Unique. You should see it.
     
  11. FWIW, there was a wonderful series of Beethoven Symphonies on Command, with the Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by William Steinberg, and produced by Cozart/Fine. Unfortunately, the Command originals haven't fared well in the digital era, and the only CD set of this available is from a small Canadian reissue house, and one of the weirder releases I've ever encountered. For one thing, they're sourced from needledrops -- and the person doing them had obviously never heard of ClickRepair or other such software, because they're noisy as hell. Plus, the EQ is really wonky, and, for reasons I cannot fathom, the channels are reversed. Needless to say, by ripping the discs at home, and using standard software tools, I can fix the noise and flipped channels, but the weird EQ remains. I sometimes fantasize about, should I manage to win the lottery, hiring Steve for a day or two to figure out EQ settings that would breathe life back into those recordings.
     
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  12. kevinsinnott

    kevinsinnott Forum Coffeeologist

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    I viewed it twice. It is compelling. In Audrey Hepburn's biography, she's quoted as saying it was her personal favorite of all her films. She actually spent time in a convent to prepare for her role. She also befriended both the book's author and the ex-nun whose story is told and maintained those friendships until death. It is quite a dramatic tale and has sweep on par with Gone with the Wind. As much as I liked Hepburn in the film, I was equally taken with Peter Finch as the doctor she works with in the Congo and Edith Evans as the Mother Superior. If you've enjoyed other Zinnemann films such as "High Noon", "Man For All Seasons" and "The Day of the Jackal", it's a no-brainer to see "The Nun's Story".
     
  13. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Glad you liked it. Quite a sensitive epic.
     
  14. thinker10

    thinker10 Forum Resident

    Hi steve,


    Would you ever do such a complex project ever again especially with degrading Film Stock ?

    For Historical reason

    How about Optical recording on Nitrate base film , do day exist at all(I am scared now for real)

    I know a little a bout film ...

    And in a foreign language

    Never seen the movie, looking to see it first ...
     
  15. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Ah, ya see: this would've been real easy to do on a digital workstation. Just dub every single track straight across to Pro Tools, one reel at a time, then go through and log it all and compare it to a reasonable copy of the LP and make the edits and crossfades. Piece of cake.

    I don't dispute that this would be almost impossible to do in analog on tape. I take it the original movie didn't get released in stereo? No stems survived in stereo, only the session reels? Man, that studio is just incompetent beyond belief. The guys running it now care (to a point), but once the library has gone through decades of neglect, too much has already gotten thrown out.

    I've walked through a couple of floors of the Bekins Storage building on Highland in Hollywood, and I was stunned by the amount of music and film being stored there, some in un-airconditioned, un-ventilated rooms. I know that awful vinegar smell well, very bitter and tangy. I swear, my clothes smelled like it after I went home after handling reels of that crap all day. Nasty stuff. I particularly hated it when the mag started to "cup" and curl, making it hard to get it to lie flat across the mag heads. The guys over at Chace Productions have a special mag transport that holds the mag in place with rubber roller so that even warped tracks will play properly.

    The guys I knew at the Technicolor Lab who were involved with Nitrate projects usually had to wear face masks on some projects, plus the insurance company only allowed six reels to be stored in the building per day, and they had to be kept in a fireproof safe when not on the printer or a scanner. I've transferred nitrate before, and it can be great in some cases, and it can be absolutely unusable in others. I once opened a nitrate can of a Laurel & Hardy short during a restoration job, and it had already half-turned to goo. I turned to the client and said, "whoa, not gonna happen with this reel. Let's get it out of the building." Scary s###.
     
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  16. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    I played a little of THE NUN'S STORY soundtrack today. Wonderful, moving music. I can listen again and forget the pain of recreating it. Still the most complicated project I've ever worked on. I can still hear that Italian mag dubber coming up to speed ever so slowly, take after take. Drove me bonker-nuts.

    I want to do a surround sound and stereo SACD of THE MUSIC MAN soundtrack. I think WB would let Audio Fidelity do it but I doubt it would sell enough copies to make a dime, sadly.

    The Music Man is a fantastic soundtrack, once again, preserved in four channel 15 ips tape not because of WB movie dept. saving, but because of the record company soundtrack..
     
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  17. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    This is a terrific story.
     
  18. JohnO

    JohnO Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    If you get to do that, keep an ear out for the "Chicken Fat" multis or whatever.
    Chicken Fat (song) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia »
    Youtube has a needledrop of it.
     
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  19. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Did not exist at WB, the mags were wiped, the song was not copied to the Music Storage reel files, sorry. I guess it's over at Capitol in mono. I've never heard it..
     
  20. wingsoveramerica

    wingsoveramerica The Dude

    Location:
    Chambersburg, PA
    Very interesting story.
     
  21. oxenholme

    oxenholme Senile member

    Location:
    Knoydart
    On the MPL Productions promo double CD there is a gorgeous stereo mix of Seventy Six Trombones - somewhat different to the mix on the soundtrack LP.
     
  22. Reader

    Reader Senior Member

    Location:
    e.s.t. tenn.
    I'd buy a copy. Bet there's enough people here who would "sign up" for a copy to make it work. You should work on something that appeals to you and you want to do. You may even be surprised how many it would sell.
     
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  23. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Different how, can you elaborate? What is an MPL Productions promo CD?
     
  24. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    You think so???? Start a thread!
     
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  25. kevinsinnott

    kevinsinnott Forum Coffeeologist

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    Here's a link to THE NUN'S STORY SUITE. Never seen this anywhere else. Waxman is certainly a good choice for the score. Director Zinnemann, a director I grew to appreciate, always gave special attention to sound, both effects and music.

    I'd be up for it. The score has some Gregorian Chant influence, which appeals to me as well.
     

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