(Because Frank Laico Appreciation thread is closing,) I'd like to know how to pronounce his name correctly. Ly-Co? Lay-Co?
Perhaps a tangent of a tangent, but here's a (long) video with Thomas Z. Shepard where he talks about his work: At 14:21 he starts talking about Goddard Lieberson and how he ended up producing Company because Lieberson wasn't available. The Little Things You Do Together and Getting Married Today are discussed.
Podcast with Shepard here: Exclusive Podcast: 'Behind the Curtain' Welcomes Grammy-Winning Cast Album Producer Thomas Z. Shepard Again, lots of discussion about (and regard for) Lieberson, including the mechanics of the original cast albums (jackets printed before the final lineups were determined, usually recording on the Sunday or Monday after opening, albums on the street within 10 days, etc). He also discusses the Company session starting at 48:15. One odd comment: he mentions Pennebaker was only able to film the first takes of songs, but it's clear from the film that wasn't the case. Specifically regarding The Ladies Who Lunch: "I can't stand watching this film because the role of a producer - which is the wrong word, the word should be "recording director" - I'm there to get the best I can out of the people I'm working with. And to try and know when it's good enough, or when we should keep striving for something more. That's my job. And to do that job, you don't get adversarial with the person you're working with. And I was so pissed off, and so tired, because I could see it was gonna happen, you know. And so, I lost all sense of tact. I was quite rude. Uh, it makes for good television drama, but it doesn't make for a moment that I'm proud of."
I'm curious re a few things with this recording...did they run both a 3 track and 8 (or 16?) track multis at the sessions? If so, which did they use for the final stereo mixes? Also, does Thomas have any feelings re the quad mix? Others were credited in creating the quad version (released in 1972?), and I'm not sure if he had any input, etc. While Fred Plaut thankfully received an engineering credit originally, Frank Laico did not for whatever reason.
I’m not sure if they were still doing 3-track or not at the time, but you can see the 8-track machines in the film. My feeling is, based on how the vocals were panned around, they didn’t record to 3-track too, but that’s just a guess.
Into the 8 track era at Columbia NY, at least 'til some point, Fred Plaut would run a 3 track. I understand he preferred it and the 3 track could also sound better than the 8 track due to choices made for each.
Yes, I've heard that sometimes the 3-track was perfectly balanced while the 8-track supposedly had problems. My hunch is that wasn't the case for Company, but that's just a hunch.
It seemed to me that he said Lay-Co, while I hear his daughter (same last name) saying Ly-Co. My mouth has an easier time with Lay-Co. You motivated me to give Frank's wife a call, so thank you! She says she doesn't care how people pronounce it, but confirmed all that I wrote above. She says it Lay-Co, too. What thread is this you talk about?
Ah, thanks, I'd forgotten about that one. Lots of good comments in it. That thread caused me to start this one.
Eeek. I hope he can stand to watch the film Oct. 19. I'll listen to this podcast, but the video, sheesh, talk about bad sound.
OK, the stuff from TZS was pretty interesting; additional notes: -He pronounced Teo Macero like "Tee-oh" not Tay-yo -he did mention shadowing Goddard L on the "Mr. President" session, so it likely is him in the photo. -he talked about the tap floor for recording tap dancers, that we see in the photos of No No Nanette with Ruby Keeler. A bunch of wood slats loosely held together that reinforce the sound of the taps. -He does say that Pennebaker could only film first takes because of the camera noise. My guess is that they had to conserve film, too, being so expensive. Probably didn't have 18 hours of film for each camera. I bet it was selective; Pennebaker might have shot some other takes only at a distance, plus a little movie magic (editing). But TZS says the Stritch re-do was one take; Camera not too loud?? A rehearsal?? -he said Stritch had been in a makeshift dressing room (Studio D?) getting blasted on champagne before "Ladies" (which she acknowledges in the DVD commentary). -he mentioned very early in his career working with Earl Robinson - a Seattle native and alumnus of my (and Dan's) uni. I recently was asked to do a tape transfer from our archives from the 50s that included Earl premiering one of his songs with the University Symphony with a baritone singing about "acres of clams", which people around here will recognize as a local seafood restaurant chain's motto for decades.
Great notes, Gary. Regarding this one, the camera was really on long lens for the parts in the studio. The jumpiness seems to indicate that. So maybe the distance was enough to make it quieter. Or, as you say, maybe a rehearsal. (Edited after watching the online version.)
Yes, that's how I've always heard it. The re-do is the bit at the end in Studio E, which was not very large, not 30th Street. As I noted above, most of what is seen in the film is the take on record, but there was at least one more overdub take that isn't seen, as both the film and record switch to a different take near the end of the song. There are plenty of other instances of multiple takes being filmed, although I agree it's unlikely that every take was filmed. My guess is either a) he was simply mistaken or b) camera noise *was* an issue at some point, but the fallout was something other than "you can only shoot take 1".
The most fascinating thread I ever read (which I did yesterday, all 88 pages). So, the studio itself is listed everywhere as 100 feet high (see Wikipedia) but this is clearly wrong. It was 50 feet up to the ceiling, 5 stories. In addition to composing and playing music, I love architectural design. I sure would like to see a blueprint of this building, when it was a church, and later, THE studio.
Thanks for this, David, really glad you are enjoying it. If you can, come to the AES Convention in October for my talk (Wednesday Oct. 17 in the Javits behind the paywall, at 2:30. Or, find someplace relatively quiet and somewhat private with a big TV with an HDMI input that I can give the talk and we'll invite other people. I've had no luck yet finding this place. I'll be in NYC both before and after the Convention, so there's a variety of days and times where that's possible. It's an hour and a half long, full of things you've never seen before. For example, it took a while to realize what I was looking at but I found some pictures of the old control room before there were tape recorders in it! And the control room loudspeakers are part of the talk now, which turned out to be a surprisingly convoluted story which is still not finished; there were many more iterations than expected. In other news, I'm going up to Yale again the end of October, after the Convention, this time to look through Goddard's and perhaps Fred's papers to try to suss out when, how, who, and why they decided to go into the 30th St. church. From what I've been able to find so far, it seems clear that they got the place to house several TV studios, which I presume means they were going to keep the newly remodeled Liederkranz Hall for audio recording. Somehow there was a sea change and they decided to make 30th St. their audio recording space and gut Liederkranz and turn it into their TV studios. No way to know if success is possible, but that'll be the goal.
I don’t recall the timeline, but I wonder if the Liederkranz remodel was deemed a failure, after which CRI insisted on moving to 30th Street. I also wonder if, despite claims of Howard Scott and company discovering it, CBS had already purchased it when those guys checked it out. Maybe not, but thinking out loud.
This is my fervent hope. I am going to be especially looking for this connection. Swerving a bit and apropos of nothing, just now found this on a website called "History's Dumpster", which is apparently a blog by a guy who either grew up in or is still in Washington State. 1954 Art Carney - Santa And The Doodle-Li-Boop The purity of tone makes me think it likely was done in 30th St., with only a little tongue-in-cheek. On the tiny computer speakers I'm listening on right now, the voice jumps out and the drum sounds terrific. There are a few dozen or so pictures of Art Carney in 30th St., likely in 1954, so I don't doubt that it likely actually is in our favorite studio.
Maybe, but since the remodel involved a large quantity of polycylindrical diffusors, why would they quickly put a pile of them (if not the same ones) into 30th St? And then decide ~6 years later to roughly tear them entirely out? That is a mystery, too. Two, actually.
Sorry if this is repeat information. The recording which really put the 30th Street Studio on the map was South Pacific (1949) Original Cast Recording, produced by Goddard Lieberson. This recording, still available today, changed everything for Broadway and for CBS. The actual sound of it was so different than the previous cast recordings, because it sounded like a theater, like they were singing in a theater. This is the link to the Masterworks Broadway site with photos, clearly showing the original control room door. Photos | The Official Masterworks Broadway Site Some of the photos of the session seem staged, to me, but others are more real or live. Notably Mary Martin herself is seen in two very different outfits, one with a hat, so I wonder if they returned to the studio to hear the final mix (or something) and take pictures. Anyway, enjoy.
Yes, and the pictures really make you wish that the photographer had just stepped back a LITTLE and showed more of the surroundings. It's interesting that many of the early pictures (and too many of the later pictures) are very tight star shots and don't show much context. Interesting and distressing.
