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Woolston wrote:
It would be great to have the original raw music material available for a possible future release on multi-track cd audio.
Woolston didn't write that, I did.
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JEC wrote:
And that might help answer the question I opened this thread with: Where did that snippet of music on the trailer come from?
If that music snippet did come from the 'Zulu' score and is not on the album, it is likely that the music survived at least up to that point in time when the trailer was prepared and have possibly got lost or destroyed since then.
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ROBOTSAM wrote:
Just bought the MGM DVD yesterday. While I'm highly impressed with the picture quality, I'm pretty disappointed with the sound quality. The music over the main titles is just awful sounding--like something you'd hear on an inferior 20 year old videotape version. It's truly a shame since Barry's title music is so incredibly good.
I am regretfully in full agreement with you.
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Thanks, I will try them, but I am fairly confident in saying that the cd came from a readily made two-track source and not from the multi-track originals, but that is not to say that they don't have the originals in their possession.
I see your point. Am I right in thinking that, given the age (1963) this would probably be a 3-track recording. I know the Bond scores were all 3-track up until Diamonds Are Forever, which was 8-track.
Cheers
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Smiffy wrote:
I met Gordon a few times on my trips to Pinewood.A tough guy to work with.Many was the time He would take the sound editors on the film He was mixing back into the cutting-room and get them to relay their tracks.
I worked at Pinewood from '68 to '74 in the sound department and for most of that time in the dialogue and sound effects recording theater. What an inspiration of a man Gordon K. McCallum was. I got to know him very well, and I am sure my prolonged passion for audio was because of him. At every opportunity I went into Theater #2 to watch him work. He was an extremely emotional man and would get very frustrated when the quality of the audio tracks did not meet his impeccable standards. He was very demanding on his co-workers, John Heyward, now a head mixer at the studio trained under him in the sixties. He would often flare into a rage, disappear into the bathroom to cool off and then return to work as if nothing had happened. Everybody used to call him 'Mac' and people held the very highest respect for him. He spent his entire career in the sound department from Pinewood's beginnings, mixing many of the Rank classics, and was one of the founders of the film trade union then known as the ACT (Association of Cinematograph Technicians which later became the ACTT - when I became a member - Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians, now today known as Bectu) He was really a very warm person, despite his reputation, and often he would give me a ride to Uxbridge Station when I missed the Pinewood coach, and this would be a rare opportunity when we could talk at length. He died not long after he retired in the early nineties.
Smiffy also wrote:
I also worked with Maurice Binder of Bond title fame.He knew of my love for film music and would often play me the new scores for the Bonds.
Maurice was another kind and considerate person to know. He reminded me of Otto Preminger, just from a physical point of view, as I have heard that Preminger wasn't particularly a pleasant man to know. When I was working on "The Shining" he was hired for a time on the fim and he often came into the cutting rooms to see Stanley and we always engaged in conversation. This is probably the only film that the two title kings, the other being Saul Bass, worked on the same film although not together I don't think. I don't remember meeting Bass on the film although I did work with him on "Phase Four". Not a particularly sociable person.
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startquote]
I see your point. Am I right in thinking that, given the age (1963) this would probably be a 3-track recording. I know the Bond scores were all 3-track up until Diamonds Are Forever, which was 8-track.
Cheers
The idea of multi-track music recording goes back to the early mid-thirties. Not intended for stereo music playback, the music was broken down in to 'sections' so that the dubbing mixers had control over the final mono balance when combined with dialogue and sound effects.
Great pioneers like Alfred Newman advanced the technology to art status when multi-track recording became exhibited in theaters in the fifties. The recording placement of the orchestra varied dependant upon the orchestrations and the emotional demands of the film.
When multi-track magnetic recording started in the fifties, one could record up to six tracks on one piece of 35mm magnetic fullcoat film and recorders and playback machines could be interlocked with each other in unlimited quantities.
In a normal situation on the scoring stage, the score would be recorded onto 3-track 35mm, and on to a multi-track tape format. On 'Diamonds' the main title was on 4-track magnetic, orchestra was on 1,2,3 and the vocal was on 4. The eight track format was useful as critical mixdowns could be done at the scoring facility with the composer present and then transferred to 35mm 3-track fullcoat, the format that would be required on the dubbing stage.
With regard to tape formats, I am not sure what formats CTS used when they opened in '60/'61, probably 3 or 4-track 1/2 tape as well as 1/4 inch 1 and 2 track. I don't think CTS scored many films at the beginning, so 35mm magnetic recording was probably installed just months later. I think 8-track tape technology was introduced around '65/'66. Probably "Thunderball" was the first Bond to take advantage of this technology. Both Eric Tomlinson and John Richards are still alive. It would be very interesting to get a really well documented history on CTS and the other scoring facilities from that era.
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I think 8-track tape technology was introduced around '65/'66. Probably "Thunderball" was the first Bond to take advantage of this technology. Both Eric Tomlinson and John Richards are still alive. It would be very interesting to get a really well documented history on CTS and the other scoring facilities from that era.
I'm pretty sure that Lukas told me Thunderball was 3-track.
Cheers
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Woolston wrote:
I'm pretty sure that Lukas told me Thunderball was 3-track.
I have the same understanding. I meant to say that "Thunderball" could probably have been recorded on both formats directly during orchestra session recording, or possibly on 8-track tape first and then later mixed to 3-track. I think in '65 going direct to 35mm magnetic would have had the edge on quality and certainly sprocketed film was better for 'syncronization' purposes. Not sure about sync signal technology on tape in the sixties, being one hundred percent reliable.
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Stephen.
It would have been around the middle to late eighties.
The chap at Warwick could have been John Watts,who I knew quite well.
When I was working at The British Film Institute
They awarded a Fellowship to Michael Caine.Prints of His films were sent in from various places so we could select clips.
The 'Zulu' print came from the B.B.C.They supplied a combined print and a mag track which stated on the leaders 3 track Stereo.
Also of interest,I was CTS Bayswater the day they closed down.I was there to select clean tacks for a film clled 'Our Miss Fred'.
The place was in an uproar.Staff were walking out of the building with various pieces of equipment.I was even offered a mag reader machine! which I declined cos I could not carry this large piece of equipment out the door.
Maybe someone walked of with some of the master recordings including the 'Zulu' Stereo Masters.
George Smith
Thanks for the information George. I have contacted the BBC again and await their reply.
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The new MGM DVD is probably the best quality you'll get in the U.S. The Paramount DVD has some nice extras -- a making-of documentary and a commentary track -- but it's Region 2, so you'd need a multi-region DVD player to play it in the U.S. (The only extra the MGM release has is a trailer.)
And of course the Region 2 DVD is in STEREO, as opposed to glorious AMERICAN Region 1 MONO version.
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Thanks for the information George. I have contacted the BBC again and await their reply.
Stephen,
Did you have any luck in locating the stereo masters for ZULU? I am currently working on a book on the making of ZULU and pertinent information (about the score, the soundtrack or anything else related to the film) would be gratefuly received.
Incidentally, I recently interviewed the film's sound editor, Rusty Coppleman, and he clearly remembers Gordon K. McCallum mixing a SIX-track sound master at Pinewood for the 70mm prints which were released in Europe, Australasia, possibly South Africa and America, but not (until 1972) in the UK.
I was curious also to know how you came by the information that the Plaza premiere was in mono (rather than 4-track stereo from a 35mm print) and your claim that the stereo mix was created AFTER this.
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Stephen,
Did you have any luck in locating the stereo masters for ZULU? I am currently working on a book on the making of ZULU and pertinent information (about the score, the soundtrack or anything else related to the film) would be gratefuly received.
Hello Sheldon, I regret to say that I have not yet come up with any information with regard to the location of any of the original stereo material, but I am still trying.
Quote:
Incidentally, I recently interviewed the film's sound editor, Rusty Coppleman, and he clearly remembers Gordon K. McCallum mixing a SIX-track sound master at Pinewood for the 70mm prints which were released in Europe, Australasia, possibly South Africa and America, but not (until 1972) in the UK.
At the time Gordon McCallum mixed "Zulu", Dubbing room Theater #2 was only equipped to mix in 3/4-track stereo. The 'spread' to 6-track was probably done at Technicolor who were equipped at that time with a simple formula that created 'inside' left and 'right', derived from information in the other channels. This was done on all 70mm releases that did not have a 'discrete' 6-track mix provided. Discrete 6-track dubbing could only be done in the US at the time.
Quote:
I was curious also to know how you came by the information that the Plaza premiere was in mono (rather than 4-track stereo from a 35mm print) and your claim that the stereo mix was created AFTER this.
Originally I too thought the Plaza exhibited a 70mm or a 35mm stereo print in January '64. Gerry Humphreys at Twickenham Studios told me only a mono track was created for the premiere run.(Mixed by J.B.Smith who was a resident dubbing mixer at the British MGM Studios at the time).
With regard to the date of the stereo mix done at Pinewood, It was entered in the old sound department log books, which still survive. I am quite certain that the mix was done after the British premiere run. Unfortunately I didn't take a note of the date.
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The book will I hope be published later in 2004. I hope to complete the writing within the next couple of months and deliver it to the publisher in or by February. Most of the research is done, bar a few important interviews. I'm mostly tidying up loose ends and pursuing a few avenues as yet untrodden in my desire to be as exhaustively thorough as possible!
Stephen,
Thanks for the info re the sound recording. I will try to chase up the Pinewood log book - do you have a contact name/number for this? Also, does Technicolor keep similar records?
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Stephen,
Thanks for the info re the sound recording. I will try to chase up the Pinewood log book - do you have a contact name/number for this? Also, does Technicolor keep similar records?
Graham Hartstone is the head of the Sound Department, so you will have to access them through him. I think the switchboard number for Pinewood is 0753-651700, I would check their web-site which is very informative.
With regard to Technicolor, London, it is a matter of hit and miss, like any company, if they happen to keep records of any title from that era. A company's card files should be transferred properly to a computer, but is not always the case. I asked about a title recently and they had no evidence that they did any work on the it. I recently accquired paperwork that stated quite clearly that they did.
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