TOS CD Soundtracks

[Mres_was_framed!]

Listening to the TOS CD soundtrack collection recently. The liner notes, which are thankfully detailed, indicate that almost all episodes' scores were recorded on mono tape. However, on rare occasion I feel as if I detect some very slight stereo effect, like a solo instrument that seems to move more towards the side as it get louder or quieter, or, more often, the impression of stereo reverb, but that would not be consistent with mono tapes.

Since CD is stereo, my understanding is that a mono CD master would be two copies of the exact same tracks, one on each side.

Was some process applied when mixing or mastering these disks to make then "slightly" stereo? Comb filters? Digital stereo reverb?

Very technical explanations are welcome, as that would just be more opportunity for me to learn

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Calling @Indysolo.

 

[Indysolo]

The 1/4" tapes were mono and kept mono throughout production. "The City on the Edge of Forever" and the season 2 and 3 main titles were recorded to 3-track tape and were mixed to stereo for this release.

The "remastered" main titles were also a new stereo recording.

 

[Mres_was_framed!]

The 1/4" tapes were mono and kept mono throughout production. "The City on the Edge of Forever" and the season 2 and 3 main titles were recorded to 3-track tape and were mixed to stereo for this release.

The "remastered" main titles were also a new stereo recording.

Very interesting to get the direct info on what was done. I was listening to the season 1 disks at the time. I love mono and stereo each in a different way. The first Doors album was made with 3-track around the same years, and that format really works for that music, too.

The new score for "City on the Edge of Forever," brief as it was memorable. The new recordings of the main titles were very close, but I felt that the horns stuck out ever so slightly compared with the cellos, when compared to the TOS recording...still about as close as any two different takes could get, even 40 years apart with different players!

This jumps me to another question: how did they get a 7.1 (or 5.1, or even stereo) mix of the episodes for home video release if the original music was just a mono tape? I assume that the episodes themselves would have a 3-track setup including a tack each for dialogue, sound effects, and music, but how could that be made into surround sound when the sound effects, regardless of where they are supposed to come from "in-universe", are all on the same track?

 

[Indysolo]

This jumps me to another question: how did they get a 7.1 (or 5.1, or even stereo) mix of the episodes for home video release if the original music was just a mono tape? I assume that the episodes themselves would have a 3-track setup including a tack each for dialogue, sound effects, and music, but how could that be made into surround sound when the sound effects, regardless of where they are supposed to come from "in-universe", are all on the same track?

Sophisticated plug-ins and panning.

 

[Mres_was_framed!]

I think I get it. In other words, if I really want to hear what the original artists intended, just listen to the mono version when its offered And that must also be the reason why you left the TOS CD's mono.

 

[Scott Kellogg]

Wow.
Who stores all those tapes?

Makes me wonder what other things are hidden in piles of old Reel to Reel tape...!

 

[Indysolo]

Wow.
Who stores all those tapes?

Makes me wonder what other things are hidden in piles of old Reel to Reel tape...!

They are archived with the studio.

 

[Mres_was_framed!]

I noticed another curious feature of the performer credits. In the string and brass sections, players are credited with specific instruments, i.e. "viola," and "cello," or "french horn" and "tuba." Special instruments for a session, like organ or guitar are also credited specifically. However, the woodwind players are just all credited as "woodwinds."

This seems peculiar to me, since the prominent role of a variety of woodwind tone colors are a major feature of TOS music.

Was this crediting peculiarity due union rules at the time? Information lost to time over 50 years? Woodwind players being contracted to switch instruments as needed?

While I knew some flute players that were ready to pick up a sax when needed, and vice versa, it highly unlikely that any player would own ALL the woodwinds, and then just show up to work ready to play whichever one was requested. It would actually be considered easier for a trumpet player to switch to tuba, or a violin player switch to viola, than for a flute player to switch to clarinet, for example. The double reeds (oboe, English horn, bassoon) offer their own challenges.

Confusing the issue is the fact that saxes ARE credited separately from other woodwinds, but I think this may a standard procedure, since saxes are not a part of the usual orchestra (except in France), and would be possibly hired from a separate pool of people.

Regarding percussion, percussionists often ARE expected to play most instruments requested in the score, and most percussion instruments would likely be on hand at the recording space. So I'm not surprised to see those musicians credited as just "percussion" in most cases. If the same would be true of woodwinds, I'd be surprised.

Can someone shed some light on why the TOS scores' performers are credited this way?

 

[Indysolo]

We got that information from the AFM records. That's how they were listed.

 

[Mres_was_framed!]

We got that information from the AFM records. That's how they were listed.

Wow. It doesn't get more straightforward of an answer than that, but how strange that it was credited this way. I guess I'm just not familiar enough with 1960's union policies for musicians I'm just glad that such records have been kept all all, not to mention the tapes themselves!

 

[Methuselah Flint]

We are incredibly lucky to have these, similarly to my other fav series - Doctor Who, where fans recorded audio of the missing episodes.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

We are incredibly lucky to have these, similarly to my other fav series - Doctor Who, where fans recorded audio of the missing episodes.

That's so true. First, all the TOS music tapes were stolen from Paramount. They vanished off the lot. Then they were illegally sold to some collector in secret. They may have changed hands more than once. Then Neil Norman bought them and produced his GNP Crescendo CDs (five, counting the two Best Of titles). And then the tapes sat in Norman's house for like 20 years.

Then Lukas Kendall was finally able to broker a deal between Neil Norman and CBS on behalf of La La Land Records, so we got all of those precious tapes preserved on CD. Think about it: Norman could have had a house fire, flood, or burglary at any time. Lucky thing that never happened.

And it doesn't even end there, because there was another batch of TOS tapes that Norman had not acquired: the first generation reels of 2nd and 3rd season library music, the ones without the loud hiss. Those were "lost" until a dead collector's estate put them up on eBay. La La Land was the one to buy them— that was lucky— and they are now preserved on their 50th Anniversary Collection. Those tapes could have been sold to a private collector in Japan, or even thrown out by an ignorant estate executor who didn't know what they were.

So I must agree with Mr. Flint. We dodged so many bullets to get all the music in our hands, safe and sound.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

That's so true. First, all the TOS music tapes were stolen from Paramount. They vanished off the lot. Then they were illegally sold to some collector in secret. They may have changed hands more than once. Then Neil Norman bought them and produced his GNP Crescendo CDs (five, counting the two Best Of titles). And then the tapes sat in Norman's house for like 20 years.

Then Lukas Kendall was finally able to broker a deal between Neil Norman and CBS on behalf of La La Land Records, so we got all of those precious tapes preserved on CD. Think about it: Norman could have had a house fire, flood, or burglary at any time. Lucky thing that never happened.

And it doesn't even end there, because there was another batch of TOS tapes that Norman had not acquired: the first generation reels of 2nd and 3rd season library music, the ones without the loud hiss. Those were "lost" until a dead collector's estate put them up on eBay. La La Land was the one to buy them— that was lucky— and they are now preserved on their 50th Anniversary Collection. Those tapes could have been sold to a private collector in Japan, or even thrown out by an ignorant estate executor who didn't know what they were.

So I must agree with Mr. Flint. We dodged so many bullets to get all the music in our hands, safe and sound.

I had no idea of all this!!

 

[Mres_was_framed!]

That's so true. First, all the TOS music tapes were stolen from Paramount. They vanished off the lot. Then they were illegally sold to some collector in secret. They may have changed hands more than once. Then Neil Norman bought them and produced his GNP Crescendo CDs (five, counting the two Best Of titles). And then the tapes sat in Norman's house for like 20 years.

Then Lukas Kendall was finally able to broker a deal between Neil Norman and CBS on behalf of La La Land Records, so we got all of those precious tapes preserved on CD. Think about it: Norman could have had a house fire, flood, or burglary at any time. Lucky thing that never happened.

And it doesn't even end there, because there was another batch of TOS tapes that Norman had not acquired: the first generation reels of 2nd and 3rd season library music, the ones without the loud hiss. Those were "lost" until a dead collector's estate put them up on eBay. La La Land was the one to buy them— that was lucky— and they are now preserved on their 50th Anniversary Collection. Those tapes could have been sold to a private collector in Japan, or even thrown out by an ignorant estate executor who didn't know what they were.

So I must agree with Mr. Flint. We dodged so many bullets to get all the music in our hands, safe and sound.

I am stunned. I did not know that story. It is truly incredible. Has someone ever documented this journey of these tapes in a way that an "academic enough" student or teacher could use for a paper? There was that undergraduate thesis about the music of TMP that is floating around the internet, and it seems like the TOS tapes deserve something similar if they've been through all that, plus the fire and flood mentioned in the pilot episodes' GNP Crescendo liner notes.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I am stunned. I did not know that story. It is truly incredible. Has someone ever documented this journey of these tapes in a way that an "academic enough" student or teacher could use for a paper? There was that undergraduate thesis about the music of TMP that is floating around the internet, and it seems like the TOS tapes deserve something similar if they've been through all that, plus the fire and flood mentioned in the pilot episodes' GNP Crescendo liner notes.

I don't think we have rigorous documentation of these events. I pieced it together mostly from Lukas Kendall and some other insiders relaying their first hand accounts at various times on the Film Score Monthly board.

Regarding the "fire and flood" bit in the GNP liner notes (The Cage/WNMHGB), that was just Norman puffing up the story. It wasn't true. Another puff: claiming that first CD was made from the master tapes. Volume 1 was actually mastered from Alexander Courage's personal copies, if I recall correctly, which explained why some crucial cues were missing from both pilot scores. The subsequent GNP CDs utilized the original quarter-inch reels.

I think it was true that termites were impacting the Lost in Space tapes at Fox. That was another GNP liner notes item, but from the late Kevin Burns.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I think it was true that termites were impacting the Lost in Space tapes at Fox. That was another GNP liner notes item, but from the late Kevin Burns.

Yeah which is why The Reluctant Stowaway and, I think, There Were Giants in the Earth were taken from film stems. I even suspect some of the later cues towards the end of the episode Island in the Sky were harvested from them, just going by the edits.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Yeah which is why The Reluctant Stowaway and, I think, There Were Giants in the Earth were taken from film stems. I even suspect some of the later cues towards the end of the episode Island in the Sky were harvested from them, just going by the edits.

"The Hungry Sea" and "My Friend, Mr. Nobody" are my top favorites, so to stay positive, I'll count bullets dodged. But of all the LIS music those termites could have blitzed, why the early, good stuff?

 

[Ssosmcin]

"The Hungry Sea" and "My Friend, Mr. Nobody" are my top favorites, so to stay positive, I'll count bullets dodged. But of all the LIS music those termites could have blitzed, why the early, good stuff?

Honestly, they did such an amazing job with the stems, I don't even care. I popped on the climax to the Final Countdown cue from the library version and bam, complete score.