Come Fly With Me - Mono vs Stereo

[lmarciano]

If there is ONE SONG in the entire Frank Sinatra catalog needing remastering, surely it is the Stereo version of COME FLY WITH ME.

The title track, recorded on 8 October 1957 (Capitol W920)sounds great on the original LP (yes i still have it).

Every stereo version of Come Fly With Me, both LP and CD has problems; there is some overload distortion (reeds and brass mostly) and the rhythm section is too far back - the 'rhythmic drive' so evident in the mono mix is lost. Also, the vocal sounds thin and compressed compared to the original mono LP.

Suprisingly CFWM was not fixed by Bob Norberg for the 'Concepts' box.

BTW, I've made my own CD from the original mono Lp. I never play any other version.

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Lou

[ArneW]

Hi,

about a year ago, this question has been answered in great depth by Steve on the original "fully expanded thread" DCC board.

What I recall from that is that during the recording of some of the "Come Fly With Me" tracks, one of the mikes for the stereo setup sported a bad tube. Thus there is some distortion on the stereo mix, which can unfortunately never be fixed without heavy digital tampering.

Arne

[Angel]

Yup, that's what I learned too. Except I remember it being a bad tube in the mic preamp. At any rate, there was distortion, and since no one was actually monitoring the "binaural" version, it went unnoticed. On the stereo mix they tried to hide it with echo and filtering, but it's still there.

The reason is doesn't show up on the mono, is (thank you, Steve) the mono version uses a totally different microphone setup and engineering console, not to mention a different engineer. Weird but true. I guess ALL of the early Capitol stereos were recorded that way, two different mic setups, one for the important mono mix, and one for the less important stereo version.

At least they tried, most record companies didn't start recording pop titles in stereo until 1958, and even then not everything.

[lmarciano]

Thanks, Angel and Arne, for the explanation.

From what you are telling me, there is (somewhere) a MASTER TAPE from the mono session. Even now I can imagine what that will sound like on a SACD!

I'd like to read the original thread -- is there a way for me to get it?
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Lou

[Angel]

Not really. I think the second DCC Forum was nuked. But Steve might not mind retelling.;)

[czeskleba]

Originally posted by Angel
Not really. I think the second DCC Forum was nuked. But Steve might not mind retelling.;)
The old DCC forum is still there. But its contents are also archived at this site. The thread in question is at:
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=779&highlight=sinatra