Steve: What you can't remaster...

[ED in NY]

Hi Steve,

I thought I'd take a different slant from another thread and ask this: What albums can't you remaster because there is no master tape available ? Two that come to mind that I think you mentioned previously were "The Incredible Jazz Guitar Of Wes Montgomery & "Blue Train". Any others you might recall ?

Thanks !

Best - ED

[Steve Hoffman]

Originally posted by ED in NY
Hi Steve,

I thought I'd take a different slant from another thread and ask this: What albums can't you remaster because there is no master tape available ? Two that come to mind that I think you mentioned previously were "The Incredible Jazz Guitar Of Wes Montgomery & "Blue Train". Any others you might recall ?

Thanks !

Best - ED

The master tape of "The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery" no longer exists.

The stereo master tape of "Blue Train" is a dub, with the stereo "folded in" towards the middle by RVG. I hate that! The ORIGINAL twin-track master was either erased and reused or razor bladed.

[Dave]

Steve,

So then MFSL used the dubbed version?

[Steve Hoffman]

Yes, and every other version in stereo out there. It's the MASTER! It just happens to have been mixed, or redubbed (or whatever you want to call it) from a perfectly fine wide stereo 1/4" session tape. No reason on earth to dub it to another tape, just to make the stereo less wide. But that's what Van Gelder did, turning over the dub to Blue Note.

But, MFSL DID use the master. It's just in this case, the master is a copy of a perfectly good sounding tape.

Sigh...

[Andy]

Now thats a brain spinner.

[Patrick M]

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman
The stereo master tape of "Blue Train" is a dub, with the stereo "folded in" towards the middle by RVG.

Do you always dislike this "folded in" thing? Wasn't it done on other RVGs, like "Somethin' Else"?

If you were remastering one of these, would you use wide stereo or mono?

[Steve Hoffman]

Patrick,

I ALWAYS dislike this folded in thing, because it means that something was REDUBBED with a "Pan Pot" type console to fold in the channels. One generation lost, and nothing to gain.

I would transfer a twin-track recording exactly like it was recorded.

I mean, if Van Gelder knew he was going to do this type of fold-in a few weeks after the session, why didn't he just do it when he recorded the darn thing? Doesn't make sense...:confused:

[Ronflugelguy]

Steve, is the original mono master available of Blue Train?:confused:

[Steve Hoffman]

No. :(

[Ronflugelguy]

So's where this future Classic Mono of Blue Train coming from???:confused:

[Steve Hoffman]

'Tis my understanding that at that point in Van Gelder's studio, the twin track was the only tape running. The mono is a dub from the twin track. So.......:eek:

[Ronflugelguy]

So if I have the Classic stereo version, don't bother?

[Steve Hoffman]

Well, if I really loved that album, I'd check out the new one. The tonality might be better.

[petzi]

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman
Patrick,

I ALWAYS dislike this folded in thing, because it means that something was REDUBBED with a "Pan Pot" type console to fold in the channels. One generation lost, and nothing to gain.

I would transfer a twin-track recording exactly like it was recorded.

I mean, if Van Gelder knew he was going to do this type of fold-in a few weeks after the session, why didn't he just do it when he recorded the darn thing? Doesn't make sense...:confused:

I suspect this might hav been done to have more correlation between channels, for record cutting ? I have never cut a record, but I read there are some constraints ?