Questions for Ron Furmanek

hey Martin


No!,..its just a cool way to describe it all!,..ya know!?,...seriousley though,.I did wear out the knees on many pairs of jeans!

It really hasn't been until the past 10 or so years that most librarys have been truly better organized!,..any of us that do the physical digging can tell you & I am sure would agree with me,...when I first was getting heavily into the EMI & Capitol material in the late 80's,.it WAS truly the opposite of what it is today!,..believe me when I say,.its EASY for a certain tape to be found these days,....think about this,..only released mono & lp 1/4inch master reels for singles & lp's were properly stored in those days,.(ya know,..easy access!),..everything else ( the stuff I wanted) was literally buried or stacked 5 feet high on wooden skids in warehouse's,.I kid you not!,..ah,..the folks going after the lost gems today do not know how easy they have it!

Ron F

 

Ron, I'm lovin' all the stories. Great to have you here! When you joined up I went through my cd collection and found that I have a ton of discs that you worked on. Just last night I listened to your Gene Vincent collection. Great stuff!

 

Oh, I know.....its just that a track like "Ice Melts In The Sun" isnt going to make it onto any new Gary Lewis comps, because all they use are the hits. And no one except you is going to bother to mix it into stereo.

I was thinking that maybe its time for EMI to revisit the "Collectors Series".

 

Hi Ron,

Hopefully this question hasn't been asked:

Can you tell us what it was like remixing the Beatles material for the AHDN and MMT videos?
Was George Martin or Neil Aspinall standing over your shoulders watching you? Did it take a long time to get the "right" tapes? Why stereo for the AHDN video instead of the original mono mixes? Was this something you had to lobby EMI to do, or did they approach you?

I know, a lot of questions. If you can answer them, THANKS!

Evan Lanctot

 

Hello John

Thanks!,..ya know,..all of the band members,especially the late Mel Taylor really grooved on all of the remix's,...the UK fan club raves!,..I really feel that they really bring out the powerfull punch of the mono mix's,but,this time in punching stereo!,...the old stereo mix's are cool,.but,..really kind a fell apart compared the the mono versions

If you dig that title & those Ventures,..hunt down the other 4 titles I did!,..wild stuff indeed!

Ron F

 

Hi again Gardo

you are indeed welcome!


Ron F

 

Hey Bob

thanks to you also for the kind words!,..they were all fun to do for sure,..the Move material was all that we were allowed to issue here in the States at that time,..I think,.especially the singles,.all truly sound the best here,.I found the original first generation mix down tapes at Abbey Road for all of the cuts on this CD

Gene Vincent sold very well, and is actually still in print,..yes,.like many others,.we had indeed planned a volume two,..but,..any reason things never saw the light of day is always because of the constant changing of the guard at the labels!,.(new presidents,.etc,etc),..ya dig that cool unreleased "backing track" bonus cut I tagged at the end?!


Ron F

 

Hey Brian

thanks!,..great picture of the scarecrow there!

Ron F

 

Howdy Mike

yeah yeah yeah

one of these days!

Ron F

 

Hey John

thanks,...I truly do enjoy it all,...I'm like all of you folks,..I wanna hear the stuff too!

thanks for all of you & the other Gorters good work here,..as Gerry & the boys would say--"How do you do it?"

Ron F

 

Hey Gene

Thanks!,..for Criterion, I only worked on the 2 laser disc set of "Help!",...I produced & compiled all of the bonus stuff on the 4th side,."The Help Scrapbook",..in fact,.somewhere at the time,.this disc won an award from one of the prestigious laser/videofile mags as "best disc of the year"!,.I wish I knew which one!

as far as A Hard Days Night goes,...I was very good friends with the Producer,.Walter Shenson,.& had helped him a lot with that film over the years,..(he got full rights back from UA in 1981),....the only thing that I did was restore the audio for the film for Walter a few years ago,..this is the version now out!,..The film was released in mono originally,..& that is what I restored it to,..I HAVE NO IDEA what Mirimax has done to it since coming out on DVD recently!,..I didn't do it!!,..

The audio on EVERY version ever released commercially had many problems!,..yes,..you are right,..the sound effects were missing in "If I Fell" for example!,...the first time the films audio was messed with was for the early 80's Universal theatrical reissue!,..thats when all the mistakes were made!,..& sadly,..they kept on using that audio for most of the home video releases!,..that mix had screaming overdubbed throughout the title song,..the original did not!,..&,..thats when they "lost" some dialogue & sound effects also throughout the entire film!,.....even the Criterion laser discs had problems!,..yes,..they dubbed in the stereo versions of the songs from the records,..but,.almost all of those stereo mix's are different than the mono film versions!!

So,..with possibly a fake stereo very early MPI vhs edition,..every single version of the films audio had major problems!

What I did was restore the track back to the full loud volume mono track that one heard in the theatres when first released in 1964,..no tricks,.no gimmicks!,..like I said,..it stinks,..because what Mirimax has done to the mono mix I delivered is a disaster!,..phony 5.1 surround sound deluxe!!

hope this helps!

Ron F

 

Howdy

Thanks also,...there really is not much to tell you about this one,..we just went with the best tapes we could find,..tracked down the original folks involved to see if any multitracks were around on the earlier stuff,..but,..nobody had anything,..its still quite a busting disc if I must say so myself!,..its still available too!

Ron F

 

We didn't blame you, believe me!

In fact, I was lucky enough to see the film in a nice theater with a good sound system a few months before the DVD came out, and spent the whole time marveling at how good this film that I'd seen so many times before looked and sounded. The DVD was a big disappointment in that regard.

 

Hi Ron,
Thanks for the great insight on the Manfred Mann tapes. Sad about "Sha La La" and all those 4-track multi's, it's a shame what we lost when all those tapes made there way to the dumpster!

I have the two-fer you did of the first two Ascot LP's, I think you did a great job on that one, I love the graphics on that two-fer!

I'll keep my eye out for that Cher, and for the two-fer you did on her first two Imperial LP's.

Keep up the good work!!!

 

Ron, after your post above, I pulled out my Fats box and re-read your short note about remixing and remastering the tracks.

It must be quite a quandry when the original vinyl release runs at a different speed than the master tape! I remembered from way back your comment that in compiling the Fats box that the speeds were matched to the 45's to sound as authentic as possible. Recently, other folks have been restoring lp's to the speed of the original tape (the ones that come to mind for me are 2 of the Rolling Stones sacd's and the Mungo Jerry "In The Summertime" from a few years back).

I had forgotten that you were the sound man on the Fats box, it had been so long since I read those notes. I imagine that you were exhausted by the time that project was over. I considder myself to be a big fan of 50's rock, but listening to any of the great ones - Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard or Fats - just wears me out after about a half hour. I think the performances are too intensse!

This stuff was meant to be listened to for 2 1/2 minutes, a break to flip it over, and then another 2 12/2 minutes. Then, break again to switch the record or let the changer do it's thing. No wonder listening to 25 tracks with but 3 seconds in between each wears me out!

Now, imagine being in your position as the compiler/remasterer/tape researcher: sifting thru 6 tapes with different compression, diff. speed, etc. of the same track; you have to listen all the way thru to see if there is a longer edit or ending, chatter on the reel, etc. to make sure you have the right tape. Arrgh!! I'd have ripped all my hair out before the first cd was finished. Even so, if I loved the artist involved (well, I might be able to listen to all the Beatles' tapes - as I have 35 bootlegs - but anyone else, I couldn't take it).

 

frustration - and Sonny

Ron, I want to vomit blood when I hear a story like this. The labels remixed 50's 60's tracks for stereo all the time throughout the 70's and 80's, this "suit" who ordered this had his head in an unmentionable place.

Another Capitol Collector's story: I bought the Outsider's collection, the fidelity is spectacular! BUT . . . I have a problem with it you could not have anticipated (although technology notoriously can fix this these days) - Sonny sings flat ALL THE TIME! I put this disc on and after about three songs, I shelve it. Darn it, I was cursed with perfect pitch! I only owned one cassette deck in 25 years that I could stand to listen to (it was logic-controlled), I widen the spindle-holes on my vinyl to "correct" the off-centeredness on playback. One of the primary reasons that I welcomed the cd when it hit the market was the steady pitch . . even though everything sounds disembodied and lifeless compared to the vinyl.

 

Hey Boss!

Contract!,..um,..whats that?,...yeah,..call me stupid,.or,.whatever,.but,..I don't think I ever had one with any of the labels,.its always been the old fashioned handshake type of a thing,..especially in the beginning,..I guess it was the feeling of just thinking how lucky I was to be in there in the first place!,.& I didn't want to upset the apple cart,..so to speak!,....but,..its not that bad,..I've always been pretty happy with the end results,...in the case of Hard Days Night,..the sad thing is Walter had past away a few years after the work was completed & now there are new owners of that film,(not Apple)..& those owners made MORE new deals,.its hard to keep track of it all,..heck,..they never even sent me the Mirimax DVD,..if good old Walter was still around, I would of had one before it was released!

I'm sure that all of us have similar storys!

Ron F

 

King Midas in Reverse Stereo

As your gift on Valentines Day , my pal Ron Furmanek asked me to post a little sample of the stereo "King Midas In Reverse".

I'm sending it Holy Zoo, so he can list it here.

So everyone say thanks to Ron!!!


Mikey

 

Hi Thom

Makes one sick,..ya know what I mean?,...I was told by some people over there that a lot of it was actually dumped in with gravel & cement & mixed in under a new "M" highway being constructed at the time!,..yeah everyone,..I thought about it,..but,..it would probably cost millions & millions to do,.&,.lets think about trying to talk the Queen into letting us dig up a major highway used by millions every day!,..no way!

The Outsiders,..I understand what you mean,.the perfect pitch thing,...but,..I really don't hear it!,..anyone else?,..why not try to re-visit it every now & then?,..this time only a few songs at a time?,..how about a cd player with a pich control?,..whenever I took home an off center record,.I would return it!

I think that there are some real gems in there!,...I loved that group since day one,..&,.worked very closely with Tom King on the disc,..everyone loved it!,..I think its fantastic compared to the old vinyl,...interesting fact here that I bet nobody knows,..these recordings were all done on a 4 track Studer deck in Ohio,..meaning,..one inch tape,..just like the EMI studios in the UK at the very same time,...did everyone dig "Respectable" in stereo for the first time ever!?,..also,..did you know that thier version of the Temptations tune "Since I lost my baby" was so hot in the 70's that boot 45's were made of it!?

I'll get to your other question soon!

Ron F

 

Hey Guy!

Thankyou indeed,...those guys have meant so much to me since I was a little guy!,..the coolest of the cool!

When going in to do the Dean disc,..I had one major thought in mind,.."Ain't that a kick in the head"!!,..got to find it!

A little background here folks,..here is this lost obscure, never really heard of 45 from 1960!!,..NEVER on a Capitol album, it was only a cheap "Pickwick" budget lp in 1966,..in horrible fake stereo no less!,..I loved this song forever,.& it was always a staple in my vintage 45 jukebox!

Well folks,...its hard to believe this now in 2004,....but,..by me putting that track on there,...literally dozens of CD's now have this song on it!!,..its even been featured in some major motion pictures!,...you ever have one of these storys,.you know,..when,.because of your personal work,..you unknowingly created a monster!!??

This song now,.(thanks to my CD),, is considerd a DINO classic amongst all!,..yes,..all of this indeed makes me proud, & its these "extra" things that make it the "icing on the cake" for me!,..so to speak!!

And to top it off,..I presented it in a busting first ever stereo mix!,..(those Capitol chambers!!)

As far as "On An Evening In Roma",..another beauty,.from 1959,..this 45 version was never issued in a true stereo mix before!,....great stuff indeed!

Ron F

 

Hi Thom

An excerpt of it is coming soon!,..Mr. Mikey is taking care of it for me!

STAND BY!


Ron F

 

Earlier I'd mentioned the aborted Capitol garage band set - do you remember some of the artists that were gonna be included? Would it have been an EMI associated labels set? I love Kenny and the Kasuals Journey to Tyme, and always wanted to hear it in stereo (supposedly recorded on an early 8 track machine in Texas) - do you know if those tapes exist? Did the set exist only in paperwork, or had you actually started pulling/locating tapes?

 

Ron,
Thanks for the tip, what is the name of the Cher two-fer you did?
Thanks in advance.