Intrada Soundtrack Forum

A couple of things that can make sense out of this now too shrill thread... did you (Bruce) do the transferring of the original 1958 masters yourself or did Capitol? And did you then take those transfers and do your own mastering or did they?

Since you claim you did nothing to the tapes - a statement which I certainly wouldn't be in a position to challenge - I'm sure you are aware that the engineers at Capitol (just as they do at Sony and UMG) will often make new audio adjustments to the old masters prior to sending out transfers for us labels to work from. And, as you certainly know, often the so-called "first generation" tapes are in fact second generation copies that were re-transferred internally many years ago for all manner of reasons including new storage facilities or preparations for future reissues - in fact, such as what KINGS GO FORTH received courtesy an Australian LP reissue in the early eighties through EMI. In other words, those first generation tapes often have already undergone some enhancing or restoration by the owners over the many years since the actual recordings were first made.

Do you know what you were working from? And - in the interest of sanity - keep in mind this was initially just Roger's opinion on which version he preferred, and my chiming in with a similar opinion. It's not of major importance.
--Doug

Capitol pulled what they told me were the first generation LP masters - I was very specific with them what I wanted and expected. They were then instructed to make a flat transfer of that with no EQ or anything else. That was what we worked from, with James Nelson doing his customary fine EQ work.

It's all fine. We've had enough wonderful comments on the sound of this release to make me happy. It's fine for you guys to prefer the Cloud Nine, whether one track or all. I know which I prefer, just as I know which you'd prefer when comparing one of your releases to a previous release. But we don't need to go there.