Three Frank Sinatra SACDs Coming This Spring From Stereo Sound of Japan

[soundboy]

 

[4-earredwonder]

Hopefully, if these sell well, they'll see fit to release SEPTEMBER OF MY YEARS and THE CONCERT SINATRA [RECORDED on 35mm MAGNETIC FILM].

Wonder if they had access to the REPRISE original analogue masters which are now controlled by the Sinatra Family Trust?

 

[JonUrban]

I p[layed around with upmixing some Sinatra, but the Columbia and Capitol albums were really made for mono, and the stereo versions of most are fake, so faking a fake makes it sound worse. Using Spleeter can pull stuff out, but I just couldn't get decent results. The mono stuff works and should be left that way.

As for the Reprise stuff, now that's a different story. I did an upmix on NYNY that came out pretty well. Once nice thing about breaking up the Sinatra tunes on your PC is that you can pull out Franks vocals, then listen in great detail to the arrangements of the Nelson Riddle and others instrumental tracks. Very cool.

 

[Simon A]

I p[layed around with upmixing some Sinatra, but the Columbia and Capitol albums were really made for mono, and the stereo versions of most are fake, so faking a fake makes it sound worse. Using Spleeter can pull stuff out, but I just couldn't get decent results. The mono stuff works and should be left that way.

Just to nit-pick a little John, but Capitol officially started recording Stereo albums in late 1956 though many would only be released a few years later when Stereo proved to be more than just a "fad". The albums were recorded by two engineering teams using two control rooms and two sets of orchestral microphones: one for Mono (a set-up of 10 close-in mics, mixed live in the studio’s control room, with chamber reverb also added live during the sessions) and the other for Stereo (done with only a few mics, and at great distance from the players, using tall stands). The Stereo mix downs would be done to two track and the chamber reverb would be added then. In the case of Capitol’s 3 track vocal recordings of this era, the Stereo mics were completely separate from the Mono recording, while the vocal mic was split between the Mono and Stereo setups. In other words, when reference is made to the Mono and Stereo mixes of this album, they are not different mixes in the usual sense of the phrase, but are actually separate, simultaneous recordings, with different balances and different tonal characteristics.

This is why we are able to listen to a few of Nat King Cole albums reissued by Analogue Productions on SACD in all three versions: Mono, Stereo and 3 track mixes. It would have been fabulous if some of Sinatra's Capitol Stereo albums had received the same treatment. I was able to make 5.0 versions of Nat's albums using the 3 track mixes and they sound gorgeous.

For anything originally recorded in Mono, Capitol (like almost every other record company) reissued their albums in fake Stereo. Capitol's processing for these was called Duo-phonic. These must be the albums you are referring to as the fake Stereo versions.

Nit-picking over...

 

[JonUrban]

I love nit-picking when the info is solid. That's great to here. I am referring to those "Duo-Phonic" deals which is what I remember.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Simon A]

I love nit-picking when the info is solid. That's great to here. I am referring to those "Duo-Phonic" deals which is what I remember.

Thanks for the info!

Mastering engineer Matt Luthans is one of the Sinatra sound experts out there and his website is the ultimate reference for the Capitol years and Reprise years.

http://www.11fifty.com/Site_108/Welcome_Sinatra_Cole.html

 

[tabbott]

Thank you for the insight and the link.

 

[tabbott]

Thank you for this information. I would love to know more about your 5.0 Nat King Cole mixes and / or how you made them.

 

[steelydave]

It looks like My Way, which was released in quad in 1973 (despite being a 1969 album) is one of the three SACDs - maybe we'll get lucky and they'll include the quad mix, given that Stereo Sound is the company/label that recently reissued the Hiromi Iwasaki quad mix.

Although to be fair, with that disc, they issued it twice - once as a stereo-only SACD, and then a second time as a MCH SACD with a fold-down of the quad mix on the stereo layer, so it's possible they could do the same again, if anything.