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Bonzodog

300 Club - QQ All-Star
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Messages
387
I had dinner with Joe Travers last night. He has been Vaultmeister for the Zappa Family Trust since 1995. He said that only recently has the estate re-acquired the rights to all of Frank’s music, and they were going through it for new releases.

I, of course, asked him about the surround stuff. He said that while Frank was a huge fan of surround, they had no plans to release any of it on any format.

But things could change.
 
Please pass on that Steve Wilson is keen for Joe's Garage to appear in surround.

Oh, and that I would be keen to hear Hot Rats - or pretty much anything else of Frank's in surround and so I'd end up buying everything for the fourth time!

Cheers!
 
Man Joe's Garage in surround that would be a real treat.

A four-channel Quadraphonic version of the album Roxy & Elsewhere was prepared and advertised, but not released.

Joe Travers has stated that "It's sitting in the vault. Waiting for a budget to do it properly. Basically the film footage, the negatives were transferred by Frank in the '80s using '80s technology. What we want to do is go back to the original negatives and do it in High Definition and then create a 5.1 mix from the original masters so that we have surround sound as well as Frank's 2 channel stereo mix. Once we get all that together, then we need to cut the program. Edit the program together, camera angles, what shows, what we are going to include from what shows or include all the shows. I have no idea what Dweezil and Gail want to do. It's great stuff, but the process of just getting to that point is going to cost a lot of money and take a lot of time." [2] Two songs from the unreleased film ("Montana" and "Dupree's Paradise") were used as opener for the Zappa Plays Zappa concerts in 2006.

http://sommutante.blogspot.ca/2011/02/zappamothers-roxy-elsewhere.html
 
At the end of 2012, Gail Zappa and the Zappa trust announced one of the more "fakakta" promotions I have seen in some time. The promotion is called "Roxy By Proxy." Basically, up to 1,000 Zappa fans and/or enterprising/self deluded music biz wannabes can purchase the license to the recording of "All Roxy, No Elsewhere": 76 minutes of never-before-released Frank Zappa master recordings from the Roxy Performances of 9 & 10December 1973.

For your $1,000 purchase you get an official CD Duplication master of the recording along with all the appropriate artwork files which you can use to press CDs' (either on your own or via the Zappa's replicator at a cost) to sell as you wish for as much as you wish. There is no exclusivity - you become essentially one of 1,000 distributors all selling the same one item. Think of it as cloud funding with a little twist. You are required however to pay a royalty fee for every disc sold, back to the Zappa trust. This of course (along with your measly $1,000) will enable them to fund the production of The Roxy and Elsewhere Blu Ray disc - or at least that is the thinking.

There is no subterfuge here - it is all quite clearly spelled out - along with their intentions. Gail Zappa even mentions on her blog that the distribution element is more of an honorary element and that no one should really expect to make any money on the deal - it's all for a good cause - fans funding a project directly -albeit with a hefty price tag. You can read all about it here;

https://getsome.zappa.com/roxy-by-proxy-the-license/
 
https://getsome.zappa.com/roxy-by-proxy-the-license/

seems like absolute BS with attempt to capitalize on artist's name/popularity.
if an expected 1000 subscribers would be reached, that's will generate $1million without even sweat up.
on the top of this an original analog recording will still unpublished, as what was given away (not for free)
nothing but pity sonic parody in 44.1/16, and thus second round of capitalization can be performed.
even best of the best production of BD, when new shots with super-duper visual effects is not involved but
only restoration of already existen material needed, hard to believe gonna reach $1million price tag even with
disc replication and art print cost added.
 
Lets see, I can buy the licencing, poorly re-channel it for 5.1, and sell you all DTS CD's for 99.95 a piece right? Everybody's in right? ;)
 
Lets see, I can buy the licencing, poorly re-channel it for 5.1, and sell you all DTS CD's for 99.95 a piece right? Everybody's in right? ;)

you can't go 5.1 route at least without applying upmixing process. they was selling already
have been done stereo mix, not a multis from recording sessions
 
you can't go 5.1 route at least without applying upmixing process. they was selling already
have been done stereo mix, not a multis from recording sessions

Thats what I meant by rechanneling it poorly ;) I know you get the CD master.

I wonder if I paid them double, could get the multis.
 
Man Joe's Garage in surround that would be a real treat.

A four-channel Quadraphonic version of the album Roxy & Elsewhere was prepared and advertised, but not released.

Joe Travers has stated that "It's sitting in the vault. Waiting for a budget to do it properly. Basically the film footage, the negatives were transferred by Frank in the '80s using '80s technology. What we want to do is go back to the original negatives and do it in High Definition and then create a 5.1 mix from the original masters so that we have surround sound as well as Frank's 2 channel stereo mix. Once we get all that together, then we need to cut the program. Edit the program together, camera angles, what shows, what we are going to include from what shows or include all the shows. I have no idea what Dweezil and Gail want to do. It's great stuff, but the process of just getting to that point is going to cost a lot of money and take a lot of time." [2] Two songs from the unreleased film ("Montana" and "Dupree's Paradise") were used as opener for the Zappa Plays Zappa concerts in 2006.

http://sommutante.blogspot.ca/2011/02/zappamothers-roxy-elsewhere.html

How about just releasing "Overnite Sensation" and "Apostrophe" as 4.0 or 4.1 dts discs? The original quad versions have been popular for reproduction for many years. Many of the early dts releases were straight across transfers.
 
How about just releasing "Overnite Sensation" and "Apostrophe" as 4.0 or 4.1 dts discs? The original quad versions have been popular for reproduction for many years. Many of the early dts releases were straight across transfers.

Indeed.
 
Interesting clip below of a tour of Zappa's UMRK studio. Around the 3 minute mark, there's an interesting tidbit that shows an indication of Frank's interest in surround sound.

[video=youtube;YYVXWnTkBQA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYVXWnTkBQA[/video]
 
Interesting clip below of a tour of Zappa's UMRK studio. Around the 3 minute mark, there's an interesting tidbit that shows an indication of Frank's interest in surround sound.

[video=youtube;YYVXWnTkBQA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYVXWnTkBQA[/video]

Shame the Zappa family are not interested.
 
A friend of mine got to interview Joe Travers recently. I asked him to put forth the following question regarding 5.1 mixes:

FZ showed some interest in quad. Is there any chance we could get some of his classic albums mixed into 5.1? Steven Wilson (of the band Porcupine Tree) who has done 5.1 remixes of albums for King Crimson, Yes, Jethro Tull, ELP, XTC, Tears For Fears and many others has stated that doing 5.1 mixes of some Zappa albums would be a dream project for him. In addition, the FZ catalog is now being distributed by a label (Universal) that has been showing an interest in 5.1 remixes, reissuing several classic albums on blu-ray audio.


This was Joe's response:

"Well it is unfortunate that surround audio just as a format on its own just isn't sticking. I was gung ho and super excited when SACD was coming around because I really felt that was a great format and I wanted to see.....well, still do.....so basically the priority is this: before you go in and start remixing Frank's records, which I know has been something that anybody hasn't really cared about doing, because it's something I know Gail wouldn't appreciate, but, Frank's quad mixes and quadraphonic material that's in the vault, should all be prioritized for surround releases and should have been years ago. It should have been on DVD-Audio. It should have been on SACD. And it should be on Blu-Ray Audio. But it just doesn't happen because it's a limited quantity of people that would appreciate that stuff. So because of it, it always gets tossed aside for a later time. I want to see Overnight Sensation, Roxy & Elsewhere and Apostrophe(') quad mixes made available to the consumer. Everyone thinks One Size Fits All was mixed in quad but it actually wasn't. Those were the three that were. And then put together a release of all the other stuff that's in the vault. And it could even be multiple releases, there's that much. And then once that stuff comes out, depending on how it does, it would be interesting to see the sales of that stuff because if it really does sell well then maybe the inclination to do 5.1 stuff might become more of a reality."
 
A friend of mine got to interview Joe Travers recently. I asked him to put forth the following question regarding 5.1 mixes:

FZ showed some interest in quad. Is there any chance we could get some of his classic albums mixed into 5.1? Steven Wilson (of the band Porcupine Tree) who has done 5.1 remixes of albums for King Crimson, Yes, Jethro Tull, ELP, XTC, Tears For Fears and many others has stated that doing 5.1 mixes of some Zappa albums would be a dream project for him. In addition, the FZ catalog is now being distributed by a label (Universal) that has been showing an interest in 5.1 remixes, reissuing several classic albums on blu-ray audio.


This was Joe's response:

"Well it is unfortunate that surround audio just as a format on its own just isn't sticking. I was gung ho and super excited when SACD was coming around because I really felt that was a great format and I wanted to see.....well, still do.....so basically the priority is this: before you go in and start remixing Frank's records, which I know has been something that anybody hasn't really cared about doing, because it's something I know Gail wouldn't appreciate, but, Frank's quad mixes and quadraphonic material that's in the vault, should all be prioritized for surround releases and should have been years ago. It should have been on DVD-Audio. It should have been on SACD. And it should be on Blu-Ray Audio. But it just doesn't happen because it's a limited quantity of people that would appreciate that stuff. So because of it, it always gets tossed aside for a later time. I want to see Overnight Sensation, Roxy & Elsewhere and Apostrophe(') quad mixes made available to the consumer. Everyone thinks One Size Fits All was mixed in quad but it actually wasn't. Those were the three that were. And then put together a release of all the other stuff that's in the vault. And it could even be multiple releases, there's that much. And then once that stuff comes out, depending on how it does, it would be interesting to see the sales of that stuff because if it really does sell well then maybe the inclination to do 5.1 stuff might become more of a reality."

?? :mad::(
 
It is interesting that he does not mention Halloween & Quaudiophiliac. It almost sounds like he is unaware of them...

So try a test release already!
 
It is interesting that he does not mention Halloween & Quaudiophiliac. It almost sounds like he is unaware of them...

So try a test release already!

But in his interview, Joe Travers also negates the fact that all those hi res formats [SACD, DVD~A & BD~A] are capable of entertaining Stereo as well as 5.1 mixes and would thus have a broader appeal.
 
It is interesting that he does not mention Halloween & Quaudiophiliac. It almost sounds like he is unaware of them...

So try a test release already!

He does mention both titles a little bit after this quote. (It was an audio podcast interview and I transcribed the response. Anyone who wants to hear it, the podcast is on iTunes. It's called Zappacast and it's episode #30. It's a long podcast but has lots of good talk for the Zappa fan. I think the part where Joe responds to my question is around the 2 hour, 50 minute mark.)

The impression that I get is that if it were up to Joe, it would be a higher priority. He's not in the position to make the final decisions though. He makes recommendations to Ahmet who has the final say. The ZFT is regularly releasing lots of FZ stuff from the vaults and it seems like Ahmet's priorities are on live material and studio outtakes. The ZFT just released three archival titles this week alone, including a complete 1978 show from Chicago that never had any recording of (even a crappy audience tape) in circulation. They're also getting ready to jump into the vinyl reissue game. Joe stated that the 3LP Joe's Garage reissue that is coming soon sounds exceptional. Joe also said that there is still tons of stuff in the vault that is unlabeled and he is regularly discovering all sorts of things that he wasn't expecting......and also not finding some of the things that he expected to. He says it's the greatest job in the world, and I believe him!
 
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