Well, dear readers, we finished mixing One More Kiss and Follies will be off to the pressing plant today. There was much drama along the way to finishing One More Kiss. I found out in the morning that it was going to be transferred and ready for pick-up around four. That all happened fine. The helper picked it up and brought it to me. A bit later, I went to the engineer’s house and he loaded it into his computer and into the template in which the rest of the show was mixed, so all the reverb and placement of the instruments was already there in that program. He had the original CD so we could compare and contrast as needed. He began getting the sound up and one could tell it was going to sound terrific. But several interesting things occurred. First of all, the rest of the eight-track stuff was edited – the slates were gone, any false starts had been removed and trashed so that it was the exact album presentation – that way they mixed it all directly down to two-track and no further work was necessary. Well, they never edited One More Kiss because they knew it wasn’t going on the album. My suspicion is that the previous CD release used a rough mix done back in the day, but I suppose it’s also possible they went from the eight-track, although if they did what they came out with wasn’t too hot, although it was very much of a piece with the rest of the original mix. So, the first thing we got was several false starts, and then a take that broke down about a third of the way in. We could hear who I presume was Dick Jones, the album producer, who sounds quite cantankerous and bossy over the talkback. There’s quite a bit of chatter, and there are occasionally other voices heard – not sure whose. Then they got the take, which fell apart just before the end. So, they did a pick-up and had the song been on the LP they would have edited it right at that point, which is what they did for whatever source was used for the CD release. That was the first thing we did – edit that together for our full take.
Then the engineer began getting the string sound up, then the vocals. He knew something was amiss immediately, because the CD was in one key while the eight-track was a just about a whole tone higher. The minute I heard the two played back to back I knew that something had gone wrong in the transfer – it was too fast, therefore higher by a whole tone. I did not want to have to go back to Capitol and have them redo it – that could take days. So, we began trying to figure out how to make the adjustment to get it back where it should be. He played around with several things, none of which worked, then he figured it out – a vari-speed plug-in he has in Pro Tools. It took an hour to figure out the exact calculations, but he got it all lined up, had the plug-in reconfigure everything and voila – perfect and we were able to mush on with our mix. It was a difficult mix because the producer didn’t want to even record the song, so it was a bit rough, but we got it all sounding pretty great and much smoother and more alive than the muddy and muffled CD mix – again, much clearer and much more detail, and the voices out front a bit more. Victoria Mallory, a terrific singer, was clearly hoarse at the session and was having difficulty. We were able to really work on her voice and I think she sounds much better on this – hoarse, yes, but out front where she should be. And then, at the end, when she and older Heidi sing “goodbye” they’re both supposed to hold the note to the end, but Victoria drops out before, and old Heidi finishes alone and they actually fade her out early so she’s not holding it as long as it should be. Obviously, they never went back to fix it. I suspect the song was shoehorned into the session and they just had to move on. Well, she holds the note out to the end now. We worked a little magic (not revealing how) and it sound so much better that way. I did print the two versions – the original with her dropping out and the fade on old Heidi, and the fixed with her holding the note out to the end. I listened to the revival cast recording just to make sure both singers were supposed to hold to the end, and they do, but just to be sure, I dropped my close personal friend, Mr. Stephen Sondheim, an e-mail to see if he was okay with the note being held to the end. If he’s happy with the way it was on the CD version I’ll use our new mix of that version, but I suspect it probably didn’t make him happy and that he’ll want the fixed version. One way or another, it was One More Kiss and goodbye, and Follies, the remix, is done.
Prior to all that, I was up at six in the morning to announce the two new Kritzerland releases. Then I went back to bed and slept for only one additional hour thanks to the doorbell being rung by some tree trimmers. I then got up, printed out orders, and then went and had a sandwich with no fries or onion rings. Then I picked up no packages, after which I came home. I did some more work on the computer, printed out more orders and then decided to sit on my couch like so much fish so I could relax a bit before going to the mixing session.
Yesterday, I watched another Varg Veum movie. A good yarn, with an interesting story and characters. I really like the actor who plays Varg Veum. The pace is excellent and the only downside which, if it continues in subsequent films, is the adversarial relationship between private detective Veum and the police inspector. It’s very one note and is already a little irritating. I hope they find some ways to vary it a little. Then I spent an hour organizing the Kritzerland Dropbox with my mastering guy. It should now work very well. Then I went to the mix.
After that I came home, listened to the mix again, made three small adjustments, and the engineer uploaded the finished versions to our Dropbox. I had him also upload all the outtakes and chatter, just for fun. I don’t think I’ll use them on the album, but I may put them on the website.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because it’s late and I need a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall hear the mastered version of One More Kiss (hopefully I’ll hear back from Steve in the morning as to his preference), approve it, and off to the pressing plant go Follies, The Fly, and Wallander. If all goes according to Hoyle, we might have them in two weeks. The print on all three titles went in last week and will probably be to the plant by Friday. If they turn around the stampers quickly, then we’ll have them by the end of that week. I have some errands and whatnot to do, I shall eat, I shall hopefully pick up some packages, I shall see if I’m happy with my show order, and I shall finish and finesse liner notes.
The rest of the week is the same – writing, meals, meetings, Lawrence of Arabia on Thursday night in 70mm, a teeth cleaning with Dr. Chew (also on Thursday), and hopefully printing out more orders. As I’ve posted elsewhere, we have less than three hundred copies left of Follies.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hear the mastered version of One More Kiss, I must do errands and whatnot, I must eat, I must hopefully pick up some packages, I must write, and I must relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What film have you seen the most times? What musical have you seen the most times? And what play have you seen the most times? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, singing one more kiss and goodbye.