More Masters Mail Bag

Compiled by Lukas Kendall

See our recent column about how and why master tapes get lost, destroyed, damaged, traded, flipped like a hamburger, etc.

Here are a few war/horror stories submitted by readers:

From: "Karl Scott" <karlcharlotte@earthlink.net>

Apparently the lost master tapes is not restricted to Film Scores. I just finisted Charles Granata' book Sessions with Sinatra. The most expensive Sinatra session ever was for the Concert Sinatra album. They used 73 musicians and had to record at a movie studio as no local LA studios could accomodate them. On top of it they went with 35MM film in order to insure the highest quality. They mixed down to 3 track tape but the initial LP release was from a 4th generation down and was apparently not very good. The CD release was done on a 2nd generation mix down because, believe it or not, the expensive 35MM originals have been lost.

From: "David Wishart" <david@musickco.screaming.net>

I made enquiries regarding these masters [referring to Rozsa MGM scores -LK] in the late Seventies and was informed by MGM that they had a fire during the Sixties - and that the masters for Quo Vadis (among other titles) had been destroyed by the huge amounts of water used to douse the fire. Can't verify the veracity of this statement, though - but it was an official MGM communique.

From: Kipp Crater <Kipp.Crater@latimes.com>

I agree with the letter from William Tunstill and find it sad that Quo Vadis and El Cid might be lost.

You mention in your reply that the music production masters never made it into the possession of MGM following the recording and mixing of the score in London.

I am one of those persons who keep a positive attitude about situations like this, and feel that somewhere these scores will be found. How, of course, is beyond my reach, but any little push might help.

Maybe someone in London has kept a copy of the recording sessions or even somewhere in Europe. It seems in this situation we might need the mind of Hercule Poirot.

Thanks for reading this and I enjoy your magazine and again, the work and output of filmmusic that you have provided.

From: Mathieu Beauregard <mbeauregard@lexitech.ca>

Regarding today's article about lost master tapes, do you know if the methods of tracking and keeping today's film scores have changed? Can the music be stored digitally? Of course, even with the best conservation methods, we have to ask ourselves if many of the latest soundtracks (90s and after) will be worthy of a rerelease someday...

Most stuff today seems to be replicated and stored pretty well -- but digital formats could turn out to be even less stable that old tape formats. Many people still swear by analoge tape as the best storage medium.

From: "Karl Scott" <karlcharlotte@earthlink.net>

While working with the late Len Engel (Fox Music Editor) on the first release of the Nightcrossing score he indicated scores could end up almost anywhere. Neither care nor security were uppermost on the mind's of the Studio's if there was no economic reward on the horizon. One of his assistants asked him one day if he had heard of a TV show called The Blue Max. Lo and Behold the original tapes for The Blue Max had been closeted with old TV scores and thought to be lost. Len was able to reproduce the first release of that great score for the first time from the original masters. I was also surprised to see what he had in his garage converted recording studio. I hope they all ended up in responsible hands. Jimmy Buffett composed the score to Rancho Deluxe and for many years had no idea where the master tapes were. Originally in the hands of UA they apparently went to Capitol/EMI and or MGM and from there who knows where. JB wanted to rerelease the score on CD himself but told me backstage in Mtn View CA 10/95 that although he had people looking for the tapes he didn't have a clue where they ended up. He had no taped copies at all and claimed not to have the LP version I had him autograph. The original release on LP became quite a collector's item until Ryko found the tapes and released an excellent reissue of this score a couple of years ago. Disney vaults all masters underground somewhere in the midwest concerned about fire and earthquakes in the Golden State. At least they are concerned with the original's even when they see no potential economic rewards. Apparently the lack of interest in the master's can be blamed on the composer's own lack of desire on knowing where the tapes are stored. I think there is to much of a Take the Money and Move On attitude.

MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com