M-G-M 1943 Soundtrack Stereo Restoration 4K - Tommy Dorsey Orchestra | Well, Git It! with Buddy Rich

(*** 2021 GOLD Telly Award winner. SILVER Davey Award winner ***) Hey Buddy Rich fans! Can an old recorded-in-1942 film sound like it was recorded in 2021? Gonna damn sure try! READ ON...

From the 1943 MGM film "Du Barry Was A Lady" - This video will let you experience when a mono original film soundtrack has the additional music stem tracks added and in full synchronization.

This is a new remix with those elements. Set YouTube Settings to 4K for Hi-REZ and LISTEN WITH HEADPHONES or HOME THEATER or CAR!

In 1998, producers George Feltenstein & Bradley Flanagan put out a CD with Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra's film score soundtracks. They were amazingly able to procure the original (and probably now-disintegrated) MGM tracks (guessing they were optical) soundtrack sources.

This CD allowed 2 separate microphone placement channels.

From that source were re-separated from the original stereo mix of the CD (LR) into two (2) mono STEMS (1-LL) (2-RR) of which each were turned into stereo tracks - STEM 1 (LL-L+R) STEM 2 (RR-L+R) and the combination of them STEM 1&2, - predominantly for lower frequency use. Later in the film, EMPHASIS 1 (the iso'd "Ziggy" trumpet track panned slightly off from Jimmy's pan in the normal mix) with continued big-finish volume additions, and EMPHASIS 2 (the Film Mono track boosted heavy low frequencies and panned stereo, frequencies lacking in the other music source, allowing the 'big-finish' crescendo). There are a few tracks you don't see with a few 'hits' that weren't significant to reveal, but added to the overall. Importantly, only the last note gets the reverb for the diffusive dissolve out.

So that combination audio, as well as the original mono audio track of the film - are combined in this video into two discrete channels, in effect, 'stereo'. But it is not a 'stereo recording'.

This experience is 'imagined' with a boatload of plug-in effects and mixes that I purposefully 'oversaturated' and artificially accentuated certain frequencies - only because of Buddy Rich. I also removed more noise from the original CD and film. There were tons of edits to compensate for time drift that would constantly occur - or you would instantly spot re-records in the film that didn't match the parts on the CD - which prove MGM made multiple recordings from different locations and takes to blend for the final mono mix.

This film and performance were never intended to be heard in 'stereo' since that technology wouldn't be introduced in theaters mainstream until the 1950s - as we know it today. [Hey "Fanta-sound" people, I know...]

This is also proof of how amazing the Goldwyn Sound Stage was and the recording techniques available to them at the time since magnetic tape recording was still a few years away from being introduced and perfected in the USA (from the invention as the Magnetophon in Germany).

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this week's worth of hobby-work to make Warner Brothers some money...(this channel is NOT monetized).


FOR THE TECH HEADS: I'm using Avid Media Composer, NOT Pro Tools - this my actual audio timeline. Each track is mixed, some in stereo (although appearing as one track), some EQ'd to accentuate certain frequencies, etc. You can see all the edits, but you can't see the 15 effects in total added - including enhancers, mastering plug-ins, you get it. I'm a video editor, and strangely find using Media Composer ultimate to the audio mix. Most of the time spent was the lousy 4K, and the film still looks like crap - sorry I wasn't buying the DVD.