The Sound of Music
Summary
The Sound of Music , first liberate in 1965 , is an iconic film that boasts one of the well - selling soundtracks of all time . Nearly 60 years later , the most determinate collection of the film ’s music will be available for leverage in a Super Deluxe Edition by Craft Recordings . release December 1st , The Sound of MusicSuper Deluxe Edition collect every melodic chemical element from the Rodgers & Hammerstein show - turned - moving-picture show include never - before - heard alternate takes of iconic songs , as well as the motion picture scotch in its entirety . It comes complete with a Blu - Ray Audio magnetic disk that have the full mark in gamey - resolution audio recording , as well as a new Dolby Atmos premix of the moving picture ’s original 16 - track soundtrack .
The transcription inThe Sound of MusicSuper Deluxe Edition have been meticulously rejuvenate from their original tapes by mixer , producer , and master engineer Mike Matessino . Matessino has worked with the celluloid before , previously take thebest Song dynasty fromThe Sound of Musicand incorporate them into other exciting collections before tackling this latest — and largest — spillage . Matessino has antecedently exercise with the euphony of fabled composer include John Williams , James Horner , Alan Silvestri , Jerry Goldsmith , and Ennio Morricone .
Mike Matessino utter withScreen Rantabout preserving a ethnic touchstone and whyThe Sound of Musicis still relevant today . This interview has been lightly edited for length and lucidness . Check out " I Have Confidence " from the soundtrack and learn his solvent below .
Mike Matessino Talks The Sound Of Music Super Deluxe Edition Soundtrack
You ’ve done quite a bit of work regenerate and remixing soundtracks like this . How did you find your direction into that in the first place ; was it just from being a buff and also have this science set ?
Mike Matessino : I think everything started with being a sports fan , but it is in reality The Sound of Music that is responsible for me getting into that line of business . In the early ‘ 90s , when I was doing some things for 20th Century Fox for what were really the first studio - produce special features , they asked me what I wanted to do next . I pronounce , “ How about you do something for The Sound of Music ? It ’s a big , and the thirtieth anniversary is coming up . ” They aver , “ We think that ’s corking . ” They connected me with Robert Wise , and that begin a 10 - year collaboration with him .
I was doing a lot of work for a documentary on The Sound of Music for the thirtieth day of remembrance . midway through it , I got a call from the home picture section saying the music department was pulling the marking Edgar Lee Masters for The Sound of Music as part of this on-going music return that was getting going there . They asked if I would wish to be part of that , and I said , “ Sure . ”
I went down to the lot , and I was handed a operative mask like the ones we all break a few geezerhood ago . I was taken into a room , I was hit with this smell of vinegar , and there were the 35 - millimeter scoring master reels for The Sound of Music , turning on political machine with little trays below them that were catching this junk that was a rust colour . I was told , “ The reel is cast off ; they ’re toxic . We ’re memorialise them to backup tapeline because it ’s a wellness jeopardy to even be around them . ” That was a lightning bolt moment where I realized , “ My God . Something like The Sound of Music , which is so important culturally , and so important to the studio apartment as an asset , could disappear if thing are n’t take maintenance of . ” That kind of started the whole thing .
I did documentaries for a number of years , and I continue working with Robert Wise on various things climax with the director ’s edition of Star Trek : The Motion Picture , but gradually my interest build in this whole area of restore euphony and save film and boob tube medicine . We were spend a lot of money in those days and doing it in a fashion where my role was kind of advisory and we had to go with what we were hearing . Gradually , as I learned more and the technology improved , I started realizing that this would be much more effective , much more monetary value - effective , and yield much good event if I learned to do this myself . So , I did .
I think it requires especially - tuned spike to how film and video euphony is recorded versus pop music . The engineers and the technicians who work in that world are in a different headspace than the people who work in movie medicine , who really realise how these historical transcription were made , and how they were saved . My skill set and the engineering science both increased in parallel to the distributor point where this just became my focus , and there ’s never been a lack of oeuvre to do in it .
engineering has come so far in terminus of what you ’re able-bodied to do . There are even plugins that can separate tracks now . Where do you draw the bank line between updating the strait and keep it genuine to what was originally record ?
Mike Matessino : I care to say that there ’s a thin line between beguilement and devastation , and you have to find that piffling tightrope and walk in good order down the midsection . My ultimate measuring control stick — regardless of the sophistication of the technology — is that , at the end of the day , it has to hit me emotionally in the way that the people who created this material intend . That ’s always the driving influence for me . If something ’s bothering me and it needs to be to be treat , it has to be because it increases the excited shock and does n’t take you out of it because of some proficient problem .
The thought is to be as true as you’re able to to what the original creative person signify and want . If it ’s things like dropouts because we had Scotch tape splices back in the twenty-four hours , and now you could smooth those over , that ’s a honest matter . The technology aids with that tremendously , we can breed up all the seams , and it becomes a polished whole that can then have no encumbrances on the worked up shock . At the close of the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , it always has to be about the emotional impact .
You have alternate takes and a lot of pieces of the mark . dissimilar versions of this soundtrack have been expel over the year , but with all of the new things that no one ’s heard before , what kind of country were those tape measure in when you found them ? Was there anything that could n’t be included because it was too damaged , or anything like that ?
Mike Matessino : No , I wrestled every alligator . It sometimes becomes a thing of principle where I ’m just going to get something to turn away to my will , and eventually , I will get it there . Nothing had to be drop .
Everything , as I said , was plunk for up in 1994 to analog multi - track , and then all of that was pass for me in 2015 when we had a couple of conversations about possibly doing something for the 50th day of remembrance ; it could not be done that quickly and was not administratively able to be done at that clock time , so it waited until it did become possible . In those five or six twelvemonth , the technical procession that we ’ve examine are unbelievable with regard to cleaning things up and call wow , flapping , dropout , ticks and papa , and all that . It sort of benefited from the wait time .
You ’re begin multi - track performance , but this was still made 10 ago . How were those tracks divide ?
Mike Matessino : All of the vocal were absolutely clear because they were all done in an isolation booth ; either with the orchestra playing outside — so you may kind of hear them muffled in the space — or , in some cases , segment were re - recorded later , so the singer would be in the stall with headphone on and you might find out a diminutive moment of orchestra hemorrhage through that . But most of it is absolutely clean .
In some cases , I was capable to compare what was on the film scoring original to what was on the soundtrack album master , which did have some clean vocal music . on occasion , a word might have spend out that I could then punch in with another author , so I really sew the execution back together . But all of it was clean . Basically , the tracks were a six - distribution channel orchestra and then sweetener tracks on top of that for various thing . Sometimes there were up to nine tracks of orchestra , but it was all assorted with the stock process at the prison term for 70 - mm six - track sound .
Was there anything interesting or special that you found as you were listen section by department or track by track ?
Mike Matessino : That ’s the beauty of this ; you ’d think you could get really jaded , but knowing the film and this score inch - by - in , as it were , I was surprised when I felt a renewed sentience of awe at just how splendid the music is ; the instrumentation , what a genius Richard Rogers was , the team that was exploit at the 20th Century Fox grading stage at that clip , how technically amazing the recording was , and Irwin Kostal ’s conducting and his arrangement .
And the sensitivity that go into what they did in the adaptation [ was brilliant ] , with switch the key of something or alter the tempo a lilliputian bit versus the stage show . Every decision that was made that reverse the flick into this fix iconic affair that we ’ve lived with . I pull in a brand - unexampled appreciation of it all over again . The fact that you could get that , even if you worked on something , deconstruct it , and reverse - engineered it all the way down to its origination , say something about just how honest it is .
I love that you also have interviews and other pieces as a part of this , like the Richard Rogers interview . Where did those number from , and why did you desire to include them ?
Mike Matessino : As you channelize out , there were previous incarnations of the soundtrack over the years that came through Sony Music . I had to learn a new Logos in doing this project , “ quinquennial ” , which means something that happens every five years . Each of those 2005 , 2010 , and 2015 releases were variations ; they were remasters of the album with cerise - picked track from the gold compact disc that I ’d done in 1995 that was part of that 30th - anniversary package .
Every five years , the soundtrack would be reconstitute , but never really be what we always wanted it to be . Along the way , those consultation trail appeared on one firing or another , so the idea here was to verify it was comprehensive and that we did n’t really have to take on anybody buying this who had to say , “ I have to hold on to my 35th - anniversary edition , because it has that . ” We want to ensure that everything was include in one parcel , and it was a one - stop shop for the whole deal .
You wrote the liner mark as well . Was there something that was specially important for you to conduct ?
Mike Matessino : I mean what I enjoyed the most was claim the time to really research the question of why this matter was so successful , and why it ’s so enduring , and to present my thoughts about that . And I surprised myself a little flake with that when I started think about it . I was able to get some of that out , and I had the space in our Super Deluxe booklet to meditate each of the Song , how they came to be , when they were recorded , what they do for the story , and why they continue to be classic . So , the top thing for me would be explore the power of the film itself , and why we still learn it , talk about it , and listen to it today .
I would sleep with to hear [ some of your thought process ] .
Mike Matessino : There are a turn of understanding why I cogitate even people who do n’t gravitate toward musicals are fine with this one . One of the reasons is that it is not entirely a melodious , because the birdsong are all sung within the story . We ’re told through dialogue that singing is going to take place ; we do n’t just accept the convening of the genre , where we know it ’s in this sort of alternating universe of discourse where medicine plays , and you could sing and cogitate a character ’s home thoughts . I mean that takes the edge off of it in a lot of way , because we have many , many lines of dialogue discourage us , for a minute or two , that singing is go to take place .
Then , there ’s the fact that music itself is a move component in the story . medicine itself actually changes people ; it changes mettle , it creates a sept , it has a big businessman in itself . The power of the music itself is almost like a fictional character in the pic . That ’s universal , and is something that everybody can relate to .
The root word of the film are parents and children yearn to be faithful to each other , finding your use in life , and making a moral choice between go on your person and maintain your possessions . This is heavy material for a melodic , yet there ’s not a human being on the major planet who ca n’t relate to it . That ’s why it transcends all the spoken language barriers , the cultural barriers , and the barrier of sentence , and that ’s why it ’s still relevant .
I further pointed out that it get along out in the mid-60s . It ’s very easy to say , “ It was escape , because of the civic rights movement and Vietnam ; this was old Hollywood escape . ” It ’s very easy to make that judgment of dismissal , but when I looked more tight at it , I thought , “ What do you really have here ? You have a tomboy with a bob haircut who goes around with a guitar , dresses youngster up in pall , and help their father dodge his tipple . ” I say , “ This is kind of subversively topical in a way that I do n’t think anybody thought of at the time . ”
So , when you combine that with the universal themes , the fact that the gracelessness that sometimes comes with musicals is n’t present in this one , and unbelievable refinement that the film has — the nuts and bolts of the filmmaking , and Julie ’s presence , and all that — you really ca n’t go incorrect . That ’s why it ’s this situate thing in our collective awareness that wo n’t ever go away . The film writer told me that he thinks that people will be watch this movie in 1,000 year — and I think he ’s correct .
About The Sound Of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical film adaptation of the stage gaming from 1959 , which tells the story of the Trapp Family Singers . The classic 1965 musical follows Maria , a young woman who becomes the governess for a menage of seven children in Austria just before World War II . It features darling songs such as " Do - Re - Mi " and " My Favorite thing " .
The Sound of MusicSuper Deluxe Edition will be discharge on December 1st , and can be purchased via theCraft Recordings website .
