Actually, until the era of digital recording in the 1980's, motion picture sound recording quality has always been at least a decade or more ahead of anything the record labels could achieve, especially in the 1940's, 50's & 60's. "Recorded directly from the Sound Track" is a marketing phrase used by MGM Records, no different than RCA's "An Original Sound Track Recording", Decca's "Music from the Sound Track" and other variations used by other labels. All such recordings, beginning with "Till the Clouds Roll By" are assembled from the original optical or magnetic music and vocal only prerecording sessions. In the pre stereo era before 1952 both musical and symphonic film scores were recorded on separate optical tracks or stems, which were then used to achieve the final monaural soundtrack mix of dialogue, music and sound effects.
By around 1953 all of the major studios were prerecording in magnetic multi track stereo for all films. The vocals in musical films were recorded in isolation separately from the orchestra using as many as 9 separate tracks and these prerecordings were used to create the final sound mix for the picture. These music and vocal separations were mixed down to 2 or 3 channel magnetic tapes which the record labels then used to make their own mixes for LP release, first in monaural and after 1958 in stereo. Because soundtracks were recorded on sound stages with no reverberation or hall sound which resulted in a crystal clear but flat sound, the record labels, from the very beginning more often than not added various degrees of artificial reverberation to soundtrack releases (the exceptions being all pre 1960 MGM Records and the "West Side Story" sound track LPs) and musical numbers were usually edited down from their film length to emulate pop vocal albums of the period. Sometimes, as in the case of the Rodgers and Hammerstein sound tracks, orchestral lead ins and outs were recorded at the time of the film prerecording sessions specifically for use on the sound track LP. Alfred Newman recorded a concert arrangement of the Carousel Waltz very different from the rather fragmented version used in the 1956 film specifically for use on the Capitol sound track LP and a completely different Overture was recorded for use on the "Oklahoma" sound track LP. Sometimes different takes of songs were used on the LP than were used in the final mix of the film.
Motion picture sound recording converted to digital in the 1980's but the recording technique is still multi track similar to the 1950's except that today's sound tracks use some artificial reverberation in their final mixes. Except for this the sound track CDs of "Chicago" and "Hairspray" were edited and mixed from the multi track orchestra and vocal separation prerecording sessions in a similar fashion as "Till the Clouds Roll By" in the mono era or "Carousel", "The King and I" & "My Fair Lady" in the analog stereo era. All are mixed from genuine soundtrack prerecordings. There are some instances where musical scores were actually re-recorded for the LPs (most 1960's & early 70's instrumental film scores, some Mario Lanza films, the 1956 Vagabond King, Disney's 1961 Babes in Toyland) with reduced orchestras to save money, but this is very, very rare for film musical scores, even today.
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Updated On: 10/13/09 at 05:56 AM
