Cast recordings ARE Soundtracks.- Page 2

[candydog2]

Posted: 10/12/09 at 4:16pm

Don't be such theatre snobs, because of people who call cast recordings "soundtracks", you all have something to bitch about today. Show a little gratitude, your day would be incomplete without them.

[DavidPatrickS82]

Posted: 10/12/09 at 4:28pm

I've always just called them soundtracks in quick conversation because back in the late 80's early 90's and still today sometimes... (but mostly back then) if you were looking for a "tape" or CD of a show you had to look in the soundtrack section.

[James885]

Posted: 10/12/09 at 4:32pm

Yeah, many retailers today still list cast albums in the soundtrack section. iTunes also classifies cast recordings as soundtracks.

Updated On: 10/12/09 at 04:32 PM

[yeomansden]

Posted: 10/12/09 at 4:43pm

Actually, that's the root of my annoyance with calling cast albums "soundtracks". I hated having to dig through all the movie soundtracks to find the cast albums. I was thrilled when stores finally started separating them. Made life so much easier...

That said, in quick conversation, I sometimes slip and call them soundtracks myself, so I'm not a total nazi about it...

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/12/09 at 4:52pm

I have written I-Tunes about this but all I get is a standard "thank you for your comment" automated reply. (They also have never answered my questions about problems accessing material, so I can only assume I-Tunes isn't too interested in customer service.)

On the plus side, Amazon has been slowly correcting their entries to remove the word "soundtrack" from their cast recordings.

For those who find the phrase "original cast recording" too much to handle, how about OCR or simply CD? (or Download as the case may be.)

[DavidPatrickS82]

Posted: 10/12/09 at 4:55pm

Well luckily I don't talk to anyone that has a hang up about it, so I just call them whatever happens to come out of my mouth... and then the conversation keeps going.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/12/09 at 5:09pm

In my rush to express my very important opinion, I missed that frontrowcentre already mentioned this. But somehow he still thinks okay to use the term even when he himself admits it's wrong.

Actually I had never thought about how wrong the term "album" was for a single Lp or CD until Mordden mentioned it in his footnote.

I still prefer the od RCA Victor slogan..."An original cast recording."

In my own database catalog I list each one by year as well because the term "original" doesn't mean the premiere production (as some assume) but just the premiere cast of that particular production. So for WEST SIDE STORY I have listings for the 1957 Broadway cast, the 1961 film soundtrack and the 2009 Broadway cast recordings.

[binau]

Posted: 10/12/09 at 5:18pm

Omg let's shun http://castalbumcollector.com/ - how dare they commit such an abomination :P.

[James885]

Posted: 10/12/09 at 5:28pm

I guess I'm just indifferent on the whole issue. It's never really annoyed or irritated me when I see them in the soundtrack area in stores or on Itunes. Or when someone says that they have the soundtrack to Into The Woods or Next To Normal.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/12/09 at 7:12pm

What are you talking about? http://castalbumcollector.com/ has all albums listed correctly. Or are you referring to the "album" phrase? In a collection it's not completely wrong since multi-disc sets are technically "albums." (RAGTIME, MOST HAPPY FELLA, SWEENEY TODD etc.) Plus the site includes all 78-rm albums.

Updated On: 10/12/09 at 07:12 PM

[binau]

Posted: 10/12/09 at 7:20pm

I was referring to the word "album".

[monestere]

Posted: 10/13/09 at 5:56am

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.

Updated On: 10/13/09 at 05:56 AM