From: Roger Kulp <[log in to unmask]>

> I also seem to recall seeing something about Glenn Miller recording music to movie film

Miller recorded on optical film for his two movies, not magnetic film
which is what all the other recordings being discussed were recorded on.
 There's quite a difference.

> and everybody being so impressed with the sound.

This comes from the liner notes of the LP issues of these soundtracks on
the 20th Century Fox label. Unfortunately, these LPs have some of the
worst sound even inflicted on the public. But the same recordings, some
of them in a longer form than were on the Fox albums, had been issued
earlier on RCA Victor LPs and were FANTASTIC! The original 10-inch
Victors are still the best form of the recordings. In the early years
of the CD, Mercury decided to do their own issue and got a friend of
mine, John McDonough, to write the notes. He was told that they were
going back to the original masters and he wrote in the notes that
finally we could toss away those old 10-inch Victors. But they lied to
him -- they used the tapes that had been used for the crappy 20th
Century Fox LPs. He said that the John Payne solo in "I Know Why" would
be included -- it wasn't. He said the long version of Chatanooga Choo
Choo would be included -- it wasn't. He said the sound would be as good
or better than the Victors -- it wasn't. He -- and all the purchasers,
including me -- were given the royal shaft. I'm glad I still have my
original 10-inch Victors.

But the original optical films were and are great, and they have even
found some of the original "angles" , which are the separate mic tracks
used for close-ups, which can yield stereo. So much of the music in the
two films is now in stereo on the LaserDiscs and DVDs.

But I should also mention that many of the recordings of the Miller Army
Air Corp Band are even better than the film recordings. Those 1943 and
44 recordings are better than the recordings of the civilian band made
before 1942.

Mike Biel [log in to unmask]