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Dear Tom, I have heard similar hearsay but never followed it up. LIVING STEREO was a prestige line. Pfeiffer mostly stayed out of it. We can discuss his influence on another occasion. Ciao, DDR On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > Hi Dennis: > > The story I heard [WARNING - 2nd Hand, perhaps hearsay] was that someone > in the family that controls BMG (Mann? family) is both a classical music > and RCA Living Stereo fan, so he or they saw Living Stereo as a crown jewel > in the RCA acquisition. Therefore, the horrid-sounding early CDs quickly > came out of print under BMG and the 1990s Living Stereo reissue program > took place, which was often an improvement over earlier reissues > (definitely the ones supervised by John Pfeiffer were improvements, I think > the program got dilluted as time went on). Then when SACDs came along, no > expense was spared in producing the Living Stereo hybrid reissues. Again, > heard second-hand, but I was told that there was no mathematical way for > BMG to profit from that series from the number of hybrid discs they pressed > at the very reasonable retail price point they set, so it was a loss-leader > labor of love. Now what I don't know is whether they did additional press > runs, which would have added to any profitability or perhaps attained > profitability. > > When Sony put out the box set of the CD layers a few years ago, I figured > that meant the SACDs were thus out of print and so I better snap up all > that I wanted while there was still inventory out there. I succeed but > everything was bought "new and used" from Amazon-affiliated sellers, many > of them located outside the US. I don't like opera and that was a good > thing because the opera titles were sold out and quite pricey in the "new > and used" world. > > -- Tom Fine > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis Rooney" < > [log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 11:46 AM > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] New SONY sets > > > Dear Tom, >> >> "Perhaps in today's crazy mixed-up world, someone would be ignorant of >> those digital files and would thus use an earlier inferior source, but >> it's >> pretty scary to think about that scenario." Be very scared, given the >> institutional amnesia I referred to earlier.. As to sourcing, RCA did it >> and I believe that when RCA and Sony merged, the practice was carried over >> to the latter but I don't have information on those threads. >> >> Ciao, >> >> DDR >> >> >> >> On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 7:49 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>** >> wrote: >> >> So Dennis, is it possible that Sony sourced for these RCA reissues >>> mentioned at the start of this thread, something like the early 90's >>> Living >>> Stereo CD masters? As I understand it, those were made from >>> second-generation stereo cutting masters, not original session tapes. As >>> I >>> further understand it, the SACD/CD Living Stereo hybrid discs done at >>> Soundmirror were all made from first-generation session tapes, with new >>> 3-2 >>> mixes done where appropriate. Plus, the transfers were done with very >>> high-quality equipment at very high resolution. Perhaps in today's crazy >>> mixed-up world, someone would be ignorant of those digital files and >>> would >>> thus use an earlier inferior source, but it's pretty scary to think about >>> that scenario. >>> >>> Just to be clear, John Pfeiffer did the best he could with the RCA >>> organization he worked in, but many of the Living Stereo CDs released in >>> the 1990s are vastly inferior sounding, to my ears, when compared to the >>> CD >>> layer (not to mention the SACD layers) of the Soundmirror/BMG hybrid >>> discs. >>> >>> -- Tom Fine >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis Rooney" < >>> [log in to unmask]> >>> To: <[log in to unmask]> >>> Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 7:38 PM >>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] New SONY sets >>> >>> >>> POLICY as to WHICH digital transfer to use? Not in my experience, unless >>> >>>> it >>>> was the late Jack Pfeiffer's instructions to his reissue supervisors to >>>> use >>>> the most recently released source, a policy that survived at RCA after >>>> his >>>> demise. Under Tom Frost's aegis, Sony Classical was very concerned with >>>> countering the bad press they had received from so many early CBS CDs >>>> produced from Lp cutting masters. All the reisssue lines in production >>>> when >>>> I was there in the 90s used new a/d transfers from the SW master reels. >>>> (It >>>> was an embarrassment when we discovered that the initial group of >>>> classical >>>> SACDs, ordered up by the hardware division and not run through A&R, were >>>> all made from 2-track submasters.) However, by the early years of this >>>> century, everything was in a state of disorder. Recycling is now the >>>> norm, >>>> and as institutional amnesia affects the labels, there is often >>>> ignorance, >>>> confusion or both over what is the best digital source. >>>> >>>> DDR >>>> >>>> On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 3:05 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]>* >>>> *** >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Mike, do you know if there's a policy as to WHICH digital transfer to >>>> >>>>> use? >>>>> In the case of both Columbia (Sony) and RCA (BMG), there were many >>>>> not-so-good attempts before good remasters were obtained. For Sony, I'd >>>>> put >>>>> the ones that Dennis Rooney oversaw in the late 90's as their best. For >>>>> RCA, the CD layer of the SACDs done by Soundmirror are vastly superior >>>>> to >>>>> earlier attempts. >>>>> >>>>> For their box set, Decca went back and re-did some material that had >>>>> been >>>>> previously remastered, with good results. I think DGG did new transfers >>>>> for >>>>> some of the material in their budget-priced boxes, for instance the >>>>> Kubelik >>>>> Mahler cycle seemed to have all been remastered in the late 90s as >>>>> opposed >>>>> to some of the earlier remasters of some of the symphonies (I don't >>>>> think >>>>> all were previously released prior to the box set). I believe >>>>> everything >>>>> was brought up to the era and quality of the "DGG Originals" series, so >>>>> circa late 90's. >>>>> >>>>> -- Tom Fine >>>>> >>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gray, Mike" < >>>>> [log in to unmask] >>>>> > >>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]> >>>>> Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 2:47 PM >>>>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] New SONY sets >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> As a rule, no new transfers are made from analog originals save where >>>>> no >>>>> >>>>> prior digital transfer has already been >>>>>> made. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Mike Gray >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>> -- >>>> Dennis D. Rooney >>>> 303 W. 66th Street, 9HE >>>> New York, NY 10023 >>>> 212.874.9626 >>>> >>>> >>>> >> >> -- >> Dennis D. Rooney >> 303 W. 66th Street, 9HE >> New York, NY 10023 >> 212.874.9626 >> >> -- Dennis D. Rooney 303 W. 66th Street, 9HE New York, NY 10023 212.874.9626