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Thread: Master recordings archive disaster finally revealed

  1. #1
    Senior Member Ducatista47's Avatar
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    Master recordings archive disaster finally revealed

    Dismissed at the time as involving nothing important, now we find this worst-case scenario. "The biggest disaster in the history of the music business."

    The fire and the coverup, it ends up, are the tip of a historical iceberg. Section four of this piece will bring either sadness or anger.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/m...pgtype=Article
    Information is not Knowledge; Knowledge is not Wisdom
    Too many audiophiles listen with their eyes instead of their ears


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    "They finished the job at 3 a.m. and, following protocol, kept watch over the site for another hour to ensure that the shingles had cooled."

    Running a roofing torch at 3:00 a.m.?
    Only 1 hour watch afterwards?



    "In a document prepared for a March 2009 “Vault Loss Meeting,” the company described the damage in apocalyptic terms. “The West Coast Vault perished, in its entirety,” the document read."

    Was the "vault" designed and built by qualified and licenced architects and contractors or was it designed and built by Hollywood set designers and set carpenters?

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    Administrator Robh3606's Avatar
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    I never knew this happened!

    Rob
    "I could be arguing in my spare time"

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    "To record-company accountants, a tape vault was inherently a cost center, not a profit center."

    I just answered my own question


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    Senior Member Ducatista47's Avatar
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    The July 1997 Billboard article

    Digging deeper into the links, Billboard July 12, 1997, pages 3, 88 and 89. Past transgressions pre-fire are described. Just an example, an entire warehouse, including four floors of RCA "catalog product - pre-tape-material ranging from metal parts, acetates, shellac disk masters and alternate takes to test pressings, master matrix books, and session rehearsal recordings" was blown up and pushed into the Delaware River to make landfill for a pier.

    https://books.google.com/books?id=eg...201997&f=false
    Information is not Knowledge; Knowledge is not Wisdom
    Too many audiophiles listen with their eyes instead of their ears


  6. #6
    Senior Member Ducatista47's Avatar
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    Information is not Knowledge; Knowledge is not Wisdom
    Too many audiophiles listen with their eyes instead of their ears


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    Nothing new, just a commentary on the subject.

    https://www.stereophile.com/content/day-music-died-1

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    Reading this thread made me wonder about the recording studio (and their archive) I used to visit in the late 70s. Had a friend who worked there, and on occasion we would visit late at night if there were no sessions. Frequently, we'd head into the tape vault and pull a 2" master out to listen to.

    I knew the studio had gone out of business, but I never thought about the tape archive. Google quickly informed me the entire collection came pretty close to going to the landfill as it had been abandoned in an off site storage facility. Some would argue that most of this music belongs in the landfill, but still, nice to see it was saved and the Drexel students are working through the archive.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/learnin...p/4976582.html

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    RIP 2021 SEAWOLF97's Avatar
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    Moody Blues’ Justin Hayward Isn’t Burning Up Over What Got Lost in the Fire

    https://variety.com/2019/music/news/...ew-1203312300/
    Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

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