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For quite a few years now,
I've worried about, and mentioned here, the panic and
depression that sets in once you experience your original
Dolby Master tapes turning into PTS (Pure Tree Sap!) It's by
now a very well known condition, and some of you have gone
through the debacle. I'd like to thank those of you wrote me
and explained that there are several steps you can take to
restore (albeit only temporarily) these tapes to playable
condition. Gives one time to make a few
very clean copies, so
that if the master continues to croak, at least you'll have
these protection copies. If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a tape! This past week I baked the 1/2"
Tron masters, and the
sound-texture (and additional Tron music) four-track
masters, and they came out just fine (can't wait to listen
to it all myself shortly.) I had first to splice safety
lengths of blank tape at each white plastic leader, as these
showed dangerous signs of gluing themselves to the oxide
wrapped just around it during the baking, and several test
reels lost about 2' of the tail length of each cue -- I
watched helplessly as the oxide peeled off the backing --
echh! At least these were in the echo trail off, as a result
of my changing over to Heads-wind when Dolby A came in (I
could hear no audible difference in pre-post echo). If the
tapes had been the more usual Tails-wind, those 2' lengths
would have been at the very
start of the cues -- not
so easy to fix in the DAW! --Wendy Carlos |
Boy, the past year was a
rough one! I guess we all get years like that, when
everything good that comes along just seems to work out in
the hardest way possible. In the end we get through it, and
the results might even be very decent, and you're proud of
what you did, but glad that it's all over. 1998 was like
that here. The first five months I composed the music score
to the new independent film,
Woundings. It was partly
as a favor for film business friends of mine, partly to see
what the newest technology for synchronization and assembly
of film music were like (using my
"Secret Weapon"...), and partly because I'd not done any
scoring in a while. |
![]() Early in July, I got a
message from Rob Simonds, the president of East
Side Digital. Through a few links and "little flies on
the wall", he had learned that I was looking for a small
label to put out my albums, including the past albums that
had recently reverted to me. As he was going to be in NYC,
we all met together here. It looked to be an ideal
arrangement. |
![]() No sooner had the final
audio masters made it out to the plant, than I anticipated
that I'd finally be getting a short vacation that had been
getting delayed over and over. Perhaps a drive into New
England, see some trees and the surf, and all those things
you miss in a big city. It was now early October, but that
was okay. Just to get away for more than the six hours I'd
been out of my loft all year sounded super...! It was not to
be. |
![]() I was shocked at how much
trauma this perfect stranger had been able to bring about,
ruining my plans for October completely, by the time
everything was settled. I was now quite wiped, having had
not a wit of rest the whole year, and then having to deal
with such an emotional assault. I didn't speak yet about my favorite cuddling pal, Nago. He had so many endearing traits. Even while Clare and I were working on the score in the Spring, I often discovered him reaching up and tapping one of us on the elbow, then sit to wait. And if that didn't work, a very quiet Siamese ululation floated up. He was one of the rare loves one is lucky at times to find in a pet. Well, his battle with cancer that had begun in the prior Fall ended on the July 22nd. Losing him when he'd not yet reached his expected age, having that awful disease we all fear snatch him away like this, still troubles my mind -- I cannot quite believe he's gone. I'll have pictures and a story up on the photos page soon, as I've done with the other critters, when their time came. I know it sounds soppy, but posting their pix and stories seems to allow a small part of them to remain around, hanging about in CyberSpace, in some weird way. But 1998 brought a few new members to the clan. In February Pandora (Pandy), a sweet and astonishingly bright Chocolate point, came to live here. In September, Charly-O (O for the constellation, Orion), a rambunctious but good-natured sealpoint, joined her. Finally a new puppy, named Brritannia ("Brr..." for the cold wind in Ithaca -- don't ask) joined us all. She's a Border Terrier. Have you heard of the breed? They're not popular yet, which means the breed has not been ruined. She's very much a pup like old Heather dog, the same personality traits in a lot of wonderful ways, but at about half the size. Charly and Britty LOVE to wrestle with each other -- quite a sight! And so the year's end finally found me recovered, and able to face updating the web site you are now browsing. I've started to make some sense of the clumsy way it had grown. As I type this there's only the Photo page that needs a lot of work, and the complex Resources page to rebuild. You can read about what is now done on the What's New page. Must get a move on, for the next batch of remasters awaits me. And yes, dear fans, that is the Switched-On Boxed Set, including at long last (hooray!) The Well-Tempered Synthesizer, and a much improved remastering of the first S-OB, done from the direct-mix premasters, saving at least a couple of tape generations over any version you've heard up to now (neat, huh?) Don't know if the tricky way I'm going to attempt will work out well or not, but I think there's an excellent chance it will. And you'll read all about it way before anyone else does, here at our site. Please let me send you wishes, that your 1999 contains some neat spots ahead for each of you, and is nothing like last year was for me ;-). Be well, work hard, and here's to some luck and love in the months ahead of us! (*beat*) So what are you staring at? That's enough words for now -- get back to work! --Wendy Carlos |
![]()
![]() The big news for regular browsers of this website is that as of July 1998, the final negotiations were underway with ESD (the distribution arm of Ryko disks until recently) for releasing most of the albums (we'll let you know if there's any change) you've been waiting so patiently for. We repeat:
The backlog of masters from CBS/Sony were finally
returned to Wendy's studio in May (she said it was a VERY
nostalgic moment, to see all those tapes sitting in two big
boxes like that...), and these will make up some of the
releases on CD, when remastered and subtlely cleaned (where
needed) and optimized. Many tracks (despite the return of
all the CBS tapes) are being transferred from even earlier
generation sources, and we expect the sound to be
significantly better than any prior versions you may
have heard up until now. Tales of Heaven and Hell (the complete project) The new CDs also contains several selected CD-Plus files,
which you can open with your computer. Release was early
October and November '98. Some other albums that have been
held up for various reasons (explained in the discography
and open letter sections on this site) are also being looked
into, for possible CD release as part of this series, too.
The new score to
Woundings will be part
of 1999 releases. We'll let you know |
![]() ![]()
![]() In early June Wendy finally
completed her soundtrack score to the new British film,
'Woundings'.
Ably assisted by Clare Cooper, who had been one of the
keyboardists at the Bach at the
Beacon concert in April '97, Wendy did a mass of
custom sound designs, putting together the 45 minute score
using techniques developed during
'Tales of Heaven and
Hell'. Carlos had this to say about the project: " I essentially gave up my life for the duration of the score, starting in January, until it finished. We worked mostly 12-15 hour days, 7 days a week, and had no time to do anything much else. Clare (Cooper) was a "brick" -- without her versatile help this complex score would have suffered greatly, and I'd never have made all the deadlines. Matthew (Davidson) somehow found time to perform some essential vocal cues and f/x that worked in beautifully. A good friend who's got the vocal range of Yma Sumac kindly sang many of my themes onto DAT. This web site, my albums, and all personal stuff were put on hold (that's why nothing new happened here for so long, especially with Matthew involved with his demanding new job at MotU since last Fall -- now you know.)
Although Carlos had worked on four other film scores in
the years since Tron was
released, these projects never worked out, as is the case
with many films that are begun but fall by the wayside. So
she was grateful to have one reach completion again at long
last, and welcomed the chance to try out the newest
techniques of music scoring and synchronization for a
feature film. A soundtrack album is being assembled and will
be released eventually. We'll keep you informed about it
here. Even if you don't see the movie, you may enjoy this
moody and scary music score. |
![]()
![]() As a smaller piece of news, last
February, while in the middle of the early work on the
filmscore, Wendy made a last minute dash to Aruba. There she
met John Romkey, the "father of the
A complete report was filed on Fred Espenak's excellent NASA Eclipse web site in March, and two beautiful images were posted there (take a look). These have been added to this site's Eclipse Page. Also, most of the images on our eclipse page have been optimized and updated and new, much better versions will be added there shortly. Coronaphiles take note, and come back again soon...
![]()
![]() This site got a new domain at the beginning of 1998, thanks to John Romkey's diligence and effort. So now we are, as you may already have noted, <www.wendycarlos.com> The former url will still operate correctly as before,
although the location window in your browser will be altered
to reflect the newer url (tricky custom CGI stuff). So tell
your friends, and bookmark our easier to type and remember
new address. |
![]()
![]() ![]() --Note of December 28, 1998: This optimistic report was written prematurely. The reality is that the CD finally became contracted by East Side Digital in July of 1998, the cover was modified somewhat and improved graphically from the prototype version we had posted here in 1997, the music was polished to an amazing (that it's possible to get this near to one's goal, that is) fare-thee-well and then carefully mastered and optimized, and that CD became available in October of 1998. Read more about it here. And now, let us return to those glorious days of yesteryear, when I rattled along with the following observations and some less than prescient guesses: Tales of Heaven & Hell
has now entered the mastering stage. The centerpiece of
TH&H is "Clockwork Black", an extension of the themes
Wendy explored in A Clockwork
Orange. Of notable interest is Wendy's use of the
Circon. Not since 1986's Beauty
in the Beast has Wendy released a CD of all original
compositions and Tales of Heaven & Hell is
certainly worth the wait. This is the first Wendy Carlos CD
to feature her own cover artwork (shown above - compare it
with the original CO
cover...). No official release date is set. --Added by Wendy: March 14, 1997 About the new album. Let's see, it
had its origins back nearly three years ago, has experienced
the longest gestation period of any album I've been involved
with to date. Nearly all of the delays are purely technical.
I'm also having some trouble with my eyes (corneas), and the
medical "help" I've found so far has been worthless and
worse. Long story, too emotional now, for another time. With
crashing equipment and blurry vision, the project has taken
way past what it ought, I'm sorry to
say. --Added: July 20, 1997 Finally we are having meetings
with several companies about a potential release for
TH&H and perhaps some or
all of the back catalog. Another idea that sounds quite
exciting, (this one I must credit to Matthew Davidson, the
selfsame original creator of this site!) is that with so
many of my back masters originally produced in four channel
stereo sound, the latest DVD with Dolby
Digital(TM) technologies might
allow us to release true
multichannel discrete alternate versions, for the first time
ever (it's only taken 25+
years...)! Imagine hearing the original Sonic
Seasonings, surrounding you in clean digital
remastered versions from the original first generation Dolby
multitrack tapes. I know, I know, neat stuff, but we shall
see... --Added: November 30, 1997 Sorry to report that the logjam
remains in place as of this addendum. A few companies turned
out to have whacko ideas of what constituted a new release.
For example: we were given the incredible pitch by a certain
well-known NE firm that if we allowed them to re-release
just the original S-OB for yet one more time (!), not even
any other titles with an increasingly built-up demand from
my back catalog, it would soon generate a market for a few
of the other catalog albums. And this wave eventually would
allow "Tales of Heaven & Hell" to be released, too!
Perhaps even within a few years! Incredibly snotty jive.
(Are you surprised? I must admit, this time I
was...) |
![]() ![]()
![]() For the first time ever, Wendy
Carlos gave a concert performance live on stage, not just a
demo lecture, as she has done several times in the past. The
event was the weekend-long Bach at the Beacon
festival. Wendy performed selections from her Switched On
Bach albums accompanied by a small group of musicians
playing Kurzweil
synthesizers, called the Kurzweil Baroque
Ensemble.
|
--Added: April 6, 1997 Our performance live at the Bach
festival has just finished as I write this. It's with many
mixed emotions, and they are still warm, that I try to put
thought to paper (make that Web site!) The most important is
that our ensemble did itself proud. No kidding, this was the
ultimate group to attempt what only a short time ago would
have been impossible, impossible (unless you were longer on
hype than on quality.) |
--Added: April 16, 1997 Since writing the above, over a
week has passed. The sun seems to rise each morning, and
Spring with it's occasional allergies has definitely arrived
(just ask my head!). The world is going on just fine. And so
am I. By now I have gotten so many positive comments about
our performance, that I realize that even with the audience
getting shorted, they were largely pleased by our 31
minutes. You seldom miss what you were never shown, after
all. |
Wendy Carlos Older
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