I mentioned this in passing over on the X0 Project thread, but for what it's worth, I've got a transfer of the 70mm audio mix straight to cassette tape. My father was fortunate enough to have been an assistant manager of a theatre in 1977 and ripped the soundtrack directly from the projection equipment, through patch cables into a cassette deck, and onto two dual-sided 60 minute cassettes, which have been stored in plastic cases for the past 25 years.

I don't know how good of a source 25-year-old tape is though... when I played it recently I found it warbles a bit but the line "Blast it Biggs where are you" is indeed there and it seems to be an actual stereo recording (not downmixed to mono/upmixed to stereo). I'm sure someone with a background in audio might be able to do something with it but it definitely needs some work.

I'd just need to know which segments are missing. Fortunately they might be at moments where music/FX are not prominent (i.e., the reel change between Luke's training aboard the Millennium Falcon and Tarkin ordering Leia to be terminated). But then, if THAT is the case, then a dub from a 35mm Dolby source -- if there are no discernible differences in the FX or audio levels at those moments -- would be, acoustically, preferable to my open-air recording.

I'm also curious how the tracks were patched into the cassette deck: L and R alone? I presume he'd have skipped the boom tracks and the surround. Center? And was this on high bias or metal tape?

Also, the film is a few minutes above two hours, so is the final credit music cut off?

David

I'm going on two weeks vacation. If no-one's backed up blitter's tapes by the time I get back, I'll be happy to do it then. I understand belbucus is an audio professional (and compiler of the "best" mono mix recording?), so he would seem like the obvious choice, if he is available.

P.S. Does anyone here live near Rochester, NY or Providence, RI?

I have a very high quality JVC cassette deck (was £450 new) and would be willing to capture this in as high quality as is possible - 24-bit / 96 khz master. I have all the high quality leads as well (I write for a UK Hi-fi magazine) and would be thrilled to be able to do this and preserve it.

Cheers,

- John

I am very interested. I'm a bit backed up with other SW projects (as well as real work), but would be happy to do a transfer for now and make it available (Equipment: Nakamichi MR-1 cassette machines, Apogee converters into ProTools.) John (seventiesfilmnut) also sounds like a good contender for the job. Do we know where the tapes currently reside? (Proximity might be a consideration as I am the Eastern US whereas John appears to across the pond.)

One thing I would like to mention to whomever does a transfer. Check and tweak the playback speed of the cassette machine before you transfer - comparing it to any of the commercially available soundtracks (I always use the '93 mix as a speed reference - mainly because it's the one that accompanies the video that most have been sourcing for their projects.)

Hi!

I think your Nakamchi MR1 deck would probably just have the edge in the sound quality stakes - they really did make the world's best cassette decks. Best to capture it first, then adjust the speed using software. Of course it will be best to clean the heads first, and also to adjust the head asimuth while playing the tapes to get the best treble quality. It varies alot from deck to deck and this is th eonly sure-fire way of getting the best possible transfer.

You can't get much better than those Apogee converters either - I'm envious!!!

Cheers,

- John

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Originally posted by: Darth Mallwalker

Speed adjustment should be done in the analog domain.
Although I suppose some digital adjustment might be required if the tapes were recorded on a battery-powered deck..
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Agreed. And regarding speed adjustment, I’m just suggesting to get it in the ballpark. It’s the rare exception that I’ve had a cassette come in that was recorded spot on at 17/8IPS. I’ve seen tapes come in that were as much as 30% fast or slow. And although the software I use for digital varispeeding seems to be very transparent, I can’t imagine it is any more so than a simple adjustment to the playback speed of the analogue.

As to the issue of head azimuth, we treat a cassette master just as we would a reel-to-reel session. We modified one of our MR-1’s way back to make all mechanical and electrical alignments an easy front panel affair. (A stock Nakamichi is notoriously unfriendly when it comes to any kind of user tinkering!)

Wow-- I didn't realize there would be so much interest in these tapes. I was under the impression that the mono mix was the rarest of the three and that these cassettes were worthless. Good thing we kept them around

However, I did want to make sure that I got my facts straight before offering a transfer or maybe even the tapes themselves, just so no one ends up wasting their time on account of some misinformation on my part. I did a bit of online research and fact-checking with both my father and the theatre's other manager at the time and found some more information...

The transfer was done by patching only L and R into a Pioneer cassette deck (not battery powered). The transfer was spread out over multiple sessions since the soundtrack overlaps when a tape flip is made, however the ending credits music is indeed cut off by about 2 minutes or so. The boom tracks were not specifically mixed in but the transfer is pretty bass-y in places (such as certain sound effects and explosions).

I listened to part of the recording done by morgands1 and found some interesting comparisons between my version and his:
- During the shots immediately following Luke's "They're sandpeople all right, I can see one of them now," in the recording you can hear a more defined echo of the cries in the canyon. On my tapes this effect is less pronounced... perhaps the cries were also spread across center and surround channels?
- From SKot in the other 70mm thread: I noticed this as well on the tapes but again, it was less pronounced. Quite possible again that the music was mixed into the center channel.

Here's where everything may very well be a moot point: the theatre in question was the Stuart Theatre in Lincoln NE. My father swears that theatre had to have been equipped for 70mm because according to him, certain films only had so much of the curtains open up to reveal the screen whereas others would open the curtains all the way to reveal the entire screen. The other manager of the theatre claims that only 35mm films were ever shown at that particular theatre. This could mean that the mix I have may in fact not be of the 70mm but instead the 35mm stereo. Mind you, both of these recollections are from 30 years ago, so I can't confirm or deny this as I can't find much information about this theatre online nor is it listed as a theatre where Star Wars was played in 1977 despite its run at the Stuart starting late that year. I saw Episode I at this theatre before it closed down around 2000 and as I recall, the screen was about the same size, maybe only slightly smaller, than the local IMAX cinema near me. Any Lincoln NE natives here to offer input?

Morgands1's recording sounds *much* clearer than my tapes. I think if a transfer were to be made it would be best used as more or less a reference to perhaps recreate a surround mix based on the 35mm mix which we already have. Sort of like de-ANH'ing the film, but applied to the soundtrack?

I've made a transfer from cassette to CD by patching directly into an audio CD burner (best method I can do). I know this is far from the "best" possible transfer but if anyone seriously interested wants a sample to confirm whether or not it would be worth it to transfer the entire soundtrack (the tapes themselves are located in the Chicago area), shoot me a PM with specifics on what you're looking for.

Hahaha I stand corrected then! Just thought if the tapes had to be slowed down in the analogue domain you might risk increased wow & flutter which isn't the case in the digital domain. Also tricky in some cases to adjust playback speed of one's cassette deck. Digital just seems more accurate to me when it comes to speed stability.

Of course the ultimate playback machine for this would be the Nakamichi ZX-7 or Dragon - awsome machines.

- J

Blitter sent me a sample of his recording from the Stuart engagement so I could work up some comparisons with the original 35mm mix and the DC ’93 mix (derived from the 70mm 6-track). I equalized the 3 samples to roughly match one another. They can be found here:

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=54CC09C5233B3C5F

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=3972BE1324786728

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=1DE255E717658F66

I'm quite certain this was from a 35mm print with no matrix decoding (which is why there is dialogue in the left and right channels). In the “70mm” file, one can clearly hear a pronounced explosion from the left channel that is absent from the 35mm file as well as the Stuart file. (This was in the original 6-track as well – not an addition to the “93 mix.)

It's quite possible that the Stuart had 70mm capability at the time, but likely did not have a Dolby processor and were unable to secure a 70mm print (legend has it that only 9 were struck for the initial engagement).

So any news on uploading the whole thing? Those links have expired now. Even if it's not the 70mm mix, I'd like it to be uploaded to add to my Star Wars sound mix collection.

Spock, according to what belbucus is saying, it's the dolby stereo mix, so you probably already have it. If not, PM me and I'll point you to a download.