mikeweil Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 What shall I say ....................................................................................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 If it is Stuart Kremsky they are firing, they are idiots. That's a new name to me. Who is he, what did he do, and why was he valuable to the company? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Shearn Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 damn man...................................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPF Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 If it is Stuart Kremsky they are firing, they are idiots. That's a new name to me. Who is he, what did he do, and why was he valuable to the company? He's a tape archivist and producer, one of the main people responsible for the recent Miles Davis "Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions" box set, among many other projects. He's extremely knowledgeable and a classy guy, also. Some other company should snap him up in September when he's free. Mosaic, maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 He's also the guy who produced Charles Earland's "Funk fantastique" and Groove Holmes' "On Basie's bandstand", which gives him great street cred in a totally different area! MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Thank God that they got that Johnnie Taylor live tape out in time. I have noticed that a lot of the Fantasy MP3s at emusic and iTunes are very low quality. They were made mostly in the early 90s from inferior first generation remasters. I guess that we won't see an update of most of this catalog for a LONG time. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Shearn Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 I guess that means they are gonna pull a lot of the catalog OOP? If Iron Mountain will store the tapes, that is not a good sign at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Wood Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Storing the tapes isn't the same thing as making items from the catalog OOP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 I am a bit confused about this. Before the tapes are sent to iron mountain, will "they" transfer all these tapes, or have they already been transferred to a digital format? If not, aren't they likely to continue to degrade, even in a decent vault? I never heard about old films being "frozen" at the current level of disintegration, they keep up their progress into dust. Of course, I am thinking about nitrate film....which is quite unstable as it ages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 I'm pretty sure that the catalog has been digitally archived (at least the already released material). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Shearn Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 well, if the existing tapes are digitally archived, that's a bit of a minor relief. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montg Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 'Iron Mountain'--what a macabre-sounding place! I'm not sure I understand exactly what all this means--if the tapes are sent to Iron Mountain does that mean that they're virtually inacessible? So, no more reissues of any type (even the rvg and OK type of stuff?)? Or, will it be business as usual, with the tapes simply stored in a safer environemnt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 (edited) I'm pretty sure that the catalog has been digitally archived (at least the already released material). Yes, it's archived on the Emusic.com server, as MP3 files In order to archive the music properly, they would have to make high resolution transfers (96/24 PCM or higher), and this takes some time. The CD masters from the late 80's, early 90's are too limited. I rather think that Concord simply transferred the tape archive to Iron Mountain. The tapes will remain accessible, but Iron Mountain being a general archival company, the likelyhood of tapes being misidentified and misfiled (read Steve Hoffman's comments) and therefore becoming practically inaccessible is rather high. Edited June 14, 2007 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 To me, it just sounds like another record company saying, "We own this stuff. Screw the music and music lovers." What else is new? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Larsen Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 'Iron Mountain'--what a macabre-sounding place! I'm not sure I understand exactly what all this means--if the tapes are sent to Iron Mountain does that mean that they're virtually inacessible? So, no more reissues of any type (even the rvg and OK type of stuff?)? Or, will it be business as usual, with the tapes simply stored in a safer environemnt? Other people in this thread have apparently had different experiences, but I've always been able to retrieve items from them w/in 24 hours. As far as I can tell, all this means is that Concord determined that it is cheaper for them to outsource their tape storage than to maintain their own vault. But someone like Chuck would obviously have a more informed opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 The company I work for deals with Iron Mountain for offsite data storage, I asked around and nobody remembers having any problems getting items back when needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John L Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 The company I work for deals with Iron Mountain for offsite data storage, I asked around and nobody remembers having any problems getting items back when needed. So why don't we pool together and offer them a cheaper alternative to Iron Mountain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 The company I work for deals with Iron Mountain for offsite data storage, I asked around and nobody remembers having any problems getting items back when needed. So why don't we pool together and offer them a cheaper alternative to Iron Mountain? I nominate my house as an off-site storage for as many tapes as possible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 (edited) The company I work for deals with Iron Mountain for offsite data storage, I asked around and nobody remembers having any problems getting items back when needed. Steve Hoffman: Now, the tapes are being entered in a computer and shipped to a big storage facility where no one will be able to distinguish a master from a dub, stereo from a mono reel or anything else. Most of that crucial information is NOT MARKED ON THE REELS. I give Fantasy credit for NOT throwing away the original boxes to rebox though; that would be much worse. One had to learn from experience which reels were which. That's all gone now. So, it all depends on how well the Fantasy staff marks and catalogues their tapes before transferring them to Iron Mountain. When they fire their archivist and let Iron Mountain do that work, what would you expect to happen? Edited June 14, 2007 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Wood Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 (edited) You mean to say that Stuart Kremsky hasn't bothered to mark the tapes that he has gone through, for those unmarked? What kind of archiving is that? Edited June 14, 2007 by Stefan Wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Larsen Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 My thoughts exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 (edited) I don't think a tape archivist has to prepare his archive in a way that non-expert staff can easily handle it. Stuart Kremsky was informed at short notice that the archive was going to be transferred by Iron Mountain, and was even locked out from the archive. I don't want to quote Steve Hoffman again and again, but read what he wrote in the SH forum thread: When I was working on BAD CO. the print out from IRON MOUNTAIN was by SONG TITLE. So I read: Artist BAD CO. Song title: CAN'T GET ENOUGH. Reels 1-50 quarter inch tape Reels 51-60 two inch tape. Every single reel was marked MASTER because they had no words for anything else. POINTLESS. 60 reels all marked exactly the same for just one song. No tape legend info at all like "name of studio, recording date", etc. Nothing. Which one of those 50 reels of quarter inch tape is the true master if any? Ship all of them across the country and find out. Maybe none of them. Ship them BACK across the country and have some minimum wager throw them back on the shelves. Try again, spend more money. Can't find it at all? Give up. Edited June 14, 2007 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 He's a tape archivist and producer, one of the main people responsible for the recent Miles Davis "Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions" box set, among many other projects. He's extremely knowledgeable and a classy guy, also. Some other company should snap him up in September when he's free. Mosaic, maybe? He's also the guy who produced Charles Earland's "Funk fantastique" and Groove Holmes' "On Basie's bandstand", which gives him great street cred in a totally different area! Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Wood Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 I don't think a tape archivist has to prepare his archive in a way that non-expert staff can easily handle it. Stuart Kremsky was informed at short notice that the archive was going to be transferred by Iron Mountain, and was even locked out from the archive. I don't want to quote Steve Hoffman again and again, but read what he wrote in the SH forum thread: When I was working on BAD CO. the print out from IRON MOUNTAIN was by SONG TITLE. So I read: Artist BAD CO. Song title: CAN'T GET ENOUGH. Reels 1-50 quarter inch tape Reels 51-60 two inch tape. Every single reel was marked MASTER because they had no words for anything else. POINTLESS. 60 reels all marked exactly the same for just one song. No tape legend info at all like "name of studio, recording date", etc. Nothing. Which one of those 50 reels of quarter inch tape is the true master if any? Ship all of them across the country and find out. Maybe none of them. Ship them BACK across the country and have some minimum wager throw them back on the shelves. Try again, spend more money. Can't find it at all? Give up. Sure, I understand that, but during his time as an archivist you would think he had established his own system, which would include marking and relabeling those boxes that were unmarked or incorrect. Not ALL of them, but a substantial amount. Maybe Iron Mountain will take all of that and throw them in a blender of a database system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dryden Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 The problem with moving tapes and not involving an archivist like Stuart Kremsky is that things are bound to get misfiled in the process. I hope he finds a good job somewhere else, as he was extremely helpful about to me when I was working on the liner notes to Jaki Byard's The Last From Lennie's. I would have had no idea what to make of the title "St. Mark's Place Among the Sewers." A sad day, indeed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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