Concord Shutting Fantasy Down and Burying its Tapes?

[Big Al]

It is indeed, Stuart. He's posted here to clear a few things up...

Hello Steve Hoffman Forum members,

This is Stuart Kremsky of Fantasy Records/Concord Music Group signing in to this thread for the one and only time.

First things first: The entire building was never locked out. Not all Fantasy/Concord employees in Berkeley have lost their jobs. Most everything else on this thread, however, is true.

Here’s what I can tell you: Fantasy Studios in Berkeley are being closed. They’re not taking any bookings after September 30, and unless someone takes over the operations, it appears that they’ll spend the rest of the year until December 31 shutting down. The Fantasy tape vault is also being closed, and the tapes are being sent to an Iron Mountain facility. The studio staff and myself were informed of this on Friday, June 1. As we were sitting in the meeting, workers from Iron Mountain, along with a locksmith, were in the parking lot, waiting to begin the work of bar-coding the tapes. Since Iron Mountain was now directly responsible for the tapes (and some artwork as well in another location in the building), they changed several locks in the building. It took a few days to sort out legal and access issues. So that’s all there is about the keys and the building; no one was ever locked out, except for me, out of the vault, for a couple of hours one morning. I’m over it.

The Concord Music Group does still have a small presence in Berkeley. How long that will last I have no idea. I will be with Fantasy/Concord until September 30.

Again, trying to calm the frenzy, the way this reads, I draw the following conclusions:

1) Althought Stuart is losing his job, it's not until the end of September. This would give Iron Mountain staff plenty of time to consult with Stuart while bar-coding everything to insure that the archiving is done properly. While I have no reason to doubt the job that Iron Mountain will do, again, I hope I'm not being naive in assuming that IM will consult with Stuart extensively before his departure.

2) Iron Mountain is doing the right thing in changing the locks, and remember: as Stuart said himself, no one was locked out (except him for a couple of hours). This is just standard business practice: ensure the security of that for which you are responsible. I know it sounds harsh, as if they're saying "We don't trust the very people who put this all together," but the simple fact is there is no other way to ensure 100% security. IM is paid to do a job; let them do it the way they've been doing it. Whether or not we like the way we do it is a moot point.

I'm not trying to make light of this situation, nor am I trying to view this situation through rose-colored glasses. But I do think there is a bit of an overreaction to this situation (not nearly as bad as the overreaction over at SH).

[Aggie87]

I'm not as worried about the actual storage of the material at Iron Mountain as I am that this may be a sign that we can give up hoping for new reissues of things that we'd all like to see.

It looks to me almost like they want to lock this material up for a few years, not reissue much, and then hope to sell the Fantasy catalog off to another buyer a few years down the line.

[RDK]

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.

This is just plain wrong. While certainly not lossless, I've found most emusic files to be pretty good quality ever since they upgraded their encoding a few years back. As for sources, I'd bet that, yes, they used the original OJC CDs for ripping, but they also have available most of the new remasters as well: the RVG and Kepnews series, for example. And a lot of people find the "inferior first generation remasters" superior to some of the later reissues. Don't swallow the 24-bit hype without a chaser of skepticism.

[Guy Berger]

I see this Iron Mountain thing as the best of a set of bad alternatives. I certainly feel better with the tapes there rather than in the hands of the current Concord.

Guy

[Ron S]

And a lot of people find the "inferior first generation remasters" superior to some of the later reissues. Don't swallow the 24-bit hype without a chaser of skepticism.

As I've said many times before, the Shelly Manne Black Hawk CDs from the early '90s, for example, are among the best I've ever heard. Many of the early '90s Fantasy issues (as well as many from other labels) have a subtle resolution and presence not found on many "new and improved" 24-bit releases.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I'm not as worried about the actual storage of the material at Iron Mountain as I am that this may be a sign that we can give up hoping for new reissues of things that we'd all like to see.

It looks to me almost like they want to lock this material up for a few years, not reissue much, and then hope to sell the Fantasy catalog off to another buyer a few years down the line.

I think this is the big worry over this. Ditching experienced staff who know what is there and stuffing the material in an archive is really not the action of a business that is keen on exploiting its assets to the full. The only action that runs counter to what you've suggested is the issue of the Johnnie Taylor.

MG

[Jim Alfredson]

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.

How do you know they haven't made high-res transfers?

[J.A.W.]

And a lot of people find the "inferior first generation remasters" superior to some of the later reissues. Don't swallow the 24-bit hype without a chaser of skepticism.

As I've said many times before, the Shelly Manne Black Hawk CDs from the early '90s, for example, are among the best I've ever heard. Many of the early '90s Fantasy issues (as well as many from other labels) have a subtle resolution and presence not found on many "new and improved" 24-bit releases.

Couldn't agree more.

[Claude]

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.

How do you know they haven't made high-res transfers?

I'm not saying they haven't made transfers at all. I don't don't believe they could have made transfers of the complete Fantasy vault. This would need several qualified engineers to work full-time for a couple of years.

[Claude]

And a lot of people find the "inferior first generation remasters" superior to some of the later reissues. Don't swallow the 24-bit hype without a chaser of skepticism.

As I've said many times before, the Shelly Manne Black Hawk CDs from the early '90s, for example, are among the best I've ever heard. Many of the early '90s Fantasy issues (as well as many from other labels) have a subtle resolution and presence not found on many "new and improved" 24-bit releases.

Couldn't agree more.

Those CD transfers sound fine, but it would be sad if these recordings would be preserved for posterity in CD quality only.

Imagine the tapes of important movie classics being destroyed or disappearing, and the only surviving copies being DVDs.

[Ron S]

And a lot of people find the "inferior first generation remasters" superior to some of the later reissues. Don't swallow the 24-bit hype without a chaser of skepticism.

As I've said many times before, the Shelly Manne Black Hawk CDs from the early '90s, for example, are among the best I've ever heard. Many of the early '90s Fantasy issues (as well as many from other labels) have a subtle resolution and presence not found on many "new and improved" 24-bit releases.

Couldn't agree more.

Those CD transfers sound fine, but it would be sad if these recordings would be preserved for posterity in CD quality only.

Imagine the tapes of important movie classics being destroyed or disappearing, and the only surviving copies being DVDs.

True--preserving the original sources would be best. Hans (if I can speak for him) and I were just agreeing with Ray's point that the latest 24-bit CD remasters aren't necessarily superior to early '90s CD issues, and often--to our ears--don't even sound as good.

[J.A.W.]

And a lot of people find the "inferior first generation remasters" superior to some of the later reissues. Don't swallow the 24-bit hype without a chaser of skepticism.

As I've said many times before, the Shelly Manne Black Hawk CDs from the early '90s, for example, are among the best I've ever heard. Many of the early '90s Fantasy issues (as well as many from other labels) have a subtle resolution and presence not found on many "new and improved" 24-bit releases.

Couldn't agree more.

Those CD transfers sound fine, but it would be sad if these recordings would be preserved for posterity in CD quality only.

Imagine the tapes of important movie classics being destroyed or disappearing, and the only surviving copies being DVDs.

True--preserving the original sources would be best. Hans (if I can speak for him) and I were just agreeing with Ray's point that the latest 24-bit CD remasters aren't necessarily superior to early '90s CD issues, and often--to our ears--don't even sound as good.

Correct