Yes, it's all true. Nobody values the analogue
machines or techniques of yesteryear!! See below.
--- "Scott D. Smith" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
What Tom says is sad but true.
I witnessed dub stage B at the same Warner-Hollywood
lot (as shown in
the photo) get gutted in the late 70's. Out the door
went dozens of
beautiful Western Electric 1251B reproducers, a
custom tube console,
selsyn interlock system, monitors, and everything
else. The only thing
they kept were the projection VI's, which are
probably still in use to
this day.
<snip>
This goes
back to the days when
pictures were mixed one 1000' reel at a time, all
the way through. You
blow a cue at 900', and it's back to the
beginning!).
That's where I came in. As an apprentice film editor
in the '50s, I used to carry and pickup the "units"
(the 1000' reels) to and from the dubb (that's how
some people spelled it, then) stages at Desilu. The
mixers had to be really good, but they would do
rehearsal runs, so that they knew what was in their
cue sheets and could adjust levels before the "final"
take. Of course, they could do pickups (redo later
sections), and the sound editors would edit those
together "on the bench".
To clarify what you see in the photo, the lease that
Warner Sound
operations had at the Goldwyn lot at 1041 N. Formosa
was up recently,
and they had to consolidate all of their audio post
to the Burbank lot
(with the exception, I believe, of some of their
archival operations).
It must have been a sad day, as the Sam Goldwyn
sound operations had
been there for many years, and had some beautiful
dub stages. At least 5
pictures I worked on over the years were mixed
there, by some truly
talented re-recording mixers.
RIP.
To that, I say AMEN!
The other tragedy is that the Goldwyn sound stage
where much of Hollywood orchestral film sound track
recording was done was considered the best in
Hollywood, and no one was allowed to even clean or
dust for fear of changing the acoustics. Many of
Capitol Records orchestral and choral (i.e., L.A.
Philharmonic, Roger Wagner Chorale) recordings were
done there as well as other "outside" artists and
labels.
Needless to say, that stage has long since been
"renovated".
Rod Stephens