Beware the legend/myth amplification factor -- based on their teaser, PBS did little or no
fact-checking. Les Paul did not "invent" multi-tracking or over-dubbing as he's claimed over the
years. ARSC Journal published the first-hand history of how the Ampex 300 8-track Sel-Sync "Octopus"
came to be (see the article by Ross Snyder, ARSC Journal):
http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/sel-sync/snyder_sel-sync.pdf
"Overdubbing" (ie laying recorded sound on top of recorded sound or live sound played with recorded
sound) goes back to the disk and optical film eras long before magnetic tape. And "multi-track"
recording and mixing goes to the earliest days of optical sound in Hollywood (ie rooms of dubbers,
carrying various dialog, music and SFX mixed to a final soundtrack). Furthermore, a musician playing
many parts by himself goes back at least to Sidney Bechet "The Sheik of Araby", "Sidney Bechet's
One Man Band", Bechet recorded over and over on different wax, overdubbing himself on clarinet
,soprano sax, tenor sax, piano, bass, and drums. Recorded in New York; April 18, 1941.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Ramm" <Stevramm@xxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 9:14 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] new Les Paul doc on PBS - July 11
>
> In a message dated 7/6/2007 10:16:33 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> Gerald_Fabris@xxxxxxx writes:
>
> "Les Paul - Chasing Sound", a new documentary on the life of Les Paul, has
> its TV debut on PBS - Wednesday, July 11, 2007 at 9pm (ET), part of their
> "American Masters" series. See here for more info:
> http://www.lespaulfilm.com/
>
>
> Will be released on DVD in August with Bonus Footage - Coming from Koch Ent.
>
> Steve
>
>
>
> ************************************** Get a sneak peak of the all-new AOL at
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