Okay, boys and girls, gather round. Unca Brad's gonna lay some deep
truths
on ya today.
The question asked:
> How often are the vaults actually searched?
That depends on which vault. In theory, Capitol's vault has been
searched
from stem to stern and is thoroughly indexed. Of course, that's never
really the case, because tapes get put back in the wrong boxes and it
then
becomes impossible to find certain stuff. To the best of my knowledge,
the
Capitol vault has never been subjected to a thorough listening, which
is
what it would take to truly "search" it and know its full contents.
I'm
sure there are tapes in the Capitol vault that have never been pulled
out
and listened to since they were put there. Given the cost of a
complete
search/listen project, that's probably going to remain the status quo
for
many, many years.
The Beach Boys vault has never been subjected to anything close to a
thorough search/listen. An inventory exists, but it's cursory at best
and
really doesn't provide sufficient information about the contents --
even
when a tape is labeled and dated. And that's the biggest problem --
there
are many, many tapes that are mislabeled, incompletely labeled or even
unlabeled. There have been proposals made in recent years for doing a
complete search/listen of the BB's tapes, but the cost would be huge,
so it
doesn't seem likely that it will happen any time soon. Heck, the BBs
don't
even have a full-time librarian or custodian of the vault (Capitol has
a
number of people assigned to maintenance of their vault).
> Do music historians/record company people/et al
Only when somebody's looking for something specific and is determined
to
find it. Then they'll kind of walk through it, looking intently for a
tape
with markings somewhat close to what they imagine it should have.
Tapes are
only pulled and listened to if they seem to pertain to the project at
hand.
There's simply not time (or money) to randomly check out tapes that
aren't
relevant to the work at hand.
> or are they (the tapes) just gathering dust?
Most of them are indeed just gathering dust.
> Is there a risk that Beach Boys music
Not in the Beach Boys' own vault. Most everything there is connected
to
them somehow. In the Capitol vault, though, sometimes tapes get put
back in
the wrong boxes and then you may have a BB tape stored under another
artist's name.
What's more likely, especially in regard to tapes that haven't "come
home"
to either The Beach Boys or Capitol (say, that might be lost in CBS's
vault), is that they're not stored under any artist's name. In the
early
1990s, (supposedly) every tape CBS had that was labeled "Beach Boys"
was
returned to Capitol or The Beach Boys. That included not only the
master
tapes and some of the session tapes for the Caribou albums, but also
vocal
multi-tracks from SUMMER DAYS and PET SOUNDS that had been left at
Columbia
Studios (where they were recorded) back in 1965 and 1966. In theory,
the
vocal multi-tracks from "Good Vibrations" and SMILE should have come
back,
too, as they likely would also have been left at Columbia Studios. But
they
didn't. My guess -- and it's really just that -- is that the tapes may
be
filed and indexed under "Good Vibrations" or "Heroes & Villains" or
even
"Artist Unknown," because the tapes don't list the artist, only the
track
that was recorded. Anybody at Columbia Studios in the 1960s would have
known right away that such tapes were BB tapes, but 35 years later,
when
they're stored in a warehouse kinda like that shown at the end of
"Raiders
of the Lost Ark," who's gonna know?
> How do so many tapes actually go missing?
Well, that's the case now. But in the 1960s, the BBs didn't have their
own
tape vault. It was customary to leave your tapes at the studio where
you
recorded or mixed them. The many L.A. studios provided storage for
their
clients' tapes. When the Beach Boys set up their own studio in 1967,
they
began to pull their tapes back in from the various studios, but they
weren't
systematic about it. Sometimes, as in the case of Columbia Studios,
the
studio was closed down and the tapes were shipped off to a record
label's
warehouse back east. Sometimes, the studio was sold to new owners and,
after a certain number of years of staring at tapes that took up space
and
nobody ever used, the new owners would junk them. Nobody recognized
that
they were dealing with history.
Okay, boys and girls, class over. Back to your shenanigans!
Unca Brad
------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 04:11:41 -0500
> Brad. Thanks for the info on vault searches. I think they could find
Volunteers to do the job are definitely not in short supply. The real
problem is, as Kenny figured out, "how expensive the whole process can
be."
> It is getting to the stage whereby these tapes will be considered,
No question about that! What's on those tapes *has* to be looked at as
history!
> Maintaining them can be a nightmare, if any of those tapes
Actually, the oldest tapes (from the 1960s) play back with no problems,
regardless of whether they've been played over the years or not. The
problems, as I expect many of this list's members realize, is the tapes
from
the 1970s, which used a synthetic lubricant that has dried out over the
years. Some of those tapes are in *BAD* shape! And something needs to
be
done before they deteriorate to where they're absolutely unplayable!
> There's loads of options but money would have to be spent.
Even assuming the person actually doing the project would work for
free, the
cost for the necessary equipment to do the job -- and keep it in
working
order for the duration of the project -- is outrageous! The variety of
tape
formats that have to be accommodated is mind-boggling!
Sure, it's not hard to find a 2-track 1/4" reel-to-reel deck or a
24-track
2" deck, but when's the last time you saw a full-track (mono) 1/4"
deck, or
(shudder) a 3-track 1/2" deck, or a 4-track 1/2" deck, or an 8-track 1"
deck, or a 16-track 2" deck? And that's just the analog reel-to-reel
formats! You're also going to need odd stuff like a 3/4" U-matic video
deck
with PCM decoder! And, of course, the necessary equipment and media to
which you're going to transfer the material.
Really, you might as well be talking about building a new studio! The
amount of time it will take to go through everything in the BB's vault
(in
excess of 1800 tapes!) makes it economically unfeasible to rent time at
a
commercial studio. You'd have to block out time for a year! And the
rental
charges on the obsolete decks would send the costs right through the
roof!
You'd do better to track down and *buy* all the equipment you need,
then set
it up in a facility specifically for that purpose. But then you've
also got
to invest in all the usual studio stuff -- board, monitors, power
conditioning, etc. And let's not forget the ongoing cost of just
keeping
the place running -- monthly utilities, rent (or mortgage), etc.
In short, it's not a cheap project -- probably in the hundred of
thousands
of dollars! That's a lot of moolah for somebody to invest in a project
that's not going to provide any immediate return. Sure, over the long
haul,
it probably would pay for itself, but right now no one's inclined to
make
the necessary financial commitment because it'd be cash out of pocket
for
quite some time.
Eventually, though, I feel certain that somebody will see the wisdom in
preserving the history, regardless of the cost. I just hope that it
comes
sooner rather than later!
(Actually, if anybody really wanted to give such a project a major
kick-start, the proper approach would be to find some well-endowed
historical foundation that would provide a grant to start it. If
anybody
has those kind of connections, let's talk! Drop me a line ASAP!)
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 18:06:58 -0500
Subject: Re: RE: Re: Re: SMideaLEs
> actually go through the tapes on a fairly regular basis
> is stored under another artist's name?
> One would think that, considering the size of the vaults,
> putting the tapes back where they're supposed to be is crucial to
even
> locate it the next time, etc....
Subject: Re: RE: RE: Re: Re: SMideaLEs
> some volunteers for that work here. How many do they need. I think
> we can provide 100.
> by some, as historical artifacts.
> haven't been played back over the years chances are some at
> least some will be corrupted or on their way to becoming so.
> How's about a wholesale transfer onto digi-tape, or hard drive
> equivalent. I'd take a job doing that
If you have any comments on this topic, psychedelismile@yahoo.com and I will try to promptly post any interesting replies.