spintheblackestcircles.org

I decided to see if I can make a list for the coming year with all that is mentioned and teased. I guess some of the titles we will never see but they were announced a some point by Waxwork.

Crimson Peak (I don't think they will release this anymore)
House of Hayduk (Waxwork Original) (see comment above)

French Connection
Near Dark
Alice Sweet Alice
Thief
Prom Night
Friday the 13th: The Game
Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood (2xLP)
Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (2xLP)
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (LP)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Part II: The Secret Of The Ooze (LP)
Jacob's Ladder (LP)
The Lords of Salem
Color out of Space (Colin Stetson)
Gretel & Hansel (Rob)

Candyman (2020)

shipping in January (confirmed in mail to 2019 subscribers):

Sorcerer - Tangerine Dream
Maniac - Dan Romer

not mentioned but guessed:
Frankenstein (1931) (because of Universal Monster Spinature of Frankenstein's Monster)

Most titles listed above were mentioned in 2018 or earlier. Am I right in thinking that 2019 hasn't been the best of years for Waxwork? Probably because of pressing/licensing issue as evident with the 2019 sub titles. I have a feeling they wanted to release more.

Also, as I am not on facebook or other social media I might have missed a lot of titles mentioned elsewhere. Please add if someone knows more...

And as a side note looking at their Discogs page: WW045 is missing, as is WW056 and WW057 (probably other AMS/Cinevox releases they are not releasing anymore?), and WW061, WW065, WW067, WW068, WW073-WW076 (last release is WW082 Child's Play - Bear McCreary)

Nice post, Bez.

I really hope someone does The French Connection and does it well. That's easily my number one here. I'm up for Near Dark as I don't have one and good copies are more expensive than new vinyl, even Waxwork's. Thief has to bring something like new music/tracklist or vastly improved sound to the table for me to buy it, same with Sorcerer. And as someone who doesn't own Jacob's Ladder, I'm curious to hear how that goes. I don't think I care much for the rest.

Dawn of the Dead Library Music is still confirmed as coming. Don't know if it'll be 2020 though.

Curious about this Dawn library. Figures, after spending a ton of cash to obtain all of the records.

I’ll say this, though: I have learned a lot about Waxwork’s NOTLD release and it doesn’t instill me with the highest confidence in their methods when it comes to sound quality.

Also, I don’t know if it’s “confirmed” as much as they said they’re still hoping or trying to do it? Can someone refresh my memory?

All I know is, I made a playlist of Dawn library stuff to sequence for a lathe LP (it’s still ongoing) and I cut out a handful of songs I didn’t care about and it was still 3 discs! So if they’re trying to be completist, it’s going to be expensive.

havershaw wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 7:24 pm Curious about this Dawn library. Figures, after spending a ton of cash to obtain all of the records.

I’ll say this, though: I have learned a lot about Waxwork’s NOTLD release and it doesn’t instill me with the highest confidence in their methods when it comes to sound quality.

Also, I don’t know if it’s “confirmed” as much as they said they’re still hoping or trying to do it? Can someone refresh my memory?

All I know is, I made a playlist of Dawn library stuff to sequence for a lathe LP (it’s still ongoing) and I cut out a handful of songs I didn’t care about and it was still 3 discs! So if they’re trying to be completist, it’s going to be expensive.

I'm sure your version will be more comprehensive and probably have better artwork & possibly sound better. Plus I'm pretty sure it's been a few years since they said they were doing it and then this year they finally acknowledged on FB that they are still working on it.

havershaw wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 7:24 pm I’ll say this, though: I have learned a lot about Waxwork’s NOTLD release and it doesn’t instill me with the highest confidence in their methods when it comes to sound quality.

I’m curious on what you learned? What are they’re methods?

Well, I don’t want to say anything remotely negative about the fellow who essentially put these tracks together, because I’ve chatted with him a lot recently, and he’s a really great guy whose deep knowledge of the Capitol Hi-Q library is virtually without peer. If it weren’t for him, a lot of this music would have faded into obscurity for good.
BUT
I’ll say this: none of this work was done in a studio, and while I think it sounds *good*, I own several of these original Hi-Q LPs and those sound *dramatically* better than some of these tracks.
Some tracks were taken from tapes, some from the LPs. IMO, the tape tracks sound noticeably worse because they had a lot of hiss and had to have considerable noise reduction applied. The top end really suffers on these tracks as a result. To me, the overall depth and space on the tracks taken from the LPs are vastly better than the tape tracks.
And again, none of this work was done in a proper studio with really great A/D converters etc.

I’m very grateful that it was done, of course, and I’d rather have this than nothing, but I think that the sound of the LPs could have been better preserved.

havershaw wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 4:41 am Well, I don’t want to say anything remotely negative about the fellow who essentially put these tracks together, because I’ve chatted with him a lot recently, and he’s a really great guy whose deep knowledge of the Capitol Hi-Q library is virtually without peer. If it weren’t for him, a lot of this music would have faded into obscurity for good.
BUT
I’ll say this: none of this work was done in a studio, and while I think it sounds *good*, I own several of these original Hi-Q LPs and those sound *dramatically* better than some of these tracks.
Some tracks were taken from tapes, some from the LPs. IMO, the tape tracks sound noticeably worse because they had a lot of hiss and had to have considerable noise reduction applied. The top end really suffers on these tracks as a result. To me, the overall depth and space on the tracks taken from the LPs are vastly better than the tape tracks.
And again, none of this work was done in a proper studio with really great A/D converters etc.

I’m very grateful that it was done, of course, and I’d rather have this than nothing, but I think that the sound of the LPs could have been better preserved.

nitpick all you want but have you experienced the colors of that splatter vinyl in person?

This is all really interesting, @hs. An argument for 2nd gen copy from an existing pressing > from the tapes... who'd have thunk it!!

;)

Obviously the main takeaway from your intel is that 'from the tapes' is all very good if you have the gear to deal with that process properly. Have to add (and you can read all about it in my detailed Varese/Ww comparison!) that your thoughts completely tally with my own- ie the Waxwork sounds less lively than the Varese, though your comparison is with the original library LPs so who knows how THOSE compare even with the Varese compilation! Though you have to assume that VS used master tapes rather than working from library LPs for their release?

I think the VS release sounds more like the original LPs, but the original LPs do sound better.

NOTLD score history is really complicated and I’ve learned a lot about it, but I’ve also forgotten a bit about it because the web is so tangled.

The Capitol Hi-Q library went through some legal tangles when a few of the composers tried to take some kind of legal action. I can’t recall the specifics. But basically, they won and succeeded in having a bunch of their cues removed from the Hi-Q library. As a result, the earlier pressings of the Hi-Q stuff have a good number of cues substituted with newer stuff.

Apparently, The Hi-Q LP set Romero had was an older one (as there are a decent number of cues in NOTLD that were removed as part of that lawsuit).
Capitol really didn’t have the rights to let him use those tracks, but apparently reluctantly licensed them to him anyway, and told him to not use the older discs anymore. I actually recall being told that at least some of the cues in the film are actually from the vinyl because Capitol no longer had them (or Romero got impatient and went ahead and cut them into the film from them).

Years later, Ole Georg became the controller of the Hi-Q library. When VS licensed the tracks from him, he didn’t have the right to license some of the tracks for a soundtrack release, but he went ahead and did it anyway, changing the composer credits for the songs he didn’t have the rights to license. I guess he figured no one would notice (and as far as I know, he wasn’t sued, so I guess no one did).

I can’t remember which tracks have the wrong credits, but at a glance at the LP, a bunch of those tracks were written by Phillip Green and there’s no mention of him on there at all.

Supposedly Waxwork added an insert to their NOTLD with the composer credits, but mine doesn’t have one and I’ve never seen one.

skeletonbutt wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 11:17 am nitpick all you want but have you experienced the colors of that splatter vinyl in person?

I’m not sure what you’re asking me here.
I have the subscriber variant, which is like a black/white/grey hazy splatter (and it does look cool).

oh, forgot to add:
I’m guessing that Ole Georg didn’t have the actual master tapes for any of the stuff he couldn’t legally license to VS, anyway. So maybe that stuff was sourced elsewhere.

My thing regarding the sound of the tapes vs the LPs is partially a theory.
But:
The original LPs would have been made off the original mix reels, I’m assuming (probably 1/2”) and all I know is there isn’t a drop of hiss on those LPs. They are dead quiet and they have terrific highs and lows, super punchy.

The tapes that are out there (used for some of this LP release) would be on 1/4” tape, recorded at 7 ips, which isn’t really ideal at all. They’re 2nd generation tape copies, done at a lower speed/quality. I would think the LPs would be much closer to the fidelity of the original mixes.
On top of which, the cues used from tape for the Waxwork release were done on a consumer reel to reel player, to an older DAT machine (thus using 90s era A to D built into the DAT recorders). The consumer reel to reel player was not calibrated or aligned specifically to the Hi-Q tapes, which is probably why they’re so hissy (he sent me a few samples of what he supplied Waxwork with, prior to him de-noising the tracks, and they are hissy as all hell).

A nice transfer off the LPs might need de-noised for surface noise/pops and clicks, but hiss wouldn’t be an issue at all, so the top end would automatically be better.

That having been said: we are all lucky that he did all this work. There’s not many people on the planet who are as knowledgeable about the Hi-Q library, and I’m certain no one knows the NOTLD cues better than him.

He did tell me that in retrospect, he should have had his reel to reel calibrated specifically for these tapes (and there are calibration tones at the top of each tape so it would have been possible).

eek, sorry for the massive NOTLD novel.

Amazing info @havershaw

It does seem like an oversight to not calibrate for bias when duplicating. Although it wouldn’t account for all of the tape hiss, you have to start somewhere. Hiss can be introduced anywhere in the record path, even a parallel power lead can cause induction although again, it’s percentages here and there rather than the whole. Even using starquad instead of basic core can sometimes put in artefacts but it’s likely a number of factors which you weed out one by one. It’s just a lot easier to de-noise than find the culprit

That was a ripping yarn, Havershaw. Thanks for the education.

I'm loving all this info. I feel smarter today. Thanks guys ;)

Thanks @havershaw I wasn’t expecting so much info and I agree we all owe your friend some gratitude and I don’t want to shit on any company that puts the time/money/effort into reissues. I’m extremely grateful for them. That being said I have noticed almost every time I track down a original release they sound better. Also I feel like I have to step up my game a little as I know nothing about the capitol Hi-Q library. That’s why I love this forum.

Well, to be fair:

The fellow who assembled the NOTLD record that Waxwork released didn’t really do it for Waxwork. He did it for his own release and then Waxwork asked him to share.
He supplied them with the tracks and then they released them without paying for him anything and they also managed to misspell his name in the credits as well.

He does not look at it as a positive experience, I’m pretty sure.

I’m still glad there’s a NOTLD score out on vinyl that’s mostly complete, but I don’t think it was handled as well as it could be (mostly on WW’s part).

I think also some additional mastering was done by WW and I’m not sure it helped a ton.

This is part of why I’m on a mission to purchase and digitize all* of the Hi-Q stuff at a crazy high sample rate through a crazy expensive A to D converter. I would love for all of this stuff to be archived at the highest possible quality.

*at least the D Series, anyway

Well that’s just a shitty deal boo-urns indeed.

havershaw wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 3:13 pm

skeletonbutt wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 11:17 am nitpick all you want but have you experienced the colors of that splatter vinyl in person?

I’m not sure what you’re asking me here.
I have the subscriber variant, which is like a black/white/grey hazy splatter (and it does look cool).

just a failed attempted at a joke, that the music is secondary to the cool package they put together.

@skeleton
hahaha, I got it now!

havershaw wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 8:47 pm Well, to be fair:

The fellow who assembled the NOTLD record that Waxwork released didn’t really do it for Waxwork. He did it for his own release and then Waxwork asked him to share.
He supplied them with the tracks and then they released them without paying for him anything and they also managed to misspell his name in the credits as well.

He does not look at it as a positive experience, I’m pretty sure.

Fuck those thin-skinned, money grubbing muppets right in their collective turkey purse. Full stop.

Mateo Sanboval wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 5:06 am

havershaw wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 8:47 pm Well, to be fair:

The fellow who assembled the NOTLD record that Waxwork released didn’t really do it for Waxwork. He did it for his own release and then Waxwork asked him to share.
He supplied them with the tracks and then they released them without paying for him anything and they also managed to misspell his name in the credits as well.

He does not look at it as a positive experience, I’m pretty sure.

Fuck those thin-skinned, money grubbing muppets right in their collective turkey purse. Full stop.

That's of course a way to put it.

it's unbelievable they would operate in that way, especially since this is such a relatively small, niche community, but after releasing those goblin records without permission, i guess nothing is beneath them.

Mateo Sanboval wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 5:06 am

havershaw wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 8:47 pm
He does not look at it as a positive experience, I’m pretty sure.

Fuck those thin-skinned, money grubbing muppets right in their collective turkey purse. Full stop.