Tomita The Planets 2003

Does anyone have or know much about any alterations or remixing Tomita
made to "The Planets" he made in the early to mid 90s? I'm not talking
about the silver cover BMG Dolby Pro Logic reissue, I know about it and
that it wasn't supervised by him.

There was a laser disc that was out, right? Anyone compare the version
on that to the original CD? And more stangely, long ago he was involved
with a pay for download venture that eventually went out of business
(Logic System was also involved). Tomita's major offereing was, as I
recall, a remastered "The Planets" ... I imediately found it both
interesting and curious because the Liquid Audio or even more obscure
TwinVQ (? I think) formats I'm sure were surely far from hi-fi, so what
exactly was the urge to make it? The pay service may have been over time
and not on a pay for each file as I recall (I couldn't figure out how to
pay and was looking for someone in Japan with both high bandwidth and
interest, I finally did and the site was gone!).

It also keeps occuring to me that some of the changes on the new one and
maybe even old ones might be quite intentional so as to create a new
recording that BMG presumably didn't own. This is pure guesswork but
that thought keeps coming up.

I also keep thinking some of the changes and the set up for the 2003
version may have been already in the works on these earlier
incarnations. Like maybe guessing first he prepared a "new" recording
that was not owned by BMG? and this release takes advantage of all the
elements -- though one may guess that any work he did in the 90s might
only have been 16 bit digital? So maybe this is just what its seems to
be, augmenting the 1976 elements to do a new hi fi surround mix.

nick

 

In a message dated 4/10/03 5:27:17 PM Central Daylight Time,
ndkent at optonline.net writes:

> Does anyone have or know much about any alterations or remixing Tomita
> made to "The Planets" he made in the early to mid 90s? I'm not talking
> about the silver cover BMG Dolby Pro Logic reissue, I know about it and
> that it wasn't supervised by him.
>
> There was a laser disc that was out, right? Anyone compare the version
> on that to the original CD?


Hi Nick,
Do you know if this laser disc is the same recording as the DVD video that
was released a couple of years ago? One version of this Planets DVD Video is
with Patrick Stewart narrating. I have the one without narration, and it
sounds like it's the same mix as the 1976 release. At least I don't remember
anything new in the mix (it's been awhile since I've listened to it). The DVD
video does seem to be lacking in audio quality a little though. Things don't
sound as clear as the surround CD.

Andrew

 

In a message dated 4/10/2003 6:27:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
ndkent at optonline.net writes:

> I'm not talking
> about the silver cover BMG Dolby Pro Logic reissue, I know about it and
> that it wasn't supervised by him.

I can certainly believe that Tomita had nothing to do with those mixes, but
it's interesting that the current Japanese CD release of The Planets bears
the Dolby Surround logo.

 

kimbawlion at aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 4/10/2003 6:27:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> ndkent at optonline.net writes:
>
> > I'm not talking
> > about the silver cover BMG Dolby Pro Logic reissue, I know about it and
> > that it wasn't supervised by him.
>
> I can certainly believe that Tomita had nothing to do with those mixes, but
> it's interesting that the current Japanese CD release of The Planets bears
> the Dolby Surround logo.

You mean the CD right? Not the DVD-A? And I assume you mean Dolby Pro
Logic Surround.

Thats very odd. I don't have a Japanese CD of that one but I was still
buying other Japanese CD reissues as late as 2000 and don't recall any
of them being Pro-Logic, but I've not grabbed each one to check right
now. I wonder if that is correct when and which ones did the BMG Japan
put out.

As for the Patrick Stewart video release, I don't have it and never
really got into hunting down video/LD/DVD... so I guess what I'm far
more curious about is "Hansel and Gretel", often mentined, rarely
actually discussed or detailed.

As for DVDs, foreign videos, etc., it is fairly common to make those
from consumer retailed Laser Discs as delivered masters, especially for
overseas versions, so as a general rule a lot of non-prestige projects
will be for better or worse about as good or bad as the dub they make
from the japanese pressed LD

nick
http://www.artcontext.com/music/artskool/jem/

 

In a message dated 4/10/2003 7:40:47 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
ndkent at optonline.net writes:

> > I can certainly believe that Tomita had nothing to do with those mixes,
but
> > it's interesting that the current Japanese CD release of The Planets
bears
> > the Dolby Surround logo.
>
> You mean the CD right? Not the DVD-A? And I assume you mean Dolby Pro
> Logic Surround.

Well, as I understand it, Dolby Surround is the method of mixing surround
sound into two analog channels, and Dolby Pro-Logic is one method of decoding
the sound (the "logic" of the circuitry enhances spatial separation, giving
you independent Left, Right, and Center channels; plain Dolby Surround
playback doesn't seem to be much different from the old Hafler matrix
system). So the audio source will be Dolby Surround, while it's up to you
whether you use Dolby Surround or Dolby Pro-Logic Surround playback equipment.

But the 1991 Japanese release of The Planets on CD does have the double-D
logo and the words Dolby Surround. And, I had forgotten this, so does
Snowflakes Are Dancing. Interesting, because when the US Dolby Surround
issues appeared, I thought The Planets was the most successful, and
Snowflakes almost as good. AFAIK these are the most recent Japanese CD
releases, because I just got them a few months ago from HMV Japan. The other
CDs, released at the same time, do not have the Dolby logos.

 

Welp, I'm in. After some head scratching and scrounging around the amazon.jp
site, I was able to sign up and place an order for the Planets DVD-A and the
NHK disc. Delivery estimate shows as being 5/13 through 5/23, but I think
that is a worst case scenario. I hope they ship soon. For the record, the
prices in US dollars for the discs are around $20.77 for the NHK disc, and
$29.08 for the Planets DVD-A.

Thanks all,
Andrew

 

Delivery date for my order is around 4/15 to 4/18
so yours should also quicker.

Marcel

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ixqy at aol.com [mailto:ixqy at aol.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 11, 2003 4:59 PM
> To: isaotomita at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [isaotomita] Tomita The Planets 2003
>
>
>
> Welp, I'm in. After some head scratching and scrounging
> around the amazon.jp
> site, I was able to sign up and place an order for the
> Planets DVD-A and the
> NHK disc. Delivery estimate shows as being 5/13 through 5/23,
> but I think
> that is a worst case scenario. I hope they ship soon. For the
> record, the
> prices in US dollars for the discs are around $20.77 for the
> NHK disc, and
> $29.08 for the Planets DVD-A.
>
> Thanks all,
> Andrew
>
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