Delicatissimo - A 1958 Capitol Recording

It’s interesting to compare one of the most delicate portions of the album:  the famous up-tuned classical guitar intro to “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry.”  Keep in mind that the guitarist, Al Viola, was several feet away from the stereo microphones, but quite close to the mono microphone.  (Capitol made two simultaneous, but fully separate and different recordings: close-miked in mono; more-distantly miked in stereo.)  Keep in mind also that 3M had supposedly provided 1/2-inch tape to Capitol, and the formulation apparently caused more hiss than usual to be evident in the 3-track source tapes for the stereo recording only.  Below is a collection of 5 samples from this quiet guitar passage:  1.) The 1960 7.5 ips reel-to-reel edition; 2.) The MFSL stereo LP from 1982; 3.) The 1987 Walsh-mastered CD; 4.) The 1998 Norberg-mastered CD; 5.) The 2008 MFSL mono CD.  CLICK THE PHOTO TO HEAR THE SAMPLES.

Here, we get to play a delicate balancing act.  On the reel-to-reel and on the stereo MFSL LP, there is clearly no NR applied, which means there is a large amount of hiss, but there is also a very natural tone and sound.  When the Walsh remix kicks in, the effects of 1987 noise reduction really become apparent, with Sinatra apparently singing through a layer of gauze.  The later Norberg remaster seems to have “better quality” noise reduction employed, but there’s something painfully lifeless about the whole affair.  The MFSL mono CD is, of course, sourced from different (and non-technically-deficient) tapes, mixed live-to-mono (including heavy reverb) with a close mic on the guitar.