Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Looking for the soundtrack to go with this image

This is topic Looking for the soundtrack to go with this image in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-18-2015, 01:38 AM:

OK this is a real longshot but...

Using the services of a company recommended by a film-techer, I had a classic "Prevues" snipe rescued recently -- but the very beginning is cut off and it has a few splices in it. I would love to find the original soundtrack uncut.

I think it's from National Screen Service. There's a similar looking snipe in Tim Reed's collection but it has different music than this -- it's a bouncy 1950s-sounding instrumental with violins and muted trumpets. I've looked around on YouTube and a few other places with no luck. Anybody got a "pristine" copy?

This snipe is one that I projected for several years when I first started working at the theater so I'm really hoping to bring it into the digital age for when we play a movie that attracts an older crowd.

Any help is appreciated - a sample of the image is below.

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 02-18-2015, 03:56 PM:

Mike, any chance you could do an audio grab of the existing damaged track? Or maybe do a video of the snipe with audio? That would help a lot. [Smile]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-18-2015, 05:29 PM:

I can post the audio file somewhere with a link to it. I will do that tonight when I get to that computer.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-20-2015, 04:11 PM:

Contact Tim Reed personally. He has even more collections than are shown. You audio may well be used on another snipe as well. An audio capture of what you have will help a lot. They used the same ones over and over. Good luck.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 02-20-2015, 04:21 PM:

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr
Mike, any chance you could do an audio grab of the existing damaged track?

I was thinking the same thing.

Many times the same music tracks were used across different date snipes.

I might have the same track on my "drive in reel" or other collection here.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-20-2015, 05:56 PM:

Sorry I haven't gotten the file posted yet....tonight for sure. Other pressing issues have gotten in the way, plus I forgot about it for one day. [Big Grin]

Tonite for sure.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-20-2015, 09:38 PM:

OK the sound file should be available at this Link.

Please let me know if it doesn't work and thanks for the help!

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 02-21-2015, 01:22 AM:

Almost has a Muzak quality to it...
Never heard this one before.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-21-2015, 12:24 PM:

No, no, no, that isn't Muzak, that's awesome Seeburg background quality stuff there!

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-21-2015, 05:22 PM:

Good old production or "buy-out" music. (Pay once, run forever.) Tim may also have this in a radio station production set.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-21-2015, 05:30 PM:

I'll send Tim an email.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-05-2015, 11:08 PM:

OK, so I fixed up this "Prevues" footage. I replaced the original soundtrack with a 1960s tune that seemed to fit (the last 10 seconds of "Telephone Song" by Julius Wechter and the Baja Marimba Band, to be exact) and trimmed the picture to fit the music, and added appropriate fades. It sounds great, so this thing is ready for its closeup.

The dilemma is, since the film was run about thousands of times by a lot of careless projectionists over the years (and before Film-Guard was even conceived), it looks like crap. I mean it looks like it's going to jump the sprockets any second. Splices, scratches, the whole bit -- the only thing it doesn't have is (much) dirt, since the outfit that did the digital conversion cleaned it as well as possible.

But, it still looks cool and "kitschy" to me and I would like to put it back on the screen, since it's the trailer we were running when I first took over this theatre in 1979.

Of course we all know how I try to keep my presentations sharp, so my question for you guys: Should I

(a) run it as is, as a novelty, and let people wonder 'what the hell?';

(b) not run it at all, since it makes "film look bad"

(c) create a little text disclaimer such as "Vintage film from the '60s" at the bottom of the screen

I don't really like "b" since I did spend the money to have the thing rescued.

I am still going to write to Tim Reed (soon as I post this message) to see if he has the original music; but in the meantime I had fun fixing it up a little and finding music that seemed to fit.