Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2021 June 1

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June 1

First digitally-recorded soundtrack

Over at Talk:The Black Hole (1979 film)#First Digital Film Soundtrack??, there's a discussion on whether the soundtrack to TBH was the first digitally recorded soundtrack. As TBH was released to theaters in mid-December 1979, the soundtrack was most likely not released prior to 1980. I could find at least two contenders:

• The first entirely digitally-recorded soundtrack album was Stevie Wonder's Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants", recorded February–April 1979, and released on October 30, 1979. However, The Secret Life of Plants was a documentary, not a movie.
• In July 1979, Christopher Cross digitally recorded the song song Sailing. First released on his 20 December 1979 debut album Christopher Cross, the song was used on the episode Hotel Oceanview, of TV drama series WKRP in Cincinnati, originally broadcast on November 29, 1980. Furthermore, Sailing was a priorly digitally-recorded song (as in, prior to The Black Hole) that was later used on the film soundtrack to Flushed Away (2006).
• Fleetwood Mac began to digitally record their song Tusk in 1978, originally released as a single on 19 September 1979, and later used as a soundtrack on the 2013 spy series The Americans.

As the above mentions indicate, we also have the various definitions of whether we're going by recording date, release date, or date of usage, and by genre (movie, TV series, documentary, etc.). Please note that this is not about electronic music or synthesizers, but simply about recording technology (such as PCM). --2003:EF:170D:8A85:54E1:8F02:41CA:91DB (talk) 12:25, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

As with many of these sort of spurious superlatives, you need to define your criteria for a) what is a film? b) what counts as "first" (first recorded, first published, first film released, etc.) There are no rules here; you set your own criteria and then you find which fits your criteria. --Jayron32 12:49, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

As for b.), I've already mentioned that it complicates things a bit, and named a few rules or possible definitions. As for a.)...I think that's covered by definitions such as "movie, TV series, or documentary". Or are you just trying to tell me you don't know what a film is? The basic part of the definition is that it's a soundtrack, so I guess a more fundamental question would be as to what equates to a soundtrack. --2003:EF:170D:8A85:54E1:8F02:41CA:91DB (talk) 13:00, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

No, the point is, that there are no rules for defining "first" or "film" or whatever. You pick your own definitions, and then find the one that meets those criteria. A vague statement is likely to have multiple reasonable answers, so "What is the first digital film soundtrack" will likely have multiple perfectly reasonable answers until such time as you narrow down your criteria. --Jayron32 13:53, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

Pink Floyd 'Money' re-recording

Pink Floyd, or rather David Gilmour, re-recorded the version of the song "Money" for the compilation album A Collection of Great Dance Songs, because they could not get the relevant permissions. But were the cash register sound effects at the beginning of the song also re-recorded for the compilation, or are those taken from the original? The reason I ask is that Roger Waters has recently made a statement taking issue with an old interview with Gilmour in which he claimed that he, Gilmour, worked on the sound effects. It strikes me that Gilmour might have been talking about the re-recording in the interview, which would make Waters look rather silly. --Viennese Waltz 16:03, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

This says they used the original cash register loop. This says that the loop was created by Waters in his garden shed, though in that source Waters only explicitly lays claim to the clinking coins sound, which leaves the matter somewhat open. There's another book-based source in Money (Pink Floyd song) that may also have more information. Waters and Gilmour frequently feuded over things like this, with each generally claiming that the other had done less than they took credit for. An impartial third party, such as Alan Parsons, the engineer on the album, may be worthwhile to find if he had anything so say on the matter. --Jayron32 16:18, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

Perfect, thanks. --Viennese Waltz 16:43, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

From The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd (page 224): "And for contractual reasons, "Money" is a re-recorded version by Gilmour alone alongside original saxophonist Dick Parry - as it includes the original sound effects, it is almost indistinguishable from the original." Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 15:12, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

@Viennese Waltz: - scratch that: From The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia by Vernon Fitch (page 204): Re-recording "....the cash register effects were used from the original version". Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 15:19, 5 June 2021 (UTC)