Back in 2015, Gene Deitch's words about his Tom and Jerry cartoons was the subject of a Cartoon Research post, used to coincide with the release of the "Tom and Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection" DVD. Reading it again, there was a part that stuck out to me.

"What I couldn’t tell anybody at the time is that I brought my own Ampex 1/4” tape recorder into the studio, and recorded the orchestras myself, with little more than a volume control and only two microphones, all my own property! The engineers here thought I was crazy, but I got brighter results than they did. (They had only one-channel mono recording. I recorded all the tracks in stereo. Stereo did not exist here at all in 1961! I also created all the sound effects at home, except the sounds Tod Dockstader made, and sent me on quarter-inch tape!"

So it appears that the audio for the cartoons were recorded in stereo, but the release prints were in mono. I'm wondering if these original audio elements are still out there, or maybe they just don't exist anymore.


Original Cartoon Research post for reference:
http://cartoonresearch.c...-gene-deitch-collection/ 

Back in 2015, Gene Deitch's words about his Tom and Jerry cartoons was the subject of a Cartoon Research post, used to coincide with the release of the "Tom and Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection" DVD. Reading it again, there was a part that stuck out to me.

"What I couldn’t tell anybody at the time is that I brought my own Ampex 1/4” tape recorder into the studio, and recorded the orchestras myself, with little more than a volume control and only two microphones, all my own property! The engineers here thought I was crazy, but I got brighter results than they did. (They had only one-channel mono recording. I recorded all the tracks in stereo. Stereo did not exist here at all in 1961! I also created all the sound effects at home, except the sounds Tod Dockstader made, and sent me on quarter-inch tape!"

So it appears that the audio for the cartoons were recorded in stereo, but the release prints were in mono. I'm wondering if these original audio elements are still out there, or maybe they just don't exist anymore.


Original Cartoon Research post for reference:
http://cartoonresearch.c...-gene-deitch-collection/ 

I have also been curious about this ever since reading Deitch's post back then. The restored cartoons on the Gene Deitch DVD set have mono audio, but is it possible that the stereo elements still exist in Warner's archives somewhere?

Also... do we really KNOW that they were originally released to theaters with mono sound back in 1961-62? Could it be possible that they were presented with stereo sound?

I have also been curious about this ever since reading Deitch's post back then. The restored cartoons on the Gene Deitch DVD set have mono audio, but is it possible that the stereo elements still exist in Warner's archives somewhere?

Also... do we really KNOW that they were originally released to theaters with mono sound back in 1961-62? Could it be possible that they were presented with stereo sound?

At this point in time, the optical audio soundtrack on film prints were in mono. Stereo soundtracks on optical was not a thing until the introduction of Dolby Stereo in 1975/76.

Considering the adysmal buget Deitch's crew had to work with, I highly doubt that MGM would care to spend their money on a cartoon series to ensure that they would be presented in stereo, given that 1961-1962 were pretty much the twilight years of theatrical animation.

I have also been curious about this ever since reading Deitch's post back then. The restored cartoons on the Gene Deitch DVD set have mono audio, but is it possible that the stereo elements still exist in Warner's archives somewhere?

Also... do we really KNOW that they were originally released to theaters with mono sound back in 1961-62? Could it be possible that they were presented with stereo sound?

At this point in time, the optical audio soundtrack on film prints were in mono. Stereo soundtracks on optical was not a thing until the introduction of Dolby Stereo in 1975/76.

Considering the adysmal buget Deitch's crew had to work with, I highly doubt that MGM would care to spend their money on a cartoon series, given that 1961-1962 were pretty much the twilight years of theatrical animation.

To be honest, I don't know enough about the history of film prints to say what "optical" audio means as opposed to other types of audio on film. But if mono had become the standard for the industry again by the early 60s, then yeah, I'm thinking pretty much the same as you about MGM.