Note: The original location of this information has closed. What follows is the "cached" version. This is the snapshop that Google took of the page. We included this here because of the information it contains about Pat Valentino that was not available elsewhere.
This month�s featured Makin� Tracks artist is Mr. Pat Valentino, who�s been around the entertainment industry his whole life, having come from a long line of show business personalities. After winning the Hollywood bowl award at the age of ten, Valentino joined the famous Mitchell Boys Choir in 1955. For the next three years, he performed for movies, television, radio, and concerts in the United States and Europe. Valentino then attended Hollywood Professional School, where he won the Bank of America fine arts award in 1962. Upon graduation, he taught music at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music - the youngest person ever to do so.
Valentino has worked as musical director, conductor, pianist, and arranger ever since for such artists as Englebert Humperdink, Flip Wilson, Vicki Carr, Don Costa, Pat and Debbie Boone, The Lettermen, Frank Sinatra, Jr., and over one hundred television shows throughout the world. Valentino has recorded for Capitol records, RCA, A&M Records, as well as Bonneville Broadcasting Company, writing over three hundred orchestrations within a 28 month period. Also to his credit are his guest appearances as conductor with the symphonies of Edmonton, Canada; Manchester, England; Anchorage, Alaska; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Jackson, Tennessee.
Whew! Quite an impressive resume! And as equally impressive is the recent work Valentino has done using IQS�s SAWPlus!
The Lorne Greene Project
I have to say, that when I hear the name Lorne Greene, my first thought is of the classic �Bonanza� series and the legendary theme song which any of us can hum, sing, or drum at a moments notice, even though the last time we watched it may have been two decades ago. So when I heard that Valentino had been involved in producing a new CD featuring the voice of the late Lorne Greene, I thought it would probably follow along the same kind of cowboyish country-western genre with rustic ol� love songs about life alone on the range since my true love left me� You know the type.
But WOW! Was I blown away when I heard this incredible piece of work! The CD entitled "Legacy of Love" features the warm, calming voice of Lorne Greene reading, with unbelievable passion and depth, the workings of renowned lyricist, Ric Marlow (�Taste of Honey�). The entire musical soundtrack behind Greene�s voice is the beautiful and mesmerizing work of Pat Valentino and company. Valentino was involved in this project on such an intimate level, that you will feel the same intense emotion in the music as in the words.
The inside sleeve of the CD (which is in book format displaying many pictures of Greene and his family) has the message "Listen to this with someone you love" printed in the forward. Good advice. This is truly a work of love from everyone who participated in the project.
Valentino enthusiastically filled us in on how this project came about. "Lorne Greene was good friends with Ric Marlow and had always wanted to read Ric�s lyrics. Lorne convinced him to come out to his house to do just that. Keep in mind that this was over 14 years ago when this took place. Ric showed up with Al Schmitt, who recorded Lorne using a Nagra recorder. With no rehearsal, the three of them sat in Lorne�s living room and made the recording. Lorne read beautifully - and with nothing in the background to inspire him, only his appreciation for the passion in Ric�s lyrics."
The recordings were stored on Nagra 5" reels and archived. And that�s where they stayed for 14 years.
Valentino was contacted by Marlow all these years later, as Marlow felt he was the best man for taking the recordings (which had since been transferred to dat) and turning them into something the public could appreciate. The end result was phenomenal.
Using SAWPlus, Valentino loaded the old dat tapes (24 cuts) into his workstation and took on what turned out to be a huge project. The first step was to re-pitch the soundfiles which had inadvertently been altered during the dat tape mix-down. Then Valentino painstakingly edited the entire file literally creating thousands of edits in the multitrack to tone down every single hissy "s" , to eliminate every buzz, hiccup, and croak, to fine tune and eliminate all but the chosen material for the CD. "Without SAWPlus, none of what I accomplished would be possible in the amount of time it took me. I was able to make edits, cuts, add volume and eq, slide and move regions around effortlessly, and playback instantly to hear the results. Because of the ease of working in SAWPlus, and because there was no down time for processing, I found myself unable to pull away from the project! This is the most incredible editing tool I�ve ever used."
And this was only the beginning!
Next, Valentino wrote the entire score to be played along with Greene�s reading. The score in itself, is a work of brilliant talent. Valentino has a gift of expressing deep emotion in his music, that which blended perfectly in sync with the words. The score was recorded in LA with a group of extremely talented musicians. Originally, the entire mix with the vocals was done in a big studio in LA. Valentino wasn�t happy with the results so he pulled the project and took it back to his studio in Las Vegas, where he re-mixed the recording completely in SAWPlus.
Valentino commented, "I�ve worked for many years as a producer, relying on audio engineers to give me what I need, asking them for a little more volume here, a little less eq there, etc. SAWPlus has taught me to be my own engineer. It�s truly helped me to appreciate the art of audio engineering and allowed me to use my own creativity to it�s fullest."
The final result is a piece of work described by Valentino as "Music and the spoken word", which any music or literature connoisseur will appreciate. This CD is being released next month via television advertising. You may also email Pat Valentino at [email protected] for more information.
Valentino also arranged, produced and recorded his debut CD entitled "Morningsong" (Pianolight Music), using SAWPlus. This is an awesome collection of 60�s and 70�s favorites arranged with an acoustical New-Age flair. There are twelve cuts including Scarborough Fair, Tapestry, A Hazy Shade of Winter, and Classical Gas.
Locally, Valentino is currently involved in the "Imagine" show at the Luxor Hotel in Vegas. Again using SAWPlus, he recorded all the new material and edited the entire show�s soundtrack. Watch IQS Magazine�s "IQS On Stage" for the lowdown on this project.
We thank Pat Valentino for his time and loyalty to IQS and for giving his wonderful gift of music to the world. Keep on makin� tracks!