The Cheers Theme; The Final Conclusion(haha)

[FOLN@NFan]

OK...here's more:



alright, so since I now know that all Cheers themes are from the same, single recording, i've made new foundations for everything on my site, and im gonna test them here. they'll be written up nicer on my site, but this is just the basic info. see if it makes sense...lol thanks


Where Everybody Knows Your Name -
By Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo
"Master Recording" recorded in 1982
Piano, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Vocal(s)
Recorded in stereo sound
Every theme ever used as Cheers' opening theme came from this one single recording, contrary to former belief.

NBC:
Seasons 1-3:
For this initial theme, the first one ever used and heard, only on NBC (obviously, cuz theyre the only ones that showed it new), it was in mono sound, cuz the show itself was in mono sound for these 3 seasons. it was heard as it was meant to be heard, by Gary Portnoy, since it came straight from the recording studio, even tho it wasnt heard in the quality as the "master recording," due to the mono sound

Seasons 4-11:
Season 4 marked the beginning of the use of stereo sound on the show, and that continued til the very end. This is the version of the theme that mostly everyone is more familiar with. What happened is that when they decided to make the show stereo, Paramount went back to the "master recording" of the theme, optimized, or retooled, it completely for stereo sound (for each separate instrument and vocal track). and it showed...big time. it was now in stereo and sounded completely different. very few ppl realized that it was the same recording, and IT IS!, contrary to many previous beliefs, including mine.

Season 4, Episode 1 (Birth, Death, Love and Rice):
For the first episode of season 4, I am assuming that (from deductive reasoning; N@N, syndication airings, etc.) that it was also the first for being in stereo sound. however, it did not use the popular "retooled" theme, that everyone is more familiar with. instead, it seems like they just went back to the "master recording," and made it, as it was, into stereo. Sound sound as NBC seasons 1-3, but better quality, as it was in stereo. as far as i know, this is the only ep that did this, and im not even completely sure about that...

Short Theme:
There was a short theme on NBC, for seasons 4-11 at least. What Paramount (not Gary Portnoy...he had nothing to do w/ the theme after the initial recording, not even the retooling in 1985/season 4) did was simply take a main chunk of the refrain, along w/ the very last line of the song, and the piano intro. they dubbed in extra percussion to cover the transition, and voila...they had a short theme. Also, it is in a slightly lower key than the other themes, for an unknown reason, though it is in stereo. i am not sure if it, or any short theme, was used for seasons 1-3.

Original Syndication (Non-remastered) (Short Theme):
Seasons 1-3:
In mono sound, but it was from the "retooled" version. The same parts as the NBC short theme, but in the "regular" key.

Seasons 4-11:
Again, season 4 marked the beginning of the use of stereo sound. It was identical to the seasons 1-3 version, but in stereo, so of course, better sounding.

Seasons 4-11 (!Exception!):
So from season 4, until the end, the show was in stereo. that's great. however, not all TV stations across the country were in stereo yet, when Cheers went into syndication. so what happened was when they got the episodes (thru satellite feeds), they recorded them onto their own tapes (as they were supposed to do, so they could have them for their library. hey...they paid the rights for syndication to the show...theyre allowed to do that). but, since certain stations didnt air in stereo (or completely stereo) yet, neither were their tapes, so the episodes were put onto the tapes in mono. And even then, the tapes didnt just merge the 2 stereo sound channels together, when they were recorded onto. instead, they only captured the LEFT channel of the sound. so it didnt hinder quality, but it only got one sound channel. there IS def. a difference, but its hard to describe. look for links to the actual sound clips later.

Season 4, Episode 1 (Birth, Death, Love and Rice) (and Only this ep, or more in early season 4??):
And again, an exception for this episode. In original syndication, for some reason, this episode was in mono, and used the theme from seasons 1-3, in mono, with the sound channels merged together (not like the left-channel-only occurances). this is strange, however, cuz it wasnt mono originally (on NBC).

Cheers 200th Anniversary Episode (and maybe a few others):
This is one of the few, if not only time, in syndication where the regular-length theme is used. its in stereo, as it was in season 9.


More coming soon...what do u think? make sense? too much time on my hands sometimes? lol
upcoming sections:
Paramount Home Videos
-Remastered-:
Paramount DVD's
N@N
New Syndication
Spike TV
TV Land

[AKA]

Originally posted by FOLN@NFan
very few ppl realized that it was the same recording

Actually most people, including myself, knew it was the same recording.

[CheersChild4life]

thats cool!

[FOLN@NFan]

yea, i knew u were one of the ones that "thought" they knew it was the same (and yea, u were right lol)

but i could never find anyone else that thought they were the same either, so i kinda ignored that...good ears
AKA lol

j/w...how were u so sure about it? cuz even from all the listening i did, i never could tell
anyway, now we all know for sure and its all good lol

BTW...i updated the first post (as i will continue to do)

[AKA]

My main interest is being an audiophile, and I know about recording techniques; etc. It was obvious to me that they were different mixes of the same recording.

[FOLN@NFan]

o thats cool...
think u can figure out exactly what they did, for me? lol
cuz the stereo version of the original mix, when listened to in their separate channels, are distinct enough, but the 'remix (retooled version)' was much more distinct between its 2 channels. that could just be that they remixed optimized for stereo

who knows...
btw...gary portnoy thinks that they 'remixed' version doesnt have the same vocal "balance" that the original had. his quote:

"Actually, we did not re-record the theme.. ever. The people at Paramount did go in and "re-mix" it for stereo at that time. I was not consulted or involved, and I remember being quite shocked when I first heard it. They must have gone in and done it again.. and again... and again... until they got it right. I don't think they ever achieved quite the same vocal "balance" that the original recording had."

[AKA]

I'm pretty sure they just went back to the original multitrack recordings, which were (and probably are) still intact and made a stereo remix. The same process would be used if they were ever to make a surround mix of the song.

Similarly, most music from the up through the mid '60s was released in mono only, although some had stereo counterparts. If a song from the '50s or '60s is released in 2004 in a new incarnation, that's considered a "remix." Same thing applies with the "Cheers" theme.

[FOLN@NFan]

ok, thats what i was starting to think...cool
thanx

im attaching a sound for everyone soon...tell me what u think!