Match Game 7x Rumor

[adamjk]

I heard a rumor from a buddy of mine, (and no it's not my bowling buddy lol), that somewhere in 1978, the theme for Match Game was slowed down. I don't buy this, but just to be sure, can anyone confirm if this did or did not take place?

[Casey Buck]

[quote name=\'adamjk\' date=\'Aug 30 2004, 08:06 PM\'] I heard a rumor from a buddy of mine, (and no it's not my bowling buddy lol), that somewhere in 1978, the theme for Match Game was slowed down. I don't buy this, but just to be sure, can anyone confirm if this did or did not take place? [/quote]
Wow; you just don't get it, do you? Anybody got a bridge to sell to Adam?

[tyshaun1]

Adam, it's not a rumor if it's something that happened in the past, especially 26 years ago. I don't recall the theme ever being "slowed down", as you put it. And another thing: if you don't want people to ridicule or pick on you, don't throw them softballs, you know what I mean?

Tyshaun

[mystery7]

Stand back, I'm gonna handle this one. The kid's got sut'm here.

The theme to Match Game never did play back quite right. It was always a little slower than it should have been. Comapre the theme on any episode to the theme on GSN's Classsic Game Show Themes disc and you'll hear the difference.

Someone with ties to a CBS employee of the day might have the definitive answer as to why this happened, but here's my theory:

The master tape from Score Productions was likely an open-reel, which would have been impractical to use during taping. So the theme had to be dubbed to a more convenient endless-loop cartridge (very similar to an 8-track). The cartridge recorder, if running too fast, would create a tape that sounded too slow when played back on a perfect machine. These "carts", subjected to heavy use, had to be replaced periodically, and it's possible that the speed of the recorder (or the reel-to-reel player) was off by a different amount each time new carts were made.

In 1979, TPiR's main theme music was a lot slower as well. How or why that eascaped the otherwise technically hip CBS is beyond me.

Now back to your regularly scheduled flamefest, already in progress. (Glad I've got my Nomex suit on)

[tvrandywest]

That's a whole lotta supposin' there, partner!

Former Goodson music director and present day stage manager about town, Mike Malone, was the gentleman who dubbed the original reel-to-reel Score music for MG and TPiR in the 70s. Mike personally made the razor blade edits that created the MG opening loop, as well as the other edits that make the MG main theme used on-air different from the version you have on the GSN CD.

Dubs of Mike's tapes with the edits were then dubbed again by CBS techs onto the special lubricated tape stock that was then wound into the MacKenzie "magazine" loops that were used for playback at CBS TV City well into the 80s. (Studio 33 never used the NAB broadcast cartridges that resemble 8-tracks, as alluded to by the previous poster).

Any change in pitch was unintentional, but simply the result of playing tapes recorded on other machines in the course of all the dubbing. How do I know? I asked Mike himself. He is not my bowling buddy.

And the spoken instructions to spay and neuter your pets that can be heard subliminally when you play the TPiR "Splendido" cue backwards must have been added in the 80s after Mike's tenure at Goodson!

For details on the amazing MacKenzie playback system that was revolutionary for its time before NAB carts, read THIS excellent article.


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[Ian Wallis]

Just to put a timeline on all of this, on the syndicated "Match Game" from 1979-82, the "parting gifts" seemed to be edited onto the tape, rather than having Johnny read them live.  On this edit the theme plays a bit slower than it did on the CBS version of the show (I'm pretty sure this has been discussed before).  Even though both versions of the show were done in the same studio, the edit bay they used must have had a different equipment than studio 33 that made the theme play at a slower pitch.

[Jimmy Owen]

Good news!  GSN has the ability to speed up the tapes to return the music to the proper pitch.  It does make the voices sound odd, though.

[NickintheATL]

To add to what Randy West has said, I think that Mike Malone did a great job with the music given to him by Score during his days at G/T. I like the Match Game theme slowed down, I love the sequence of it, it just fit the show like a glove. Mike's work on TPiR was superb, and Randy, could you pass along my complements to Mr. Malone as well, I've always admired his musical work on Price and the other G/T shows.

[WhammyPower]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Aug 31 2004, 06:46 AM\']On this edit the theme plays a bit slower than it did on the CBS version of the show.[/quote]
You mean something like this?

[sshuffield70]

For comparison purposes, John Chartier's version is  here.

P. S.:  Yeah, it's fixed.

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'sshuffield70\' date=\'Aug 31 2004, 10:41 PM\'] For comparison purposes, John Chartier's version is  here. [/quote]
The Game Shiw Ultraplex?  No wonder the link doesn't work!

Try this.

EDIT: That won't work either.  This will.

[sshuffield70]

Well, you know the damn "i" and the "o" are next to each other.  I seem to be making that mistake a lot of the time.  The good news is at least the link at the bottom is right.