Frank Sinatra – Nancy (With the Laughing Face) – 1945 [DES STEREO]

Details

Description

" Nancy (With the Laughing Face)” was recorded by Frank Sinatra with Orchestra under the direction of Axel Stordahl on August 22, 1945 at Columbia Records Studios, Hollywood. It was released by Columbia Records on 78 RPM [Catalog #36868] [Matrix HCO 1521]. It enjoyed a national debut on Frank's CBS Radio show 1 year earlier in 1944. Enjoy my DES [Digitally Extracted STEREO] conversion of this lovely ballad by Frank, dedicated to his then 4-year-old daughter, Nancy.

Written in 1942 by Frank's cronies: Phil Silvers [Lyrics] and James Van Heusen[Music]

Origin and Background [as per Jimmy Van Heusen]:
Former broadcast executive and music historian Rick Busciglio tells the story of the song's inception as related to him by Jimmy Van Heusen:
In 1979, I was working with songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen on a TV special with Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope that was never produced. Jimmy told me that one day (circa 1942), he and his lyricist Johnny Burke were working at 20th Century-Fox composing for a film. While Burke was out of their writer's bungalow, Phil Silvers, the comedian, a friend to both, entered and suggested to Jimmy that they write a song for Johnny's wife, Bessie, who was soon to celebrate a birthday. Silvers provided the lyrics, later revised by Van Heusen and Burke. At the party they sang "Bessie ... with the laughing face." It was such a hit that they used it at other female birthday events. When they sang it as "Nancy ... with the laughing face" at little Nancy Sinatra's birthday party, Frank broke down and cried, thinking it had been written especially for his daughter; the trio wisely didn't correct him. Jimmy assigned his royalties to Nancy after Frank recorded it for Columbia in 1944/1945.

About the original Mix:
The source track is from the 1996 digital mastering of the Columbia CD: “Sinatra Sings His Greatest Hits”.

About my DES STEREO mix:
For Frank’s Vocal, I kept him centered with no further adjustments. For the Strings, I panned them Left, revering into the Right, For the Brass, Reeds and Woodwinds, I panned them Right, reverbing into the Left. For the Harp, I panned it Right, reverbing into the Left to keep it separate from the strings for a nicer stereo image. Whatever was interpreted for the Drums, [only light brushes], I centered it. For the Bass, I kept it centered with no further adjustments.

Technical Information:
I used DeMIX PRO v5.1.0 to isolate Frank’s Vocal, Brass-Reeds-Woodwinds, Strings, Drums and Bass into 6 separate tracks. I used SpectraLayers PRO-7 to manually isolate the Harp as the 7th track and for stem cleanup. Adobe Audition was used for Dynamic Range recovery, EQ, Delay, Reverb and final mixdown. Sonic Studio’s Amarra Luxe Sound Processor was used for post EQ and upsampling. NERO 2019 Platinum used to generate the final video.

For more information on spectral editing and sound source separation, visit https://www.monotostereo.info/

Enjoy my MONO-to-STEREO conversion of this beautiful ballad sung by Frank, dedicated to his daughter Nancy.