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Would "Occupants" have even been a single without the popularity of "Star Wars" as an incentive? I seem to recall reading that Richard wasn't that sold on its potential as a single due to the length and editing difficulties (though I thought they did a fine job with the edit).
I just tried the same experiment. B'Wana is MONO on the 80's CD. I also tested the 2001 reissue of the Beach Boys "Today/Summer Days" CD (both originals albums are mono, only select bonus tracks are stereo) and got the same result on 'Dance Dance Dance) album version, but the Alternate take, which was listed in stereo, gave me stereo sound.
I just tried the same experiment. B'Wana is MONO on the 80's CD. I also tested the 2001 reissue of the Beach Boys "Today/Summer Days" CD (both originals albums are mono, only select bonus tracks are stereo) and got the same result on 'Dance Dance Dance) album version, but the Alternate take, which was listed in stereo, gave me stereo sound.
What we all agree on is that it just doesn't sound good on the album...and it's the only thing on the album that doesn't sound good.
This is kind of a fun experiment. It almost sounds ounds like the song on the CD is completely unmastered.
Ed
Well there are a number of well known albums out there that sound terrible on CD because they are mastered from tapes that were mastered for vinyl, whereas CD's are able to handle stereo bass a lot better. As I linked to in another post, vinyl needs the bass to be in mono, otherwise you get the needle jumping all over the grooves, most likely damaging the record. And considering just how many drums and bass lines you hear in B'Wana (including the bass vocals), I have to wonder did they make a mono master in 77 after finding that test pressings were causing the needle to jump out of the groove and damage the recording. And now that is the master that is being used for all outings of the song, and the only thing that will help make the song better on CD is for Richard to do a brand-new remix and just go back to the original multi-track masters (or the digital copies) and rebuild the song from the ground-up for stereo.
vinyl needs the bass to be in mono, otherwise you get the needle jumping all over the grooves
My only guess that is that he can't fix the tune due to sub-mixing. We can be reasonably sure that the strings were sub-mixed because there'd be no room for anything else if they weren't. Depending on the number of vocals (Gene Puerling was known not to skimp on them if he was going for a sound), those may have been sub-mixed as well. The rhythm section likely isn't but if Richard needed the room for vocals, he may have sub-mixed them too. Hard to know unless he tells us.
What puzzles me is why he had to fold down several tracks to one sub mix track in the first place. If he was able to achieve a wide stereo sound on a track as ambitious as Occupants, why wasn't it possible here? There's definitely not as much going on in B'Wana as there is in some other tracks and they were recorded perfectly well in stereo (so much so that some of them could be expanded to 5.1 surround sound).
Not sure. Certainly, "...Occupants..." is a far larger production so that would have required far more sub mixing than "B'wana" would have. We won't know either unless he tells us.
@Chris May If you ever get the chance to speak to Richard again, on behalf of us all, would you ask him this question?
why to my hears does the original A&M CD have the best audio quality?
I will say that if you have the Sweet Memory Set, this song appears and it sounds almost a good as the original CD version just a bit louder.
So I went ahead and ordered the single and looking forward to listening to this on the 45 format.
This is the exact reason why I went ahead and ordered the single 45. I can't stand the muddiness of the remastered classics version of this song and I was really hoping the 45 has an even brighter sound that the original CD version. I got a noticed it shipped so let's hope it's not full of snap crackle and pop.I meant to answer this the other day but got sidetracked. The "B'wana She No Home" track on the flip side of "I Believe You" sounds a good bit "airier" than the CD tracks, more in line with the A&M CD version but perhaps sounding like the highs are more prevalent. The LP version also sounds brighter than the Remastered CD. The stereo separation remains stuck in the narrow mode, but at least it doesn't sound as muddy.
This may be because the track clocks in at over 5:30, and to fit that much on a 45, some of the lows might have needed to be a bit filtered to the tighter grooves could fit. Which reminds me of an interesting fact - "B'wana She No Home" is likely the second longest Carpenters track on a 45. "Calling Occupants..." on the promo single with the album version would be the longest.
I just got the Remastered Version of Passage. Boy does it ever sound compressed, as if when they transferred the analog masters they were getting distortion, which from what I've heard on the LP it sounds like there is a little bit of distortion, especially where the flute is concerned (also the LP version does playback as stereo on my equipment---but it plays back the same as a mono LP or 45 on a stereo turntable). But the Remastered CD is also mono for B'Wana on playback. Although the version of Calling Occupants on the disc sounds like the version from the 1974-1978 CD.