Cuyler
Bright colored pinwheels go 'round in my head.
Hi all,
I'm not sure if I'm the only one who does this, but when I have two songs that are almost identical, but not quite, I sometimes "tinker" to see what the differences are. Here's my process:
After performing the above steps, the end product did NOT sound mono. The timing was off in a non-linear way; that is, I couldn't just speed up or slow down the audios to match up. So the best I could get was an approximation/best average. The audio actually starts off with the right channel (1993) ahead by a hair, then in the middle of the song the right channel falls behind by a hair, then toward the end, the right channel speeds back up ahead of the left channel by a hair. Go figure.
Even if someone were to find a magical way to perfectly align the two versions (1993 and 1997), there are sonic differences between the left (1997) and right (1993) channels. The right (1993) channel has a much stronger bass drum (but could be due to less peak limiting than the 1997 mix). The left (1997) channel has a much stronger bass guitar that is non-existent on the right (1993) channel. But, at times, the right (1993) channel has a totally different bass guitar that is non-existent on the left (1997) channel. The bass (guitar) line at around 10:38 indicate the 1993 and 1997 mixes have two totally different bass lines at that point!
Take a listen for yourself...
Both versions sound very studio-enhanced to me, but my general feeling is that, if you love a thumpy bass drum, you'll enjoy the 1993 version (UK Magical Memories of the Carpenters) better; if you love a thumpy bass guitar, you'll enjoy the 1997 version (US Their Greatest Hits and Finest Performances) better.
Now that I've had sonic confirmation that the two versions are indeed different mixes, I will post both the 1993 and the 1997 versions to my YouTube channel in the coming days (untouched and untinkered by me).
Please take a listen through a good pair of headphones and let the forum know what differences you hear in the left (1997) channel and the right (1993) channel!
P.S. Those of you who, like me, are most familiar with the 1997 US version, with the spoken intro... the spectrogram gave me visual confirmation that there is a splice between Richard's spoken intro and the song. There is a split moment, maybe no more than a quarter of a second, between the count-in and the song that is totally blank on the spectrogram, which signifies that those two sounds are from two different takes.
P.P.S. The 1993 (UK) version has a higher dynamic range. Looking at the waveforms of the two, it's obvious that the 1997 (US) version has quite a bit of peak limiting of the loud drum noises, and the volume was maxed out. The 1993 (UK) version has a fair amount of head room, which to me is another sign that there was minimal to no peak limiting.
I'm not sure if I'm the only one who does this, but when I have two songs that are almost identical, but not quite, I sometimes "tinker" to see what the differences are. Here's my process:
- In Audacity, I normalize the volume and adjust the speed to line them up as well as possible.
- One version, I shove to the left channel and fold down into mono. The other version, I shove to the right and fold down into mono.
- In theory, if the two sounds are completely identical, the left channel and the right channel should be identical as well, and the end product should sound mono, or close to it.
After performing the above steps, the end product did NOT sound mono. The timing was off in a non-linear way; that is, I couldn't just speed up or slow down the audios to match up. So the best I could get was an approximation/best average. The audio actually starts off with the right channel (1993) ahead by a hair, then in the middle of the song the right channel falls behind by a hair, then toward the end, the right channel speeds back up ahead of the left channel by a hair. Go figure.
Even if someone were to find a magical way to perfectly align the two versions (1993 and 1997), there are sonic differences between the left (1997) and right (1993) channels. The right (1993) channel has a much stronger bass drum (but could be due to less peak limiting than the 1997 mix). The left (1997) channel has a much stronger bass guitar that is non-existent on the right (1993) channel. But, at times, the right (1993) channel has a totally different bass guitar that is non-existent on the left (1997) channel. The bass (guitar) line at around 10:38 indicate the 1993 and 1997 mixes have two totally different bass lines at that point!
Take a listen for yourself...
Both versions sound very studio-enhanced to me, but my general feeling is that, if you love a thumpy bass drum, you'll enjoy the 1993 version (UK Magical Memories of the Carpenters) better; if you love a thumpy bass guitar, you'll enjoy the 1997 version (US Their Greatest Hits and Finest Performances) better.
Now that I've had sonic confirmation that the two versions are indeed different mixes, I will post both the 1993 and the 1997 versions to my YouTube channel in the coming days (untouched and untinkered by me).
Please take a listen through a good pair of headphones and let the forum know what differences you hear in the left (1997) channel and the right (1993) channel!
P.S. Those of you who, like me, are most familiar with the 1997 US version, with the spoken intro... the spectrogram gave me visual confirmation that there is a splice between Richard's spoken intro and the song. There is a split moment, maybe no more than a quarter of a second, between the count-in and the song that is totally blank on the spectrogram, which signifies that those two sounds are from two different takes.
P.P.S. The 1993 (UK) version has a higher dynamic range. Looking at the waveforms of the two, it's obvious that the 1997 (US) version has quite a bit of peak limiting of the loud drum noises, and the volume was maxed out. The 1993 (UK) version has a fair amount of head room, which to me is another sign that there was minimal to no peak limiting.
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