Beginning To See The Light

dsulpy · Post by **dsulpy** » 14 Jun 2005 03:38

It struck me this evening that "Beginning To See The Light" off the third album sounds... wrong. I sped up the pitch by a half step, and suddenly everything sounds on-pitch. I then went on to adjust the pitch on various other songs on the album - same effect. Am I crazy, or could the album have been mastered off-speed?

(I used the Val Valentin mix, if that matters).

MJG196 · Post by **MJG196** » 14 Jun 2005 04:56

You are absolutely crazy. With Lou's meticulousness in the control room, I doubt he would have ever allowed one of those records to end up any way but the way he wanted it. I think Beginning To See...sounds incredible!

Cameo Role · Post by **Cameo Role** » 14 Jun 2005 06:31

How do you speed up albums?

arjan · Post by **arjan** » 14 Jun 2005 08:42

Cameo Role wrote:How do you speed up albums?

There are CD players with pitch control. Alternatively, rip the tracks to WAV and speed those up with an audio tool.

dsulpy · Post by **dsulpy** » 19 Jun 2005 15:11

mg196 wrote:You are absolutely crazy. With Lou's meticulousness in the control room, I doubt he would have ever allowed one of those records to end up any way but the way he wanted it. I think Beginning To See...sounds incredible!

Um, this is the guy who allowed his first solo album to go out with Dolby on it - mastered from a non-Dolbyized tape.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 19 Jun 2005 16:43

dsulpy wrote:
mg196 wrote:You are absolutely crazy. With Lou's meticulousness in the control room, I doubt he would have ever allowed one of those records to end up any way but the way he wanted it. I think Beginning To See...sounds incredible!
Um, this is the guy who allowed his first solo album to go out with Dolby on it - mastered from a non-Dolbyized tape.

There is no such thing as "non-Dolbyized" tape. What Dolby encoding is supposed to do is improve the signal:noise ratio. The technical faults of Lou's solo release have EVERYTHING to do with it being released as Dolby DEcoded. This has nothing to do with the tape itself.

This fault has generally been blamed on Richard Robinson, who was the main producer of the LP. Most sources that I have read make note that for once Lou sorta took a back seat, brought his songs and melodies, and let Richard and the rest of the musicians and engineers deal with the intricacies of the recording process (much like Sally Can't Dance).

But hey, if I am wrong, then someone please correct me!

dsulpy · Post by **dsulpy** » 20 Jun 2005 00:36

Well, when something isn't supposed to have Dolby on it, and Dolby is applied, the sound is squashed, as is the sound on Lou's 1st solo album. But I, too, am no engineer - simply going by memory (from the boxed set booklet, I think). Corrections welcomed here, too

.

MJG196 · Post by **MJG196** » 20 Jun 2005 05:07

From what I understand, Dolby is not "on" anything. It is similiar to pushing a signal through an EQ. By passing a signal through the Dolby process (encoding), you bring the signal further to the front and push the "noise" to the back. When you are playing an LP or CD, that "hiss" in the background is the "noise." When the signal is DEcoded, the signal comes out "flat." This is what happened on solo album #1. By DEcoding, the album's sonic pallette was flattened and the high frequencies were all but hidden in the mud.

"While Lou was sleepwalking through the recording sessions, Robinson was floundering at the control panel..." - from Bockris' "Transformer"

Homme Fatale · Post by **Homme Fatale** » 20 Jun 2005 12:00

You don't do heavy metal in doubly, you know!

jimjim · Post by **jimjim** » 20 Jun 2005 17:29

Homme Fatale wrote:You don't do heavy metal in doubly, you know!

LOL! You got in before I did!