Sonic Youth re-using master tapes??

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by seg763, Mar 9, 2007.

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  1. seg763

    seg763 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    NJ
    I've heard about this story for a while, and yes if you really blast the Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star album you can hear other music between the songs. Does anybody know the truth about this?

    from wikipedia.....

    "The band stated that the album was recorded over the master tape of Sister to save on tape costs. At the time, the statement was widely believed to be a joke, but many fans claim that when the record is turned up to a loud volume, you can hear Sister playing in its entirety underneath the album."


    It seems it would have to be mastered over the master tape of Sister, not recorded, for this to make any sense.
     
  2. yanouche11

    yanouche11 New Member

    Location:
    Poland
    Yes, I can hear "Sister" between the tracks.
    I'm sure the Geffen re-edition of "Sister" came out in 1994, the same year they did "Experimental Jet Set...". They could mistakenly manipulate it somehow at the time of mastering process.
    On the other hand, both albums were the only ones at that time recorded by the band at Sears Sound studio. So re-using the "Sister" master tapes could be possible.
    I always thought it was a kind of joke. Hard to believe they could do that only to save on tape costs.
     
  3. markytheM

    markytheM Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toledo Ohio USA
    Yes, I would've bought them some tape if they would have just traded it. At least it would still be safe.:angel:
     
  4. Christopher J

    Christopher J Norme Con Ironie

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    This joke began as a quote from Thurston Moore in an Alternative Press article after the release of Dirty and was parroted by other music mags at the time. The assertion was that it was "necessary" for the band to record over the Sister master tapes because they were strapped for cash, which is absurd(they should have recorded over Goo :) ). The follow-through - actually having barely audible bits of Sister run between EJS,T&NS - was an in-joke/easter egg for the careful listener, sort of the "hope you like our new direction" attitude taken to a humorous extreme.
     
  5. ATR

    ATR Senior Member

    Location:
    Baystate
    So, what did they use as a Sister master tape for Geffen?
     
  6. Surfin Jesus

    Surfin Jesus New Member

    Location:
    NYC USA
    :shake:
     
  7. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    Goo is actually where they became interesting to me - the album where their technical ability as musicians began to catch up with their always-interesting experimental and avant-garde aesthetic.
     
  8. yanouche11

    yanouche11 New Member

    Location:
    Poland
    Sure Geffen used the master tape. I don't think anybody from the studio would allow for re-using it.
    After some checking, I am sure it was put there on purpose.
    Here's what I did:
    - I've made disc images of those two albums in .wave format
    - changed songs on EJST&NS into silence and amplified the "silence" with Sister in the background between the songs
    - synchronized Sister with what appears between the tracks of EJST&NS.
    And discovered they don't overlap.
    1:26 of Sister is at 2:07 of EJST&NS (between 1st & 2nd track), then 7:31 of Sister is at 5:12 of EJST&NS (between 2nd & 3rd track), and so on...
    I think the two examples above are good enough to prove that also the choice of them wasn't accidental: the first one is when you hear Thurston sing the word 'schizophrenia' from the song of the same title, the second one is rather controversial "do you like to f***?" line from Catholic Block.
    Seems like it was decided to put there by the band.

    I have also EJST&NS on vinyl. Will check it later.
     
  9. Christopher J

    Christopher J Norme Con Ironie

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    I kid, I kid. Thurston started it.
     
  10. Surfin Jesus

    Surfin Jesus New Member

    Location:
    NYC USA
    well, I was thinking it was a joking-but-I-really-mean-it comment - so I wasn't personally offended, but I did want to defend the album in at least some manner

    did he say in an interview that he had wished it had been goo or something?
     
  11. ATR

    ATR Senior Member

    Location:
    Baystate
    So it's kinda like Miles putting those echoey little snips of Silent Way on Jack Johnson? There are probably hundreds of examples of this in the history of sound recording. And, by the way, they wouldn't be the first to have erased a tape to record something new over it. Erasing a master, though, that's a different kettle of fish. Anyway, if they really did want to just reuse tape of course they should have bulked it before rerecording.
    That's one of my favorite Keith Jarrett albums, by the way. Good choice.
     
  12. Christopher J

    Christopher J Norme Con Ironie

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    I was just figuring if they were going to go so far with the "we're erasing our own history" goof, then the album that would need to be removed would be their major label debut - the one in which they would have presumably lost their street cred.
     
  13. yanouche11

    yanouche11 New Member

    Location:
    Poland
    Or like this Honky Tonk snippet from Live-Evil that came out in it's full version on Get Up With It years later.

    Though SY does it between the lines. And you have to be really careful to pick it up.
     
  14. yanouche11

    yanouche11 New Member

    Location:
    Poland
    Just checked EJST&NS vinyl - can't hear Sister there.

    But came across Sister reference in Screaming Skull, where Thurston sings "Let's go there, Sister's there". Before that he mentions the label SST, on which Sister originally came out.
     
  15. endeavor08

    endeavor08 New Member

    master tapes?
     
  16. johmbolaya

    johmbolaya Active Member

    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    :eek:

    (two minutes later...)

    :laugh:

    (seven seconds later)
    :shake:
     
  17. Surfin Jesus

    Surfin Jesus New Member

    Location:
    NYC USA
    well, in context with the original non-sensical claim ("strapped-for-cash"), that makes even less sense, considering jet set was also on dgc (like goo)

    also taking into account your "street-cred" explanation, together with your attempt to actually blame your snarky dis on thurston, I think I'll stick to my original belief that it was a snob-comment gone wrong
     
  18. seg763

    seg763 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    NJ

    wow, thanks for doing the work!
     
  19. Christopher J

    Christopher J Norme Con Ironie

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    I can see you've given this more thought than I have, so you must be right.
     
  20. Surfin Jesus

    Surfin Jesus New Member

    Location:
    NYC USA
    depends on how you look at it - while it did turn out that my first thought was the correct one after all, I guess that did require more contemplation than your original thoughtless comment

    but I am perfectly happy to leave it at: you think goo isn't worth saving, while I think it is
     
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