Sped-Up Singles (Chipmunks Excluded)

He should better just record new vocals for a remix of the song and thus create the definitive version. After a while, the inferior original will not matter anymore.

 

Billy Joel's "Cold Spring Harbor" was mastered at the wrong speed, making Billy sound like a chipmunk.

 

I've been researching this and apparantly he sped up U Got The Look including all the instruments. But then Sheena Easton added her vocals and those are not sped up.

 

Really. I've tried to see if there is any difference in speed to the various Electric Prunes singles compared to their album counterparts from all my Electric Prunes CD's to no effect. I found this quote on the web about their singles:

"A 'Record Collector' article also revealed that different mixes of their 45s were made for the European and American markets. 'For England, they felt that the music ought to be a little more up, peppier. So we would put the material on the capstan and make the songs faster', James Lowe told journalist Mark Paytress."

I'll have to listen more closely and compare this song as well as their other singles to see if I can hear the difference between them and the album version tracks pitch wise.

 

I tried that on a reel to reel recorder (wrapping tape on the capstan) and had to use a solvent to get the goop off the pinch roller (or whatever that thing is called -- it's been awhile).

I believe our host SH credited that trick to Sam Phillips at Sun Records in the '50s.

 

Actually, the single version was slowed down (or maybe the LP version is slightly fast). It's longer than the LP version by several seconds. Because I heard the single first, when I hear the song on the radio today, it sounds too fast.

 

Sped up slightly for single release:

"Tracy" by the Cuff Links
"More Than a Feeling" by Boston (also edited)
"Abracadabra" by the Steve Miller Band (also faded early)
"Time Has Come Today" by the Chambers Brothers (4:49 single edit)
"Nights on Broadway" by Bee Gees
"The Sounds of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel

 

"Teardrop City" by The Monkees was sped up for release (first on a single, but then on an LP). Rhino has reissued the song at its original speed.

The Kinks sped up "Starmaker" for a mono promo single. I don't think the stereo side of the promo single or the commercial single were sped up, though.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

Friday I'm in Love by The Cure was sped up by half a semitone if I remember correctly.

Great song too, sits alongside classics from any era.

 

Robert Smith accidentally left the varispeed on. Live, they play it in the intended Dmaj.

 

Having something Beatles-related backward is a sure sign of true Beatlesque attitude - since they started backwarding everything they could...

 

Here's a bit of an obscure one. On an EP called Bella Bella by the one-man band Twiggy, one of the songs, "Since I Met You" is sped up, raising the pitch about a half-step. I think he did it to make it sound more like an early dBs track.

 

Trash by Suede & all the vocals on the coming up album.

 

Thanks for the list. Don Meehan, one of the recording engineers for Simon & Garfunkel, who mixed the mono single version of The Sound of Silence, was on another thread here recently, but I don't remember him mentioning that the track was sped-up. I'll have to check on that one.

 

"Misunderstanding" by Genesis was sped up for the original single release.

 

It was sped up, about 2%, from comparing the mono mix (as on both the 45 and mono Sounds of Silence Lp) to that of the stereo, if based on measuring the begin to end time on the respective vinyl copies.

 

There are probably a few other JB examples but the one that comes to mind is 'Funky President'. I like the fast version on the original LP and single, and the more recently released 'true' version.

 

Three more examples, one each from the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's, of songs that were sped-up for release as singles:

Bend Me Shape Me - American Breed (the mono 45 version runs about 15 seconds faster than the stereo LP version)

Boogie Shoes - KC and The Sunshine Band (the song was issued at three different speeds: the T.K. 45 runs the fastest and the version on the KC and The Sunshine Band LP the slowest, with the version on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack running at an intermediate pitch between the 45 and LP versions)

For Your Eyes Only - Sheena Easton (the hit 45 version runs about 8 seconds faster than the soundtrack LP)

 

The mono single, mono LP and 2006 remix are the correct speed. The original stereo album has the track slowed down.

 

And didn't I read somewhere that they used an early incarnation of Dolby noise reduction on the track, but turned it off for the master recording, giving it a "brighter" sound?

 

Clash City Rockers single by The Clash was sped up (a semitone, IIRC) without their knowledge. Once the track received an album release on the 1979 US issue of their debut, it was at correct speed. This held true for the original US CD, but when the 1999 remaster came out, the track was back to the sped up version. The track at proper speed was included as an "original version" on The Essential Clash US 2CD.

 

U2's "Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own" was available in 96BPM, 99BPM, and 103BPM versions, all of which were sped up from the album version.

http://www.u2wanderer.org/disco/pr055.html

 

I hadn't heard that, so I googled it and found this post on another forum:

Guys,

I asked Bruce Botnick about this...and just got this back...pretty interesting history...

------------------------------------------------

Hi George,

You do exist after all. A good thing.

Here's the true poop about "LMF" single mastering. Because we were dealing with AM radio, and as all good producers and engineers who are worth a grain of salt in those days, we were trying to make AM radio have more HiFi to it. Paul Rothchild is the one who discovered this trick and I've used it since to master entire albums that EQ just couldn't make work. Elektra was the first company who had Dolby A301's in the U.S. Ten units or more, this is in 1967. Anyhow, during the mixing process somehow a 301 was in line and not in the decode mode. Paul heard it and loved the brightness and compression that happened. Paul cut a 45 rpm ref and had a WNEW in New York play it once in the middle of the night and what do yo know, great sound on AM radio. We originally mixed the album and single to 15 ips NAB 185 nw NON DOLBY, the use of the 301 was a fluke, a nice fluke.

Everything in war is possible.

My best and yes, let's eat,

Bruce

 

You may want to listen to the CD version first, to hear how it is supposed to sound. Then for amusement play the single version. The flip-side of the single "Respect" is the correct speed. And, Yes, it is the "Aretha Franklin" "Otis Redding" penned song.