FLEETWOOD MAC Rumours -- New WB vinyl, "Gold Dust Woman" mix variation question...

Jeffrey,

Thank you. Nice to see the records going around.

So, you have two different end mixes for GOLD DUST WOMAN there.

First, that white vinyl has the big howl and is missing the sound of a breaking glass on the "Medium howl" version.

The song in reality goes on longer and ends cold but this is very interesting.

The Nautilus version uses the MIDDLE VOLUME HOWL mix. Note the breaking glass after she sings "widow" and the more subdued howl?

I think Ken Perry must have cut this album over 50 times at Capitol. Each cut is a little different because Ken did the fades by hand. When you factor in the different lengths of some of the songs and the alternate mix pieces edited in and out it's pretty overwhelming for a silly slob mastering engineer like me. I'll get it right though!

 

Ken Perry knew how to cut vinyl!

Big Howl with Cold Ending. Sounds like a plan.

 

When I read posts like this, I think I should buy two copies - play one and frame one! Because it'll be absolutely perfect....

 

So, those of you who care, a possible reason for the ending switch of GOLD DUST WOMAN.

It seems that the FIRST version was the big howl mix without the breaking glass sound effect.

As you will hear when you get our new Warner Bros. LP vinyl mastering, the end builds to a tremendous crescendo which was living hell to cut for us; we did it but they probably were not so lucky in 1977. So, a manufacturing decree came down in '77 to Warner Bros. Records stating that the song was too hot at the end and was causing metal mother/master and stamper problems.

The answer was to substitute a new end part for the song which featured an end that did NOT increase in volume. This was spliced on and used for most recuts: The medium howl version with the breaking glass. This was probably an alternate ending that was done at the same time as the rest of the album mixes.

The rub is that the loud howl version was spliced on the end of the duplicate OTHER master reel for side two, the one that was "not to be used for record cutting" from the second tape machine. When the actual side two masters started to wear out they substituted the loud version from the other reel without even realizing it was different.

Once they did (probably 20 cuts later, heh), Ken Perry put the medium howl version ending back on and just rode the gain DOWN when it started to get louder.

After that, depending on God knows what, both versions were used.

Phew. Confusing but I tell ya, it's a challenge!

 

David,

Glad you are looking forward to this. I treat all mastering with great care; being careful not to tamper with history but also trying to give the listener the most exciting bang for the buck.

People, please remember, Fleetwood Mac RUMOURS is a very mellow, warm sounding album. I know the songs rock as well but in general the mixes are quite warm and yummy sounding. I DID NOT TAMPER WITH THAT SOUND! The EQ notes for older versions call for +15 db at 10k,-15 db at 100 cycles, etc. for all songs. Urggh, this is supreme overkill. This is one of the most famous albums of all time; please don't think I've forgotten that for one minute... We will let the music speak for itself and let your turntable capture the true sound of the master tapes, possibly for the first time ever.