Michael Jackson "Off The Wall" original mixes on CD

The original Japanese CD mastering of Off The Wall (with all of the original mixes intact) definitely had pre-emphasis. A friend who bought it explained to me how horribly high-endy it sounded to him, so I had him bring it over and applied pre-emphasis EQ in Pro Tools using one of the Waves plug-ins (I think it's a preset in one of the Q plug-ins...or maybe Ren EQ...). Instant improvement. Sounded excellent, in fact. (IMO).

 

I see, thanks, and I found some info! I had always played my 1st issue "Off the Wall" disc on a CD player, the first one a Yamaha CD-X2 which I believe had the maligned 14 bit DAC. The early DAC's were "noisy" which is the reason pre-emphasis was applied, and the disc to be played back with the inverse curve. I had never heard anything unusual, so I'm certain the flags were being read. If I had ripped it to a WAVE, (which I never did) I would have been scratching my head wondering what went wrong. My CD drive is digitally connected to the sound card, so the TOC would not have been read, and so the pre-emphasis not eq compensated. The pre-emphasis is significant, +10dB at 20,000 cycles, (perhaps +6 dB at 10,000 cycles which almost everybody can hear) so definitely very audible, if not terribly distracting.

I have never heard anything unusual from any of my early pre-emphasis mastered discs, since they were always played on a separate CD player which played them properly. So to the present day, I never knew pre-emphasis existed.

 

Probably old news, but I just wanted to add that the original mixes (Rock With You, Get On The Floor) can be found on the following Japan for Europe CD:

Catalogue number "CDEPC83468"
On the CD: Epic logo, "CDEPC 8346 8 (DI8P 2)", "MANUFACTURED BY EPIC / SONY Inc. JAPAN"
Back inlay: "Printed in Holland. DI8P 2", no barcode
Matrix: "35 8P-2 81A1"

 

Any CD with 35 8P-2 in the matrix code, meaning Japanese CBS/Sony pressings with 35 8P, CDEPC, or EK catalog numbers, has the original mixes.

 

Thought I'd bump this as I'd like to know if PE is only applied to those copies with 35 8P in the matrix. I have located an early Epic EK35745 Matrix D18P 050002 11A14 and it contains the remixes but seems to have PE applied.

 

Can someone please explain the differences between the original mixes and the newer mixes for the two previously mentioned songs?

 

If you do a search, you should find several threads that tell you what the differences are.

Rock With You - The differences between the original mix and the more common mix is that the common/single mix adds handclaps during the chorus, and fingersnaps during the bridge (And when the groove is dead and gone...yeah!). Also, the guitar track is different. The original mix is wetter. There are other subtle differences too.

Get On The Floor - Again, the original mix is wetter, and has fewer sound effects during the song. The handclaps are different. There are many more differences that are too tedious to explain here.

BTW, the single mix of the song "Off The Wall" is different from the album mix, but is not available on CD.

 

I really wish the single mix of "OtW" was available digitally.

 

I made a needledrop of it.

 

It's available on one of the 3" Japanese CDs released in the early 90's.

 

In other words, it's so rare that it may as well not be available at all.

 

It's not that rare. I see them on discogs quite a bit.

 

Doesn't matter. I have my clean needledrop.

 

The easiest way to know which version of "Get on the Floor" you are listening to, is to listen to the chorus and the final "rap" section. In the new version, you can clearly hear a rhythm guitar during the chorus, and there are ad-libs at the end during the rap (Michael sings "and dance with me... especially..."). Both the guitar and the ad-libs are missing in the original version.

 

An even easier way is to listen to the breakdown section. The original mix will have two handclaps per bar, where the remix only has them once every four bars.

 

Thank you Grant, could you help me find the musical differences between the album and the single versions of "Off the Wall"? I have them both but I can't hear any substantial difference, except for the length. Thank you.

 

That's strange because the differences are obvious. One difference is that the mix is drier, the basic instruments (main keyboards, drums, and bass) are much louder. The keyboards during the bridge is present, where on the album it is not. The whole mix of the 45 sounds more "aggressive".

 

I guess I was not listening to the right single version... I will look for it, but let me ask you: apart from the way the instruments are mixed, is there a distinctive difference, something clearly added/missing (like the handclaps in RWY or the ad-libs in GOTF) in the 2 versions? Something that can be immediately recognized?

 

I don't know what to tell you. The differences are obvious from letter A. As I said, the bridge in the middle of the song has an extra or louder keyboard part that does not appear on the album version. The single version, to my knowledge, has never appeared on CD, so, if you have only heard the album version, or on CD, you have probably never heard the single if you weren't old enough to have heard in on the radio in 1980. The single was never issued on the "Off The Wall" album.

 

I think the only "new" (not remixed) elements in the single version are the handclaps during the bridge ("Do what you want to do..."). I can't hear them in the album version.

 

Those handclaps may have been recorded at the original sessions, but were faded down for the album mix. So, I wouldn't call it new, either.

 

Two new guitar tracks as well.

 

I'm pretty sure the album version has NO handclaps during the bridge. And, they are much louder in the UK single version I found on the Tour Souvenir Pack from 1992.

 

I didn't notice those... are they throughout the whole song or just in some parts?

 

Which one?