SH Spotlight RAY CHARLES DCC Gold CD's, questions answered about different mixes used on different Gold disks....

A Forum member was listening to the DCC Gold CD of RAY CHARLES "Greatest Country And Western Hits" and had a question about which songs were recorded where and what was remixed and what wasn't.

That's easy enough to answer. The only two songs Ray Charles EVER remixed for use on any DCC/Dunhill/Sandstone/Rhino projects were: "IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT" and "I'M A FOOL TO CARE" because either he couldn't find the stereo mixes or they were never mixed in stereo to begin with. Every thing else used was an original mix from the era. BUT, there was more than one mix of certain songs. In some cases THREE different and unique stereo mixes of one song, all done right after recording. It gets confusing.

The songs on MODERN SOUNDS IN COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC volumes one and two (1962) were only recorded at two places:

The jazzy songs with brass were recorded at Capitol Studios in NYC and the string/choir songs (like "I CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU") were recorded at United Recorders in Hollywood.

On the "string songs" the ones that were recorded by Bill Putnam in Feb. 1962 have the choir all the way over to the right and they sound like they are stuck behind a curtain for the most part. The string sound has echo that is rich and deep and Ray's vocal mic is slightly muted on the top end as to not to clash. This is typical of Bill Putnam's engineering style.

Now, the string songs that have the choir split in stereo, some on the right and some on the left were recorded in the same room at United later on in the year but Al Schmitt was the engineer. So if you want to tell the difference between the two, that's the easy way to tell. Al's mixes are more hi-fi ("TAKE THESE CHAINS FROM MY HEART", "YOUR CHEATING HEART") but less charming than Bill Putnam's ("YOU DON'T KNOW ME, "BORN TO LOSE"). Two different styles on the same material. Fun to compare styles of engineering (if you're a geek like me).

Later country Ray Charles songs like "CRYING TIME" were recorded at Bell Sound in New York. Astute listeners will notice that there are two different stereo mixes of "CRYING TIME", the first version mixed at Bell Sound and the second mixed at RPM International, both vintage mixes.

The BELL SOUND stereo mix is on the "Greatest Country And Western Hits" DCC Gold CD and the RPM mix is on the DCC/Sandstone "Ray Charles His Greatest Hits" two disk set (SAN 2 5002.) The RPM mix is also on the old ABC-Paramount LP ABC-544, "Crying TIme".

The way to tell the difference between the two mixes? At the end, the "choir" singing on the left channel is "wet" on the Bell Sound mix (properly) and on the RPM mix a few months later they are dead dry on the same channel. Ray liked both mixes and used them equally when we worked together. He didn't remember why the song was remixed at his studio but then realized it was because he felt like it. Heh.

Listeners have also noticed that the song "BUSTED" is different sounding on the two DCC disks that used the song.

Why did they do two vintage mixes of that song? Well, ABC-Paramount used Bell Sound in New York to do all of their lacquer cutting, editing, etc. for all of their product no matter where it was recorded. Ray liked to record where Ray liked (not always Bell Sound) and it was an old Bell Sound billing trick to get extra bread (money) like this: Here is what they did. Sneaky. "Busted" was recorded at Capitol in 1963. As per agreement with ABC-Paramount, Capitol mixed the song to stereo. But, Bell Sound (not to be outdone, or perhaps in revenge for the fact that Ray didn't record it there) remixed it immediately and marked their version "master". The Bell Sound version ended up on the old ABC-Paramount stereo LP. Double billing.

On the DCC Gold CD of RAY CHARLES "Ingredients In A Recipe For Soul", the original (and in my opinion better, but less wet Capitol original stereo mix version) was used and on the two disk Greatest Hits DCC/Sandstone set, the Bell Sound album remix was used. Why? Ray liked one version one week and the other version the next week when we were working on the stuff. Simple as that!

Hope this helps!

Don't ask me what versions of which songs we used on the Dunhill Ray Charles stuff before the ones mentioned above. I can't remember. You tell me which versions. Should be easy enough to tell now that you know what to listen for!

 

I apologize. I meant to type "I'M A FOOL TO CARE" but I typed "MY HEART CRIES FOR YOU" instead. So sorry, it's been a long time. I'll fix it in my above post.

"I'M A FOOL TO CARE" existed only in mono so Ray mixed it to stereo for the first time in 1987 for the first Dunhill CD (before we met him, actually). As far as I know, that stereo mix has been used ever since. Why that song was left off of any album back then is a mystery. Should have (and could have) been on ABC-Paramount 520 or 544 easily.

All other songs used an original period mix regardless of what it might have said on the cover..

 

He was and you're welcome!

 

The Uh Huh Compilation goes great with a Sunday Morning breakfast of waffles, fresh fruit, and coffee!

 

Thanks, Guys. I played "Uh Huh" (Two Disk Set as mentioned in post #1) in the car today and my kids immediately latched on to two songs:

"HIT THE ROAD, JACK". My 9 year old loved it at first listen and asked me to play it over and over. My 5 year old latched on to another song this morning (I didn't notice) and when I took him home from school he asked me to play that song about "Sticks and stones will break my bones". Ha, that was interesting. I had my doubts but when I started "STICKS AND STONES" he started moving his head (sort of like Ray used to do). Funny what kids like..

 

Those are exact clones of the Dunhill stuff made by yours truly and Kevin Gray for Pye, UK. Enjoy.

 

That was the Bell Sound 1962 mix for the "Ray Charles Greatest Hits" LP that they hurriedly put out when "Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music" was climbing the charts.

 

The music.

 

That's not an engineer, that voice is Ray's long-time manager and sometime producer (also a famous radio DJ) Joe Adams. Ray wanted Joe's voice on the disk so we put it on. When Joe found out about it he wanted extra royalties. Such a kidder.

 

"SOMEDAY (You'll Want Me To Want You)" from RAY CHARLES MODERN SOUNDS IN COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC VOLUME 2 is one of those 1962 Capitol New York studio songs that shows how great the tube recording gear of that era was when used correctly. Also when abused correctly. Ray's voice is shouting at the end, practically a square wave, yet not a hint of nastiness, just pure tube saturation overload. Couldn't get away with that 10 years later when solid state consoles and tape recorders replaced the valves, thing would have sounded like crap.