ROUND 11 - Cut the Crap - Side Two

[Marky Dread]

Cut the Crap — between keys/chipmunk effect, meaning they shifted the pitch up a few notches for the album.

Hoy — used some software to pitch the song back down a few ticks to the original key.

Thats fine and quite a basic thing to do. The orignal key being based on the demo or a live take?

I've got really good software that can do all the pitch shifting and speed adjustment. Heston wasn't making this clear with his original track statement. He meant as it was released. None of us have the master before Bernie fucked about with it. So any pitch or speed adjustments can only be guess work based on the demo.

Sorry I wasnt more clear mate but this is hard to articulate. None of us have the master tape but shifting the tape speed so it is back in D will tell you exactly what it originally sounded like. It will not really be guesswork because it's pretty much guaranteed the original take will be in D. If I still had my old four track tape player I could demonstrate it perfectly.

That's fine mate and problem solved now. I wonder why Bernie thought it necessary in the first place. Listening to the Strummer/Simonon/Howard takes from 101 box shows that the song was a powerful thing at its intended speed.

The Beatles used to do it all the time, varI-speeding was a studio technique for them. I suppose we can forgive Bernie a little bit of tampering.

Bernie was more George Orwell than George Martin.

[matedog]

Matey will probably explain better but I think he adjusted the pitch of the vocal whilst keeping the speed of the song the same. It was basically using modern technology to achieve Bernie's vision of the song without compromising Joe's vocal..

So therefore mateys version still runs at the wrong speed?

It's hard to explain but I think he pitch adjusted the whole song, putting it back to as it was originally recorded. He then used digital technology to speed it up without adjusting the pitch, therefore satisfying Bernie's vision for the song without chipmunking the vocals. Does that make sense?

Umm not really mate. It runs too fast or it doesnt. I dont know how you pitch shift the whole song without slowing down or speeding up everything. He slowed it down to what is considered it's correct speed then miraculously sped it up without making it faster. Surely the only way this could occurs is if you had an isolated vocal take and the instrumental backing as another separate track. To my knowledge they dont exist.

Imagine Bernie with the song in its originally recorded state. He wants it to be a bit faster so he speeds the tape up, giving Joe the chipmunk sound. Now imagine Matey with the song in its originally recorded state and he speeds it up digitally, which doesn't affect pitch. That is the difference. Andrew may correct me.

I just adjusted the pitch, not the speed, though slowing the speed would also adjust the pitch down. The track lengths between my version and the original are the same for example. I'm not sure that technology existed back then, but it's quite possible.

[Heston]

So therefore mateys version still runs at the wrong speed?

It's hard to explain but I think he pitch adjusted the whole song, putting it back to as it was originally recorded. He then used digital technology to speed it up without adjusting the pitch, therefore satisfying Bernie's vision for the song without chipmunking the vocals. Does that make sense?

Umm not really mate. It runs too fast or it doesnt. I dont know how you pitch shift the whole song without slowing down or speeding up everything. He slowed it down to what is considered it's correct speed then miraculously sped it up without making it faster. Surely the only way this could occurs is if you had an isolated vocal take and the instrumental backing as another separate track. To my knowledge they dont exist.

Imagine Bernie with the song in its originally recorded state. He wants it to be a bit faster so he speeds the tape up, giving Joe the chipmunk sound. Now imagine Matey with the song in its originally recorded state and he speeds it up digitally, which doesn't affect pitch. That is the difference. Andrew may correct me.

I just adjusted the pitch, not the speed, though slowing the speed would also adjust the pitch down. The track lengths between my version and the original are the same for example. I'm not sure that technology existed back then, but it's quite possible.

Yeah, I probably over thought it. I forgot we had technology which can pitch change without altering speed.

[Marky Dread]

It's hard to explain but I think he pitch adjusted the whole song, putting it back to as it was originally recorded. He then used digital technology to speed it up without adjusting the pitch, therefore satisfying Bernie's vision for the song without chipmunking the vocals. Does that make sense?

Umm not really mate. It runs too fast or it doesnt. I dont know how you pitch shift the whole song without slowing down or speeding up everything. He slowed it down to what is considered it's correct speed then miraculously sped it up without making it faster. Surely the only way this could occurs is if you had an isolated vocal take and the instrumental backing as another separate track. To my knowledge they dont exist.

Imagine Bernie with the song in its originally recorded state. He wants it to be a bit faster so he speeds the tape up, giving Joe the chipmunk sound. Now imagine Matey with the song in its originally recorded state and he speeds it up digitally, which doesn't affect pitch. That is the difference. Andrew may correct me.

I just adjusted the pitch, not the speed, though slowing the speed would also adjust the pitch down. The track lengths between my version and the original are the same for example. I'm not sure that technology existed back then, but it's quite possible.

Yeah, I probably over thought it. I forgot we had technology which can pitch change without altering speed.

You pitched it wrong Mr. Heston. Now God speed you on your way.

[Marky Dread]

So therefore mateys version still runs at the wrong speed?

It's hard to explain but I think he pitch adjusted the whole song, putting it back to as it was originally recorded. He then used digital technology to speed it up without adjusting the pitch, therefore satisfying Bernie's vision for the song without chipmunking the vocals. Does that make sense?

Umm not really mate. It runs too fast or it doesnt. I dont know how you pitch shift the whole song without slowing down or speeding up everything. He slowed it down to what is considered it's correct speed then miraculously sped it up without making it faster. Surely the only way this could occurs is if you had an isolated vocal take and the instrumental backing as another separate track. To my knowledge they dont exist.

Imagine Bernie with the song in its originally recorded state. He wants it to be a bit faster so he speeds the tape up, giving Joe the chipmunk sound. Now imagine Matey with the song in its originally recorded state and he speeds it up digitally, which doesn't affect pitch. That is the difference. Andrew may correct me.

I just adjusted the pitch, not the speed, though slowing the speed would also adjust the pitch down. The track lengths between my version and the original are the same for example. I'm not sure that technology existed back then, but it's quite possible.

This is what I thought all along.