ROUND 11 - Cut the Crap - Side Two

[Marky Dread]

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.

Now I'm twice as baffled. So Bernie sped it and then Matey comes along and speeds it up again? How did Matey get a copy of it in it's alleged original recorded state? If it was in its original recorded state then surely nothing needed doing to it.

[Inder]

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.

[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.

Now I'm twice as baffled. So Bernie sped it and then Matey comes along and speeds it up again? How did Matey get a copy of it in it's alleged original recorded state? If it was in its original recorded state then surely nothing needed doing to it.

Haha, this is really hard to explain. I'm supposing Matey used software to slow it down to the original pitch it was recorded, which was in D. Pretty simple to do with today's technology. So he was left with exactly what Bernie had, a song that is fine but needs a bit of zip. Whereas Bernie had to use vari-speeding with tape, giving it the chipmunk sound, Matey had the luxury of using digital software to speed it up, making it the same speed as the CtC version without the chipmunk vocals. Does that make any more sense?

[Inder]

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.

Now I'm twice as baffled. So Bernie sped it and then Matey comes along and speeds it up again? How did Matey get a copy of it in it's alleged original recorded state? If it was in its original recorded state then surely nothing needed doing to it.

Most audio software lets you alter pitch without affecting tempo, though you can obviously adjust that independently of pitch as well.

For example, I moved the song down a semitone in Audacity, but it has the same running time as on Cut the Crap.

[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.

[Heston]

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.

Probably a simpler explanation, but only Matey will know how he did it. Speeding up songs back in the day meant pitch shifting. Nowadays you can speed a song up as much as you like without changing the key at all.

[Heston]

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?

Both, it was always in D

[Inder]

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?

The released version is in between keys, meaning if you try to play along on a properly tuned instrument you'll notice that it's off. It's pretty obvious which key it should be in (D), though you can compare it to live versions to confirm.

[Heston]

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.

Now I'm twice as baffled. So Bernie sped it and then Matey comes along and speeds it up again? How did Matey get a copy of it in it's alleged original recorded state? If it was in its original recorded state then surely nothing needed doing to it.

Most audio software lets you alter pitch without affecting tempo, though you can obviously adjust that independently of pitch as well.

For example, I moved the song down a semitone in Audacity, but it has the same running time as on Cut the Crap.

You've simplified it for me; hard to explain the pitch/speed thing.

[Marky Dread]

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.

Now I'm twice as baffled. So Bernie sped it and then Matey comes along and speeds it up again? How did Matey get a copy of it in it's alleged original recorded state? If it was in its original recorded state then surely nothing needed doing to it.

Most audio software lets you alter pitch without affecting tempo, though you can obviously adjust that independently of pitch as well.

For example, I moved the song down a semitone in Audacity, but it has the same running time as on Cut the Crap.

You've simplified it for me; hard to explain the pitch/speed thing.

Yep you were making it sound as if Matey had a copy of the pre touched Bernie version. I thought it was just TIE but it sounds like the whole album was sped up is this correct?

[Heston]

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.

[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.

[Heston]

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.

Now I'm twice as baffled. So Bernie sped it and then Matey comes along and speeds it up again? How did Matey get a copy of it in it's alleged original recorded state? If it was in its original recorded state then surely nothing needed doing to it.

Most audio software lets you alter pitch without affecting tempo, though you can obviously adjust that independently of pitch as well.

For example, I moved the song down a semitone in Audacity, but it has the same running time as on Cut the Crap.

You've simplified it for me; hard to explain the pitch/speed thing.

Yep you were making it sound as if Matey had a copy of the pre touched Bernie version. I thought it was just TIE but it sounds like the whole album was sped up is this correct?

No, just TiE from my memory, but it's possible there could be others. I would have to check.

[Marky Dread]

Now I'm twice as baffled. So Bernie sped it and then Matey comes along and speeds it up again? How did Matey get a copy of it in it's alleged original recorded state? If it was in its original recorded state then surely nothing needed doing to it.

Most audio software lets you alter pitch without affecting tempo, though you can obviously adjust that independently of pitch as well.

For example, I moved the song down a semitone in Audacity, but it has the same running time as on Cut the Crap.

You've simplified it for me; hard to explain the pitch/speed thing.

Yep you were making it sound as if Matey had a copy of the pre touched Bernie version. I thought it was just TIE but it sounds like the whole album was sped up is this correct?

No, just TiE from my memory, but it's possible there could be others. I would have to check.

Maybe because Bernie knew it was going to be the single.

[Heston]

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.