19 votes
Accepted

Why do many vinyl albums place sides I and IV on one record and II and III on the other?

Many phonographs were able to play multiple records in sequence with a mechanism that would hold one or more records on the turntable, and one or more additional records elevated on the center post. ...
Steve's user avatar
  • 372
8 votes
Accepted

Songs with a backwards instrumental solo

I imagine this question is impossible to answer in full, but there are few examples I can think of off the top of my head or I was able to find fairly easily via Google. Guitar "Give It Away" by the ...
Joe Kennedy's user avatar
  • 4,325
8 votes

Is there deliberate marketing that tries to persuade people to prefer vinyl records over CDs?

This might come across as a tad cynical ;) Personally, I feel it's that people, given sufficient peer pressure, can easily be convinced to fool themselves. No need for marketing pressure. Most people ...
Tetsujin's user avatar
  • 7,685
7 votes

Why are vinyl records sometimes off pitch?

The reasons you suggest do happen. And other causes are possible too. Perhaps the recording session itself wasn't on-pitch (maybe the band was playing for many hours and didn't re-tune in the middle)...
luser droog's user avatar
7 votes

Why did fans used to buy "bootleg" recordings of live concerts?

You are used to highly produced music which is created primarily for studio recording, and then reproduced live on stage for fans who demand an exact copy of the recording. But there are bands, and ...
Chris Sunami's user avatar
  • 15.4k
5 votes

Longest song recording that hit the charts

I searched for "American Pie Duration" and in the Google results I saw "is the fourth longest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100, at the time of release it was the longest". Wikipedia then had a ...
Betty Crokker's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

Splitting a single FLAC file into songs with a Cue sheet?

I've discovered a solution which works quite nicely; Foobar2000. The application itself is available here: https://www.foobar2000.org/FAQ I discovered this via google on a messageboard. I'll add ...
Johnny Bones's user avatar
  • 7,119
4 votes

Is it possible to extract supposed backward/subliminal messages from a song without the master?

It should make no difference if it is a true backwards message. The only difference between the studio master and a purchased copy would be that the master has a slightly better sound quality. The ...
Zac Ray's user avatar
  • 41
4 votes
Accepted

Is it possible to extract supposed backward/subliminal messages from a song without the master?

The song "Another One Bites the Dust" turned backwards does indeed sound very much like "decide to smoke marijuana" or "It's fun to smoke marijuana." Turning the record backwards with your finger ...
SpinDownUGo's user avatar
4 votes

The Beatles' song "Yellow Submarine" sounds slightly off-tune on YouTube

(as pointed out in the comments, thanks @Wheat @Tim) This video does not actually appear to be the Beatles, although it is billed as though it were. As far as I can tell, there's no version with the ...
Chris Sunami's user avatar
  • 15.4k
4 votes
Accepted

Did Glen Gould record the full Liszt transcription of Beethoven's 7th symphony?

I have not found authoritative sources explicitly saying there were no other recordings, but all references I know point to Gould only having recorded the 5th and the 6th. The liner notes to a CD ...
José David's user avatar
  • 1,712
4 votes
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Improvised music by notes

Not that I know of. The only "note for note" recreation I've heard of is Blue by Other People Mostly Do The Killing, which is a note for note recreation of the famous Miles Davis album Kind of Blue (...
gurney alex's user avatar
3 votes
Accepted

What's the difference between o/b/o and c/o

I'm not sure about any possible technical usage in publishing credits, but typically "A in care of B" just means that B is doing nothing but passing it along to A, whereas "A on behalf of B" means ...
Chris Sunami's user avatar
  • 15.4k
3 votes
Accepted

Where can I find the original, drunken version of Screaming Jay Hawkins' I Put a Spell On You online?

Based on you profile it seems like you're located in UK, in which case it should be fairly easy to find that version of the song, since that compilation was released in the UK. Here it is on Amazon; ...
Joe Kennedy's user avatar
  • 4,325
3 votes

Songs with a backwards instrumental solo

The song Misunderstood by Dream Theater features a doubled backwards guitar solo at 4:45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdpCnRSeshU It's interesting to listen to the reversed audio (that is, the ...
xelerad's user avatar
  • 31
3 votes
Accepted

Can you convert recordings where certain instruments/parts are in left or right headphones only?

is there anyway I can convert these (stereo?) type of recordings so that I don't hear all the panning of the parts in my left and right ear? Yes. You'll want to change these stereo recordings (...
Jacob Swanson's user avatar
3 votes

Can you convert recordings where certain instruments/parts are in left or right headphones only?

Certainly. Feed the L and R tracks into separate channels of a mixer, pan both tracks to Centre, record the result. Or pan both tracks TOWARDS centre, but not fully. Then you'll still get some ...
Laurence's user avatar
  • 362
3 votes
Accepted

Drum beat mistake in Daydream by Wallace Collection?

At the time this song was released, bands still used live human drummers, and occasional imperfections in the beat were taken as a matter of course. The era of drum machines and/or stitching together ...
Chris Sunami's user avatar
  • 15.4k
3 votes

How often are label recordings off-note: sped up or slowed down?

This used to be common before the days of digital - often the record company would complain to the producer that a song is too fast or too slow and the option would be to vary the tape speed on the ...
dazzathedrummer's user avatar
3 votes

How often are label recordings off-note: sped up or slowed down?

Not that rare. The producer felt a little extra energy could be gained by raising the speed and/or pitch a little. Or there may be more pragmatic reasons, making changes to fit in with the pitch or ...
Laurence's user avatar
  • 362
3 votes
Accepted

Was Elvis Presley's 'Suspicious Minds' the first song with a fade-out and fade back in?

The Wikipedia article on Fade states that it is not possible to reliably identify the first modern recording to use fade. It also states, in relation to earlier recordings: By the early 1930s ...
Angst's user avatar
  • 4,242
3 votes

Longest song recording that hit the charts

I was sure it would be Don McLean's "American Pie" weighing in at eight minutes and thirty-six seconds - The single had to be split into two parts but it did chart as one piece. But recently ...
mayersdesign's user avatar
3 votes
Accepted

Is any Tomorrowland Orchestra music available on CD?

The Tomorrowland Orchestra is actually The Metropole Orkest, an orchestra for hire based in the Netherlands. Wikipedia's entry for them includes a selected discography. The Metropole Orkest seems not ...
Aaron's user avatar
  • 3,855
3 votes
Accepted

What is the recording location, studio, and year of the song "That's What Friends Are For"?

It was recorded in 1985 at Conway Studios in Hollywood. According to Dionne Warwick's autobiography: One day in 1985, I ran into Elton John at the supermarket in Los Angeles the day before the ["...
Aaron's user avatar
  • 3,855
2 votes

Non-stylistic reasons for whole-song fade out

Agree with Zach. In addition, some songs were played in concert Grateful Dead style with the song followed by an extended instrumental jam. In the record studio, the jam would be faded out just ...
empty's user avatar
  • 201
2 votes
Accepted

Has anyone recorded a cello version of Bach's Prelude No. 1 in C major (BWV 846)

Pieter Wispelwey recorded a version with Richard Egarr on an album called "Gamba Sonatas" for the label Channel Classics.
guidot's user avatar
  • 1,205
2 votes

Before the days of downloads, were 'single' releases ever really only one song?

This question is fraught with conflation. Everyone here seems to be trying to shoehorn answers to fit with the original question. When the term came about, 'single' was not intended to connote that ...
Jason P Sallinger's user avatar

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