Somewheres I read that one (or more) of these early broadcasts was sped-up (time compressed)
so the performance would fit the allotted time-slot on the radio. Surely this seems to be the case with the
Amsterdam ’69 show, as the announcer is overdubbed on the sped-up music. It seems probable that this is also
the case with this show;
however, it may be that the recording was sped-up to fit the LP format,
and that “The Man” Live In Paris was taken from the LP (at least in part),
expecially as you can hear what sounds like very faint surface noise – pops and crackles that were “declicked.”
These sped-up versions are very hard to listen to. Both the tape-noise and a “whine” are pushed into the
hish-end sound spectrum and are very irritating. It seems that there is a “buzz” in the master recording,
from either the stage-amps & speakers, or the recording deck/tape itself. It is faintly evident in the
rebroadcast. This may be why the entire show was not rebraodcast. The LP was played
through a 1970’s
Marantz Model 6200 turntable
with the manual pitch-control near-minimum (reported as -4%).
Slowing the LP also reduces the high-end surface noise and crackle
(barely present anyway due to the near-mint quality).
This makes for a much more listenable recording; quite nice, actually.
The turntable plugs directly into a Tascam CC-222SL MKII recorder with a manual analog record-level knob
(essential in a recorder).
The recording level of the LP goes up and down unnaturally. Note how many old-school tape-decks auto-adjust the
record-level on-the-fly, and Pink Floyd’s music is often very quiet one minute, and screaming the next.
Having two pristine copies of the Waters’ Gate LP
(nobody wants to play this LP it sounds so bad on a regularly-pitched turntable), I played one
over and over with the recorder on pause, watching and adjusting the level on-the-fly, until I got it right.
Then I recorded it this way with the other LP, restoring the equilibrium of the performance.
This really makes the final product better.
¡Never! think that digital editing tools are the way to adjust the pitch of a recording.
You will loose some depth of the recording; stick to analog when possible.
Indeed, with Roxio’s toolkit, slowing the pitch on “The Man” Live In Paris
resulted in a bunch of noise!
Also note that the track-time of “The Violent Sequence” from the LP
now matches the rebroadcast time, evidence that ○1○ my ear is good ☻☺☻☺☻☺☻, and ○2○ the LP may have been the one
that was sped-up, exactly to the specs of a standard commercial turntable of the time
(since the speed was pitched basically as slow as it could go). |
