mooghead
Are there any other Queen tracks that were sped up/slowed down?
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dysan
It was a popular production technique - you can hear it in a lot of Bowie stuff too. I think the Matt revision threads are a good place to get answers there as he offers us 'natural' versions too. Notably AOBTD and I think a few on Hot Space spring to mind.
Rami
Very interesting, great! Thank you very much indeed!!
Nitroboy
I still can't stand the song, and the guitar feedback-effect still sounds like shit to me :S
Sebastian
Quite interesting indeed.
soxtalon
Thank you for this! This is quite interesting. I prefer the faster speed myself, but it's awesome to have an alternative to listen to. Especially when it's not JUST the speed that's different. I love hearing the vocals more clearly and the feedback isn't QUITE as annoying at this speed (although still off-putting and quite distracting)
dysan
Still listening to this loads.
Bohardy
[QUOTE] [b]mooghead wrote:[/b]
Are there any other Queen tracks that were sped up/slowed down?[/QUOTE]
Mad The Swine (down a semitone)
TMOTBQ (up a tiny fraction)
'39 (up a semitone)
AOBTD (up a semitone)
Long Away (down about a quartertone)
Hijack My Heart (up a semitone)
They're all either not in concert pitch or not played in the key they ended up in, and there's probably some more I've missed. It's conceivable (though unlikely, for me) that for MTS (perhaps less unlikely) and LA the guitars were simply detuned though.
Are there any other Queen tracks that were sped up/slowed down?[/QUOTE]
Mad The Swine (down a semitone)
TMOTBQ (up a tiny fraction)
'39 (up a semitone)
AOBTD (up a semitone)
Long Away (down about a quartertone)
Hijack My Heart (up a semitone)
They're all either not in concert pitch or not played in the key they ended up in, and there's probably some more I've missed. It's conceivable (though unlikely, for me) that for MTS (perhaps less unlikely) and LA the guitars were simply detuned though.
tomchristie22
Interesting. I assumed that they just recorded '39 in G#.
Bohardy
TBH Tom I don't know, and I've weirdly never given it much thought.
Clearly Bri plays it in G, and live it was always in that key. There are really only 3 options for the recording:
John and Bri play in G, master is sped up a semitone
Bri plays in G with capo on 1st, John plays in Ab, not sped up
John and Bri play in G but tune their guitars up a semitone, not sped up
Just looking at that, the first option seems overwhelmingly the most likely. I've not ever really considered whether it sounds sped up or not. And, of course, it's possible that the vocals are not, as the rhythm track could have been sped up before the vocals were laid down. But without listening and scrutinising the timbres of the vox and guitars, I'd hedge my bets and say it's all sped up, after everything's been recorded.
Clearly Bri plays it in G, and live it was always in that key. There are really only 3 options for the recording:
John and Bri play in G, master is sped up a semitone
Bri plays in G with capo on 1st, John plays in Ab, not sped up
John and Bri play in G but tune their guitars up a semitone, not sped up
Just looking at that, the first option seems overwhelmingly the most likely. I've not ever really considered whether it sounds sped up or not. And, of course, it's possible that the vocals are not, as the rhythm track could have been sped up before the vocals were laid down. But without listening and scrutinising the timbres of the vox and guitars, I'd hedge my bets and say it's all sped up, after everything's been recorded.
The Real Wizard
[QUOTE] [b]Bohardy wrote:[/b]
[QUOTE] [b]mooghead wrote:[/b]
Are there any other Queen tracks that were sped up/slowed down?[/QUOTE]
Mad The Swine (down a semitone)
TMOTBQ (up a tiny fraction)
'39 (up a semitone)
AOBTD (up a semitone)
Long Away (down about a quartertone)
Hijack My Heart (up a semitone)
They're all either not in concert pitch or not played in the key they ended up in, and there's probably some more I've missed. It's conceivable (though unlikely, for me) that for MTS (perhaps less unlikely) and LA the guitars were simply detuned though.
[/QUOTE]
'39 could've been recorded with a capo on the guitar, and Long Away could've been detuned.
Other than Dust, it's hard to know how many of these (if any) were the result of tape tricks. Or does anyone have some firm answers?
[QUOTE] [b]mooghead wrote:[/b]
Are there any other Queen tracks that were sped up/slowed down?[/QUOTE]
Mad The Swine (down a semitone)
TMOTBQ (up a tiny fraction)
'39 (up a semitone)
AOBTD (up a semitone)
Long Away (down about a quartertone)
Hijack My Heart (up a semitone)
They're all either not in concert pitch or not played in the key they ended up in, and there's probably some more I've missed. It's conceivable (though unlikely, for me) that for MTS (perhaps less unlikely) and LA the guitars were simply detuned though.
[/QUOTE]
'39 could've been recorded with a capo on the guitar, and Long Away could've been detuned.
Other than Dust, it's hard to know how many of these (if any) were the result of tape tricks. Or does anyone have some firm answers?
Sebastian
One that's been officially confirmed is of course 'No-One But You.'
tomchristie22
On '39:
It's possible that everything was played in the key in which we hear it on the album - Brian with capo on first fret, John not using open strings in the bass line (it's just as easy to play with or without using them).
It's also possible that the entire thing, or at least the foundational stuff, was recorded in G and then shifted into G#.
Their dropping it a semitone for live versions does seem to possibly indicate it was recorded in G, at least partially, as this logic applies to SHA. Still, this isn't definitive at all.
Listening to Brian's vocal (fairly isolated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzFiU02T1Ss), it does sound to me like it may be sped up - listen to parts like 'sweetest sight ever [b]seen[/b]' - not the note, but the tonal quality of his voice when that nasaly sound comes through. Perhaps I didn't explain that very well. Perhaps I'm experiencing confirmation bias.
So, it doesn't seem like anything within the song can prove it one way or another. I might ask Brian, though that obviously doesn't guarantee that he'll answer, much less remember.
It's possible that everything was played in the key in which we hear it on the album - Brian with capo on first fret, John not using open strings in the bass line (it's just as easy to play with or without using them).
It's also possible that the entire thing, or at least the foundational stuff, was recorded in G and then shifted into G#.
Their dropping it a semitone for live versions does seem to possibly indicate it was recorded in G, at least partially, as this logic applies to SHA. Still, this isn't definitive at all.
Listening to Brian's vocal (fairly isolated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzFiU02T1Ss), it does sound to me like it may be sped up - listen to parts like 'sweetest sight ever [b]seen[/b]' - not the note, but the tonal quality of his voice when that nasaly sound comes through. Perhaps I didn't explain that very well. Perhaps I'm experiencing confirmation bias.
So, it doesn't seem like anything within the song can prove it one way or another. I might ask Brian, though that obviously doesn't guarantee that he'll answer, much less remember.
Viper
thx!
Bohardy
[QUOTE] [b]tomchristie22 wrote:[/b]
Listening to Brian's vocal (fairly isolated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzFiU02T1Ss), it does sound to me like it may be sped up - listen to parts like 'sweetest sight ever [b]seen[/b]' - not the note, but the tonal quality of his voice when that nasaly sound comes through. Perhaps I didn't explain that very well. Perhaps I'm experiencing confirmation bias.
[/QUOTE]
It does sound like it could be sped up, though not as much as you'd expect with a whole semitone shift. I am pretty sure I can hear John playing open As and Ds though. As i said, if I had to bet, I'd say it was all sped up.
[QUOTE] [b]The Real Wizard wrote:[/b]
Other than Dust, it's hard to know how many of these (if any) were the result of tape tricks. Or does anyone have some firm answers?
[/QUOTE]
Hijack My Heart was definitely sped up. It's like SHA: Rog wouldn't write it in Bbm/Db, but rather Am/C.
Besides, the demo version is in the original key and speed.
Listening to Brian's vocal (fairly isolated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzFiU02T1Ss), it does sound to me like it may be sped up - listen to parts like 'sweetest sight ever [b]seen[/b]' - not the note, but the tonal quality of his voice when that nasaly sound comes through. Perhaps I didn't explain that very well. Perhaps I'm experiencing confirmation bias.
[/QUOTE]
It does sound like it could be sped up, though not as much as you'd expect with a whole semitone shift. I am pretty sure I can hear John playing open As and Ds though. As i said, if I had to bet, I'd say it was all sped up.
[QUOTE] [b]The Real Wizard wrote:[/b]
Other than Dust, it's hard to know how many of these (if any) were the result of tape tricks. Or does anyone have some firm answers?
[/QUOTE]
Hijack My Heart was definitely sped up. It's like SHA: Rog wouldn't write it in Bbm/Db, but rather Am/C.
Besides, the demo version is in the original key and speed.