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NightAire
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| Posted: 26 September 2021 at 8:43pm | IP Logged
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Had a shocking realization after listening to "Who Can It Be Now" by Men At Work for decades through speakers.
Tonight I had my headphones on (the wife's asleep) and realized there are SIGNIFICANT fluttering and dropouts in seconds 18 and 19 on the right channel just after the lyrics kick in!
I thought I just had a bad copy, but I then went through every version I have on my PC: Modern Rock Vol. 12, Billboard Top hits 1982, Business As Usual, Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 6, Valley Girl soundtrack, and Pop Music - The Modern Era 1976 - 1999 and ALL of them have what sounds like tape damage or head alignment in those opening seconds of the first verse.
Some of my copies seem to have less obvious dropouts or glitches in other places in the song but nothing like this first.
Does anybody know the story behind this? Does the original vinyl from 1982 have this too, or was the master damaged between 1982 and the first digital master of the song?
I'm just aghast that I'd never noticed this before; maybe this is old hat for everybody else but since I didn't see any posts about it I thought I'd bring it up here. Surely somebody knows something. In my mind this would be worth going back to the original tracks if they still exist and making another, clean, mixdown.
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Gene Savage
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NightAire
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| Posted: 26 September 2021 at 9:09pm | IP Logged
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After exploring YouTube for a while, I believe it was not damaged on the vinyl. The extended version also doesn't seem to have damage either. Many, many digital copies do seem to have the damage.
I've found one copy on YouTube that doesn't have the damage. It's labeled as coming from the Men At Work collection, "The Works," which was a compilation released exclusively in Australia.
I don't own this CD so I don't know if it's brickwalled or not but the YouTube video says the collection was released in 1996.
Edited by NightAire on 26 September 2021 at 9:19pm
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Gene Savage
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eriejwg
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| Posted: 26 September 2021 at 9:17pm | IP Logged
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I just listened to the song on Qobuz on The Works
and no dropout (or tape damage) at the :18-:19 second
point.
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John Gallagher
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NightAire
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| Posted: 26 September 2021 at 9:22pm | IP Logged
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John, you are 100% correct!!! Thank you so much; I would now say (unless we find other sources using this master) this is the definitive digital copy of this song.
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Gene Savage
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LunarLaugh
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| Posted: 26 September 2021 at 10:42pm | IP Logged
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I heard a long time ago that the American master tape for
"Business As Usual" was an EQ'd copy of the original
Australian master. I would venture to assume that the
original CD master utilized the American master tape and
this digital master was the source for various other CD
collections and compilations.
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crapfromthepast
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| Posted: 27 September 2021 at 8:40am | IP Logged
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The noise that Gene mentions sounds a little like paper being crumpled in the right channel, under the first instance of the word "be" at around 19 seconds into the song. It seems to be part of the backing track or maybe a mixing artifact, because it doesn't affect the vocals at all.
I have the song on 20 different CDs, so naturally I A/B-ed them all. (!)
The first CD to include the song was probably the full-length Men At Work CD Business As Usual, which (according to Discogs) was released in Japan, Australia, and Europe in 1983, and in the US in 1984. It doesn't really sound that great here. It's likely from a higher-generation tape source than what would come later. Listen for the muffled-sounding ride cymbal in the choruses, and compare to the in-your-face ride cymbals on later masterings. The same analog transfer is used on:- Columbia's 3-inch CD single for "Who Can It Be Now"/"Down Under" (Columbia 13K 68654, released 1989)
- Priority's Rock Of The '80s Vol. 4 (1993)
The next mastering I found was a new analog transfer for the promotional disc CBS Records Compact Disc Demonstration II (1984). It sounds great here - significantly better than Business As Usual. To my ears, it sounds like a lower-generation source tape. It's safe to say that you likely don't own this disc, but the sound quality of the Rhino disc below is comparable - probably a new analog transfer of the same low-generation source tape.
I found a new analog transfer on the Australia-only CD '81-'85 (1986), where it sounds like mud. I hear a higher-generation tape source than any of the earlier discs, plus the volume is too low (there's at least 6 dB of headroom on "Who Can It Be Now"). Avoid.
Edit - see below.
There's a brand new analog transfer on Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1982 (1992), where it sounds spectacular. I think it uses the same source tape as the Demonstration disc above; this disc will be two orders of magnitude less expensive than Demonstration, so no need to hunt down that earlier disc. The same analog transfer is used on:- Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 5 1982 (1994) - differently EQ'd digital clone
- Sony's Men At Work CD Contraband The Best Of (1996) - mastered way too loud; avoid
- Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Big '80s (1998)
- Sony's budget compilation Hits Of 1982 (1999) - differently EQ'd digital clone, but missing attack of opening drumbeat; avoid
- Sony's 2-CD Pop Music The Modern Era 1976-1999 (1999) - clips a lot; avoid
- Time-Life's 2-CD Modern Rock Vol. 12 1980-1984 (2000) - differently EQ'd digital clone
- Sony's 3-CD Eighties Pop Hits (2001) - missing attack of opening drumbeat; avoid
- possibly Madacy's Rock On 1982 Vol. 2 (2005) - mastered too loud; avoid
There's a new analog transfer on Razor & Tie's 2-CD Totally '80s (1993). The EQ tames the high end a bit. The same analog transfer is used on:- Warner Special Products' 2-CD Punk (1996) - this song, and everything else on this compilation, is pure pop and has nothing to do with actual punk
There's another analog transfer on swaitek's promo 50-CD set The A List Disc 13 (1994). It's likely taken from a TM Century mastering, but I haven't confirmed.
There still another analog transfer on Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 6 (1994). The sound quality is about the same as the Billboard disc. The same analog transfer is used on:- Rhino's Valley Girl soundtrack (1994)
- Rhino's cheapie New Wave Hits Vol. 2 (1996)
As for the noise that Gene pointed out, I hear it in all of the discs I listed above. I think I may hear it in '81-'85, but that version is so muffled that I can't really tell.Edit - see below.
My recommendation
Go for Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1982 (1992). The other Rhino discs sound nice, too, as do the digital clones of Billboard.
Edited by crapfromthepast on 27 September 2021 at 9:17am
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crapfromthepast
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| Posted: 27 September 2021 at 9:21am | IP Logged
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Aaron re-EQ'd the version on '81-'85, and made it sound better than all the versions on actual CDs. Amazing work!
And in his re-EQ'd version, we can plainly hear that there are no crumple/tape damage artifacts at 0:19.
If you have good EQ'd skills, then work your magic on the Australian '81-'85 CD, which sounds muddy in its released state, but has some terrific source material buried under the mud.
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mjb50
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| Posted: 27 September 2021 at 10:44am | IP Logged
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I've had to re-EQ all the early Men at Work hits to get them to my taste.
FWIW, '81-'85 was renamed to The Works when reissued in 1992. Presumably the same mastering.
Aside from brightening it up, you'll probably want to expand the stereo on it slightly as well, if you want it to match the American mastering.
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Ringmaster_D
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| Posted: 27 September 2021 at 1:00pm | IP Logged
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I took a listen to my Definitive Collection CD
which is a relatively nice-sounding 1997 European import.
It sounds like "Who Can It Be Now" is taken from the same
drop-out-laden source. In fact, just casually listening
to the first half of the song I could detect defects at
0:41, 1:19, 1:31, and 1:46. Most occur at sibilant points
in the vocal track which makes me think they are actually
distortion of some sort. They don't seem to be present in
the '81-'85 collection. Kudos to Aaron for giving
us a new "go to" version.
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headstar
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| Posted: 26 October 2021 at 8:07pm | IP Logged
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crapfromthepast wrote:
Aaron re-EQ'd the version on '81-'85, and made it sound better than all the versions on actual CDs. Amazing work!
And in his re-EQ'd version, we can plainly hear that there are no crumple/tape damage artifacts at 0:19.
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Would love to hear a wav/flac of this re-EQ'd version. Every other version of this song has that annoying damage and dropout.
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PopArchivist
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| Posted: 27 October 2021 at 12:26am | IP Logged
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headstar wrote:
| Would love to hear a wav/flac of this re-EQ'd version. Every other version of this song has that annoying damage and dropout. |
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Check your PM.
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headstar
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| Posted: 27 October 2021 at 11:31am | IP Logged
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PopArchivist,
Thank you very much!
This is certainly the definitive version. As the releases I've heard screw it up.
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PopArchivist
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| Posted: 02 November 2021 at 9:27pm | IP Logged
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headstar wrote:
PopArchivist,
Thank you very much!
This is certainly the definitive version. As the releases I've heard screw it up. |
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Aaron K is the master at making a dull lifeless CD release match the 45 and making music "come alive." Thank you Aaron.
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C J Brown
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| Posted: 03 November 2021 at 3:18pm | IP Logged
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If not too late I would also enjoy the EQ work of Aaron on
Who Can It Be Now.
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PopArchivist
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| Posted: 03 November 2021 at 3:26pm | IP Logged
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C J Brown wrote:
If not too late I would also enjoy the EQ work of Aaron on
Who Can It Be Now. |
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Check your PM
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C J Brown
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| Posted: 04 November 2021 at 3:46pm | IP Logged
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Mr PopArchivist
Alas it seems the link is expired.
Plus your mailbox is full and will not accept new PM
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PopArchivist
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| Posted: 04 November 2021 at 4:41pm | IP Logged
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C J Brown wrote:
Mr PopArchivist
Alas it seems the link is expired.
Plus your mailbox is full and will not accept new PM |
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check your PM. Mailbox cleaned out.
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Topic: Men At Work Who Can It Be Now
