Top 40 Music on Compact Disc: "Closer I Get To You"

Active Topics

Memberlist

Help

Chat Board
Top 40 Music on Compact Disc : Chat Board

Topic: "Closer I Get To You" - Flack/Hathaway

Author

Message

<< Prev Topic | Next Topic >>

sriv94
MusicFan

Joined: 16 September 2005
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1457

Posted: 23 February 2006 at 12:03pm \| IP Logged

Has anyone here tried to reproduce the radio version of "The Closer I Get To You?" It's weird in that verses are rearranged (not dissimilar to how the 45 of "Take It To The Limit" was created). I tried to do it once based on a lyrics sheet and couldn't get anywhere (just couldn't get it smooth enough). Note--this is the DJ version, I do believe the commercial 45 and LP versions were the same.

Maybe someone here has had more success (or has access).

__________________
Doug
---------------
All of the good signatures have been taken.

Grant
MusicFan

Joined: 12 October 2004
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 211

Posted: 23 February 2006 at 10:11pm \| IP Logged

The radio edit, if i'm not mistaken, just cuts out the first verse and second chorus.

Yes, the LP and 45s were the same.

Edited by Grant on 23 February 2006 at 10:11pm

sriv94
MusicFan

Joined: 16 September 2005
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1457

Posted: 24 February 2006 at 11:48am \| IP Logged

Grant wrote:

The radio edit, if i'm not mistaken, just cuts out the first verse and second chorus.

I don't think that's right, Grant. I believe the verse order on the DJ edit goes like this (quoting first lines for each):

Flack--"The closer I get to you. . ."
Hathaway--"Sweeter and sweeter. . ."
Flack--"Lying here next to you. . ."
Hathaway--"Over and over again. . ."
Flack--"The closer I get to you. . ."
Hathaway--"The closer I get to you. . ."
(not to mention a little of the intro is snipped)

The commercial 45 and LP version order goes like this:

Flack--"The closer I get to you. . ."
Hathaway--"Over and over again. . ."
Flack--"Lying here next to you. . ."
Hathaway--"Sweeter and sweeter. . ."
Flack--"The closer I get to you. . ."
Hathaway--"Over and over again. . ."
Flack--"The closer I get to you. . ."
Hathaway--"The closer I get to you. . ."

Pat or Ed, do either of you have access to the (3:27) DJ 45 to confirm? Oh, BTW, Pat, the song was a hit in 1978, not 1979 (peaked at #2 Billboard in May).

__________________
Doug
---------------
All of the good signatures have been taken.

Grant
MusicFan

Joined: 12 October 2004
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 211

Posted: 24 February 2006 at 5:52pm \| IP Logged

sriv94 wrote:

Grant wrote:

The radio edit, if i'm not mistaken, just cuts out the first verse and second chorus.

You just confirmed what I stated.

sriv94
MusicFan

Joined: 16 September 2005
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1457

Posted: 24 February 2006 at 8:28pm \| IP Logged

Not really. The way the commercial 45 is set up, I don't think you can seamlessly create the DJ edit out of it. You have to move the "Sweeter and sweeter" verse to BEFORE Flack sings "Lying here next to you," but I do believe there's some vocal overlapping involved. And it might actually be the first "Over and over again" verse used for the DJ edit (maybe with the last line of the second "over and over again" verse used for the seamless edit to Flack's final solo chorus).

If you were able to do it, I'd like to hear it.

__________________
Doug
---------------
All of the good signatures have been taken.

Grant
MusicFan

Joined: 12 October 2004
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 211

Posted: 24 February 2006 at 11:02pm \| IP Logged

The dj edit is more like:

Flack--"The closer I get to you. . ."
Hathaway--"Sweeter and sweeter. . ."
Flack--"The closer I get to you. . ."
Hathaway--"Over and over again. . ."
Flack--"The closer I get to you. . ."
Hathaway--"The closer I get to you. . ."
(not to mention a little of the intro is snipped)

Grant
MusicFan

Joined: 12 October 2004
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 211

Posted: 24 February 2006 at 11:04pm \| IP Logged

sriv94 wrote:

If you were able to do it, I'd like to hear it.

I'll work on one.

Grant
MusicFan

Joined: 12 October 2004
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 211

Posted: 25 February 2006 at 12:00am \| IP Logged

Ahhhhh! I give up! I can't bloody recreate it! I really wish I had been making radio tapes at that point in time!

Todd Ireland
MusicFan

Joined: 16 October 2004
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4219

Posted: 25 February 2006 at 7:49am \| IP Logged

I'm going to wait until I have an original copy of the DJ 45 before I attempt to recreate it from CD. The original may reveal a better way to accomplish these edits.

BillyDee203
MusicFan

Joined: 10 June 2006
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 20

Posted: 10 June 2006 at 1:40pm \| IP Logged

Todd Ireland wrote:

I'm going to wait until I have an original copy of the
DJ 45 before I attempt to recreate it from CD. The original may reveal a
better way to accomplish these edits.

There's one edit that is impossible to replicate. I just grafted it from the DJ
single once I cleaned it up enough to match.

Gary Mack
MusicFan

Joined: 06 February 2006
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 158

Posted: 10 June 2006 at 3:22pm \| IP Logged

Doug is correct. This is the verse order on my 3:27 Atlantic stereo promo 45:

Flack--"The closer I get to you. . ."
Hathaway--"Sweeter and sweeter. . ."
Flack--"Lying here next to you. . ."
Hathaway--"Over and over again. . ."
Flack--"The closer I get to you. . ."
Hathaway--"The closer I get to you. . ."
(not to mention a little of the intro is snipped)

GM

Edited by Gary Mack on 10 June 2006 at 7:20pm

edtop40
MusicFan

Joined: 29 October 2004
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4996

Posted: 10 June 2006 at 3:58pm \| IP Logged

guys...i don't have the dj 45...i do have the 4:39 commercial 45....

__________________
edtop40

sriv94
MusicFan

Joined: 16 September 2005
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1457

Posted: 10 June 2006 at 4:32pm \| IP Logged

Gary Mack wrote:

Thanks for the confirmation, Gary!

Edited by sriv94 on 11 June 2006 at 10:27am

__________________
Doug
---------------
All of the good signatures have been taken.

sriv94
MusicFan

Joined: 16 September 2005
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1457

Posted: 29 November 2007 at 8:59am \| IP Logged

Bumping this up for Andy.

__________________
Doug
---------------
All of the good signatures have been taken.

AndrewChouffi
MusicFan

Joined: 24 September 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1092

Posted: 29 November 2007 at 1:08pm \| IP Logged

I just made a digital simulation of the promo edit.

It is not exact because I don't think it's 100% possible without the multitracks...

But it's pretty close.

If anybody would like to hear it please p.m. me.

Andy

BillCahill
MusicFan

Joined: 13 October 2004
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 164

Posted: 01 December 2007 at 7:10am \| IP Logged

This DJ edits are pretty funny. The synthesizer pops on and off pretty abruptly at least twice in the song, and it's that way on the DJ 45. The notes above are correct on how the song is rearranged. The issue is that to help cover up what would be a bad edit as Roberta starts singing "Lying here next to you", (On the edit) extra synthesizer is added on top. That extra synthesizer is not on the long side of the DJ 45 at that point in the song, nor on the LP. It may be possible that they synched up a piece of music elswhere on the song which had the synth to get that result but I can't find it, it is just as likely that somebody went through the trouble of overdubbing that synthesizer to help cover up the bad edit.

While they were at it they should have covered up two of the other bad edits!

Edited by BillCahill on 01 December 2007 at 7:10am

MMathews
MusicFan

Joined: 18 August 2005
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 978

Posted: 18 May 2015 at 2:56pm \| IP Logged

Ok I too attempted to make a digital facsimile of the
promo edit, and I ran into the issue of the edit leading
into the 2nd verse.
As mentioned above, they moved the 2nd chorus with
"sweeter and sweeter..." to the 1st position, but in
doing that when you try to cut into the 2nd verse at
1:14, the synth in the left channel suddenly chops from a
hi-note to a low-note.

To solve this they cut in a custom mixed segment that
lasts from 1:14 - 1:20. If you listen closely there's
another splice at 1:20 on the down beat, that's where it
cuts back to the regular mix.
For this segment, they dubbed in a high synth note over
the words "lying here next to you" so the splice is less
jarring, although still quite audible.

So, to create the true promo edit in digital, you need to
take the segment from 1:14 - 1:20 off the the actual 45.

The other 2 edits are straightforward. One cuts the
intro shorter by about 15 seconds, removing the segment
from :11 - :27. And the other edit removes the 2nd
chorus and third verse, on the snare beat just before he
would have sang "sweeter and sweeter...".

All in all I like the re-arranged promo edit, and the
length is just right. Since they went to all this
trouble, they should have made this the commercial 45 as
well.

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login
If you are not already registered you must first register

Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot create polls in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

This page was generated in 0.0586 seconds.