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NightAire
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| Posted: 11 December 2019 at 12:41pm | IP Logged
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Sheena Easton's "It's Christmas All Over The World" from the soundtrack of 1985's "Santa Claus: The Movie"... is anybody aware of one digital copy of this song sounding better than another?
I have two copies, one as the bonus track on 1987's "No Sound But A Heart" and the other from sources unknown. They both sound a bit gritty to me, especially in the second half, especially during the loudest parts of the chorus. At first listen I wondered if it was a vinyl source but I no longer believe that to be the case.
Additionally, both of them during the fade not only fade OUT, but fade RIGHT. In other words, the left channel fades faster than the right. (Oddly the left channel still only ends 53/100ths of a second sooner than the right, so they both rapidly drop to zero at nearly the same time.)
It's not a perfectly smooth fade on the left channel, but if you start at about 4:47 on the word "Christmas," start the volume at 1db boost, fading up by 9 db at the end, you'll get a fairly even-sounding fade-out.
I'm suspecting some digital manipulation of the source tapes, specifically noise reduction.
I'm just wondering if somebody has another copy of this song, say on the Santa Claus: The Movie OST CD or the Japanese greatest hits collection "Best Now," and if it is any better than what I currently have.
Merry Christmas to my favorite message board!
Edited by NightAire on 11 December 2019 at 12:53pm
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Gene Savage
http://www.BlackLightRadio.com
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Owasso, Oklahoma USA
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 17 December 2019 at 1:01am | IP Logged
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I have the Japanese "Best Now" of Sheena Easton with the song. I'll compare it to the One Way (No Sound But a Heart) CD that also contains the song and see if one sounds better. I've used the Japanese CD version as the source and never noticed anything gritty, or resembling vinyl. (And I tend to be bugged by anything resembling vinyl on CD!) So maybe it's a better copy than One Way or the unknown digital copy I have.
Edited by EdisonLite on 17 December 2019 at 1:25am
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 21 December 2019 at 2:43am | IP Logged
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OK, I checked my 2 CDs with this song tonight. The One Way CD fades the left channel earlier than the right channel, as you noticed. But the Japanese Best Now CD does not. The Best Now CD sounds quite dull but the One Way CD sounds brighter, but more like the typical One Way/Wounded Bird CDs (same label owner) where perhaps no mastering is done or paid for - just direct transfers from the tapes. I also suspect that the Best Now/Japan CD's dullness is due to it being taken from a copy of a copy of a copy. To answer your initial question, I don't find either source to be gritty. But that could be very subjective.
Overall, I'd go with the One Way because it's probably taken from something closer to the master tape.
On both versions at the end as it fades, it gets duller. I don't know if hiss removal was used (which might mean One Way did some processing) or the original tape was that way.
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NightAire
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| Posted: 22 December 2019 at 10:40pm | IP Logged
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Great info, EdisonLite; thanks for the report! Looks like I need to seek out the One Way CD and "remaster" the fade.
I assume this song just doesn't get much love as I don't think the movie was well received, but it's interesting how many compliations have a copy of the song.
Regarding the "grittiness:" I've noticed that with certain frequency curves, my ears will "trick" me into thinking this particular eq is an indicator of distortion.
I haven't been able to narrow down the EQ curve enough to say "it's a dip at 2 kHz" or "it's a boost at 5 kHz" but I've learned my ears can be fooled and just by re-eqing the same recording it no longer sounds gritty to me... obviously an audio illusion.
I'm suspecting that is the case here.
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Gene Savage
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Owasso, Oklahoma USA
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Topic: O.T.: Sheena Easton It’s Christmas All...
