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torcan
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Joined: 23 June 2006
Location: Canada
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Posts: 269
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| Posted: 23 June 2006 at 9:28am | IP Logged
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I admit I'm a newbie here, so if this has been answered anywhere else, please forgive me.
My collection of 45s numbers in the low thousands, and I've always liked the fact that the times were listed on most of them. My question:
Exactly how does the record company time them? I've read in amazement some of the posts here that talk about how so many 45s (and CD singles) have been mis-timed. I always thought the timings were pretty accurate, with a few known exceptions.
I've read stories about how sometimes a record company might purposely put a shorter time on a longer record to try to enourage radio to play it, but some of the promo singles I've read about here actually have a LONGER time listed than they actually are. Also, I'm suprised about the number that are just a few seconds off either way.
I've also always wondered how the timings could be different for supposedly the same songs. Examples: in another thread here, it's mentioned that commercial copies of Bon Jovi's "Bed of Roses" ran 6:32 on the CD and cassette singles. I own a US vinyl 45 of that song and it's 6:34. Peter Gabriel's "Steam" is listed at 6:00, but the 45 is 6:01. Also, the Canadian copy of Tears for Fears "Sowing the Seeds of Love" has a timing listed as 5:42, where the US copy lists 5:43.
I also have other 45s where it has the same song on both sides, appears to be the same mix, yet the timing is a second or two different.
Always wondered why these things happened...
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Todd Ireland
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| Posted: 23 June 2006 at 8:41pm | IP Logged
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Hi, Ian, and welcome to the board! You bring up some good questions. I'm not sure I have the answers but I'll give it my best shot...
It's my understanding that the information printed on the paper record labels, including run times, is submitted well before the actual vinyl discs are pressed and manufactured... usually weeks or even months in advance. As a result, the printed run time for a given song may indeed have been accurate when that information was first submitted to the manufacturing plant. But even after the paper labels have already gone to the printing presses, it's not uncommon for an artist, engineer, or a label exec. to later make a decision to re-edit, remix, re-fade, or alter the song itself in some way for the final production master tapes, thus affecting the song's actual run time. As a result, the run time that was originally submitted and printed on the paper record labels is often rendered inaccurate by the time the labels are finally glued onto the vinyl discs.
As for why you may find the run time lengths for certain songs on vinyl or cassette to differ slightly than on CD, this may have more to do with the playback speed of your individual turntable or cassette deck. Playback speeds on analog equipment can vary greatly from turntable to turntable, or cassette player to cassette player, which of course leads to differing run times.
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Top 40 Music on Compact Disc : Chat Board
Topic: Mis-timed 45s and promo CDs
