Top 40 Music on CD Forum : John Parr - St. Elmo�s Fire

John Parr - St. Elmo�s Fire : Pat - I'm not sure if your...

Fri, 04 May 2012 09:48:35 +0000

Author: crapfromthepast
Subject: 1780
Posted: 04 May 2012 at 9:48am

Pat - I'm not sure if your note is simply referring to the
increased clarity from the Rhino source tape. Compared
with the more common version that cuts off part of the
opening note, the difference is pretty striking. And if
you weren't expecting a hi-hat in the opposite channel
(because the Rhino version has L/R channels switched), it
might have appeared that the hi-hat came out of nowhere.

Just a thought.

I've never encountered any real remix of the song myself.

John Parr - St. Elmo�s Fire : You are correct todd, I do not...

Fri, 04 May 2012 08:47:11 +0000

Author: Pat Downey
Subject: 1780
Posted: 04 May 2012 at 8:47am

You are correct todd, I do not consider switched channels to be a remix. With regards to this John Parr song, my handwritten note to self says that some cd appearances have a high hat in the introduction although I must admit when I pulled out one or two cd's with the remix comment I did not notice the high hat being noticeably louder than the original cd release. Anyone else notice this difference?

John Parr - St. Elmo�s Fire : I'm not aware of any instance...

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:51:37 +0000

Author: Todd Ireland
Subject: 1780
Posted: 02 May 2012 at 11:51pm

I'm not aware of any instance where the database specifies comments for recordings where the left/right channels are reversed, so I doubt this is what is being referenced here by the "remixed" comment. Perhaps Pat can clarify this for us.

John Parr - St. Elmo�s Fire : does Pat's comment on this...

Tue, 01 May 2012 22:45:00 +0000

Author: davidclark
Subject: 1780
Posted: 01 May 2012 at 10:45pm

does Pat's comment on this song of "remixed" refer to simply the switching
of channels? I always wondered about what remixed meant for this track. I
have it on only the Time Life 80s disc, so I can not compare with a non-
remixed version.

John Parr - St. Elmo�s Fire : 4-1/2 years later, I revisited...

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:47:07 +0000

Author: crapfromthepast
Subject: 1780
Posted: 01 May 2012 at 6:47pm

4-1/2 years later, I revisited "St. Elmo's Fire".

I still think the truncated opening note was a mastering mistake, on both the 45 and the soundtrack. And yet, that's the only way it appeared, anywhere, until 1994.

The song appeared on three compilations in the '80s - Mercury W. Germany's Hits On CD Vol. 4 (1986), Atlantic's Hit Singles 1980-1988 (1988) and Warner Special Products' 2-CD Night Beat (1988). All sound OK, not spectacular, and all have the truncated opening note.

The 50-CD promo set The A List Disc 31 (1994) appears to use the same analog transfer as Hit Singles 1980-1988, with no noise reduction.

I have three compilations that all use the same analog transfer as Night Beat - Warner Special Products' 3-CD After Hours (1990; digitally exactly 2.2 dB louder), Razor & Tie's 2-CD Totally '80s (1993) and JCI's Only Rock 'N Roll 1985-1989 (1994). All sound just like Night Beat, which is OK, not spectacular.

EMI UK's 2-CD Now 1985 (1993) and BR Music Holland's One Hit Wonders And Hard To Find Hits (1999) both fade early - avoid.

Then, for Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1985 (1994), Bill Inglot found a source tape that had the opening note intact! And sounded quite a bit clearer than the previous discs! Oddly, it had its left and right channels reversed, although that's easily fixed.

I have four compilations that all use the same analog transfer as Billboard - Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 2 1985 (1994), Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 31 Movie Hits Of The '80s (1996; differently EQ'd digital clone), Rhino's 7-CD Like Omigod (2002, much too loud and clips a lot) and Time-Life's Another Lost Decade At The Movies (2005; digitally identical to Movie Hits).

For sound quality, I'd recommend Billboard Top Hits 1985, but you need to flip the left and right channels to make it match the 45 and LP versions.

Edited by crapfromthepast

John Parr - St. Elmo�s Fire : eriejwg wrote:Would there be...

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:30:38 +0000

Author: crapfromthepast
Subject: 1780
Posted: 12 November 2007 at 9:30pm

eriejwg wrote:

Would there be a way to take the proper version, and just switch channels, say in Audition?

Yes - that's a very easy thing to do in the audio editing software I use (Cool Edit Pro), and should be really easy in most other tools.

I was a little partial to the Steve Hoffman mastering on Totally '80s, so I recreated the opening note by looping the first downbeat of the song. It's pretty seamless if you time your splice to fall on one of the cymbal hits.

John Parr - St. Elmo�s Fire : Would there be a way to take the...

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:21:13 +0000

Author: eriejwg
Subject: 1780
Posted: 12 November 2007 at 8:21pm

Would there be a way to take the proper version, and just switch channels, say in Audition?

John Parr - St. Elmo�s Fire : has anyone found a version that...

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:20:38 +0000

Author: budaniel
Subject: 1780
Posted: 12 November 2007 at 7:20pm

has anyone found a version that isn't truncated at the beginning but also has the correct left/right stereo separation?

John Parr - St. Elmo�s Fire : The truncated version is also...

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 06:15:13 +0000

Author: budaniel
Subject: 1780
Posted: 15 February 2007 at 6:15am

The truncated version is also on:

"The Brat Pack Years" (Mars Entertainment)

"Only Rock 'n Roll 1985-1989" (JCI)

John Parr - St. Elmo�s Fire : <Besides the above 2, are there...

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 20:54:15 +0000

Author: EdisonLite
Subject: 1780
Posted: 14 February 2007 at 8:54pm

Yes, Crap, the Rhino CD "Billboard Top Hits 1985" has the full beat.

(And incidentally, the soundtrack CD has the clipped note!)

I brought this issue to Pat's attention once (long before this board appeared) and mentioned it might be worth mentioning which versions have the clipped notes and which didn't. I remember he responded that the soundtrack has the clipped note. So it certainly wouldn't make sense to say that there's an error on those CDs, even though it sounds like one.

I know the soundtrack CD has the clipped note. Does anyone know about the soundtrack LP?

Edited by EdisonLite