steely dan fm no static at all
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Printed Date: 09 May 2025 at 6:42am
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Topic: steely dan fm no static at all
Posted By: edtop40
Subject: steely dan fm no static at all
Date Posted: 23 July 2011 at 5:29am
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my commercial 45 for the steely dan song "fm no static at all" issued as mca 40894 lists the run time on the label as 3:40 but actually runs 3:48......if you fade out for 0:23 from 3:25 to 3:48, you'll effectively re-create the true 45 version.....can someone confirm the data in the db for the run time of the 45 as 3:51? ------------- edtop40 |
Replies:
Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 07 June 2015 at 9:08am
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I have a needledrop that's closer to 3:49, but that's when surface noise overwhelms the music; it could conceivably extend another second or two.
The fade is absurdly long on the 45 - it's as if Donald and Walter wanted to slowly sneak out of the party without being noticed. For the LP version, I use the original A Decade Of, with mastering credits by Bob Ludwig and Roger Nichols. Here, the LP version sounds spectacular and runs 4:50. (Later masterings of Decade are credited to Glenn Meadows, which run 4:48, are mastered a little too loud, and have noise reduction. Avoid for "FM".) If your fade has a sinusoidal shape (as it does on my old copy of Cool Edit Pro), you can use a 64-beat fade from 3:14.1 to 3:49.2. FYI, the A-side of the 45 and the LP version contain a short sax solo. The B-side of the 45, labelled as "Reprise", includes the full sax solo, and no lyrics. The version of "FM" on the Citizen box set (1993) is a Frankensteined version that never existed in 1978. 0:00.0 to 3:07.3 of Citizen matches the same portion of the LP and A-side of the 45. 3:07.3 to 5:04 (end) of Citizen matches 0:54 to 2:51 (end) of the B-side of the 45, with the sax stuff. 0:18 to 0:54 of the B-side corresponds to 1:50 to 2:25 of the LP/45 version. The first 18 seconds of the B-side of the 45 don't exist on CD. ------------- There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past . |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 08 June 2015 at 2:54pm
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Another week and I'm confused again, lol.
Ed mentions the fade to recreate the 45 length starts at 3:25 and Ron mentions the fade starts at 3:14. So, where does the fade start? |
Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 08 June 2015 at 6:54pm
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It's an extremely long, gradual fade.
If you use a sinusoidal-shaped fade (one of only a few options in my ancient version of Cool Edit Pro), then the fade doesn't have much of an effect for the first few seconds. If your fade shape has a more abrupt start, then you can start it later than 3:14. ------------- There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past . |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 09 June 2015 at 8:44pm
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The sinusoidal-shaped fade (built in to Adobe Audition
too) worked great! |
Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 10 June 2015 at 7:13am
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Still trying to figure this out...
I think the Frankensteined version (the one that incorporates most of the sax stuff from the B-side of the 45) first appeared on the 1991 CD Gold (Expanded Edition), which I don't have. ------------- There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past . |
Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 10 June 2015 at 6:15pm
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Thanks to Chuck, I can confirm that the Frankensteined version on Citizen (1993) is a differently-EQ'd digital clone of Gold (Expanded Edition) (1991), with a brighter EQ and added noise reduction. Gold has no noise reduction.
If given a choice, I prefer Gold for the Frankensteined version of "FM", just because I'm biased against noise reduction. ------------- There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past . |
Posted By: RichM921
Date Posted: 14 June 2015 at 7:31pm
"FM - Reprise" is available on CD on the FM soundtrack. I never owned the 45 so I'm assuming that this is the same song. |
crapfromthepast wrote:Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 14 June 2015 at 7:47pm
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Good point! I hadn't considered that the soundtrack was out on CD. It is indeed the same song. ------------- There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past . |
Posted By: Jody Thornton
Date Posted: 12 March 2019 at 5:46pm
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I was watching the movie "FM" recently, and found out that there was an AM radio version that was played instead. I never heard it as a kid, but this sounds interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P39Dl8KJDlw - Steely Dan Sings "Fffffff - er, I Mean AM" ------------- Cheers, Jody Thornton (Richmond Hill, Ontario) |
Posted By: KentT
Date Posted: 12 March 2019 at 8:19pm
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That edit was done by radio stations using the "A" from
Aja instead of the "F" in FM (No Static At All). Many stations did this edit. Never serviced in any format by MCA Records, however. ------------- I turn up the good and turn down the bad! |
Posted By: Jody Thornton
Date Posted: 13 March 2019 at 3:15am
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Oh I thought ABC Records issued a promo. I knew how they edited it together (I was able to figure out the "Aja" source), but yesterday was my first time hearing it ...lol
------------- Cheers, Jody Thornton (Richmond Hill, Ontario) |
Posted By: KentT
Date Posted: 15 March 2019 at 5:10am
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This was not an ABC track, the label was bought out by MCA
Records, and by then Steely Dan and the remaining artists were MCA Records artists when this song was current. ------------- I turn up the good and turn down the bad! |
Posted By: Bill Cahill
Date Posted: 15 March 2019 at 5:55pm
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AM stations did have some issues with the song, and I was aware of the "AM" edit that was circulating
at some AM radio stations at the time it was released, but was told it was made by an AM radio station somewhere. At WTRY in Albany, we didn't get an "AM" dub from any station or MCA, but MCA Records did send us a version that simply removed "FM" from the song by replacing the same "FM" section from the B side which is the instrumental. I still have the tape. It even says "MCA Recording Studios" on the box. The box label says "FM No Static At All" win no notation that it had the FM removed. However, it sounds like a 45 was used to make the tape so probably some record promoter got a dub from a station that made it, or had it made, and sent it to AM Radio stations. It did cause confusion when it arrived in the mail, the sales department thought it was a commercial as it was a tape box. But it did finally make it's way to the programming department with a note on it saying "I think it's just a song". It was dubbed and played on WTRY. I never considered it a "legitimate release" as it never made it to vinyl, just a way for some promos folks to get the song played. |
Posted By: MCT1
Date Posted: 17 March 2019 at 4:34pm
I don't think that's quite right. It is true that the original single of "FM" was on MCA, and that it was the first Steely Dan release that was ever on MCA. ABC still existed at that point, though (ABC didn't release the last single from Aja, "Josie", until a couple of months after "FM", and didn't go out of business until several months later). The single was originally on MCA because the soundtrack to the movie was on MCA. By coincidence, when ABC went under in early 1979, MCA bought them out, and Steely Dan's catalog and current contract then wound up at MCA as well. |
Posted By: KentT
Date Posted: 18 March 2019 at 7:05am
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Bear in mind, there was also a few ABC albums which were
MCA also while current hits. You are right, I think. There were some ABC hit singles too from early 1979 on both ABC (earliest pressings) and MCA while still chart hits. There was around 3-6 months of transition going on here before everything formerly ABC went MCA. ------------- I turn up the good and turn down the bad! |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 18 March 2019 at 8:15pm
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Wasn't it WABC in NY who made the "AM" edit? ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: Jody Thornton
Date Posted: 19 March 2019 at 5:04pm
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I tried recreating it myself. But there is too much percussion on the "aaaay" syllable in "Aja". I wonder just how they did it.
Update: I don't think they used Aja at all (I just know there's a pun in there somewhere.) I think they extended the FM sysllable. If you listen carefully to the original, it sounds more like they're singing "aaaaaaay-eeeeeffff-eeemm" ------------- Cheers, Jody Thornton (Richmond Hill, Ontario) |
Posted By: Jody Thornton
Date Posted: 19 March 2019 at 7:18pm
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Whew! I recreated it. That was a tad hard. If anyone wants a copy of the altered song. PM me.
------------- Cheers, Jody Thornton (Richmond Hill, Ontario) |
Posted By: eric_a
Date Posted: 20 March 2019 at 2:41am
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For Bill and the others on AM in 1978, did you
acknowledge the true song title on the air? |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 20 March 2019 at 5:54am
Can't say for 100% sure, but I don't think we even played it. Steely Dan wasn't a "must add" artist, and given that the song didn't make it into the top 20 made it easy to pass on. In 1978 there were still a lot of AM stations with music formats, but the AM vs FM was pretty intense, why play a 4 minute "commercial" for your competitor? Has anyone here tried to re-create the version Bill described? My copy of the single is a promo, so I don't have the instrumental version. |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 20 March 2019 at 7:04am
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Although the song peaked at #22 in Billboard, it didn't
make the Top 30 in Radio & Records. It should also be mentioned that some stations may have had a problem with the lyric, "give her some funked up music", which my brother tried to convince me was really an "F bomb"! |
Posted By: Jody Thornton
Date Posted: 21 March 2019 at 5:02pm
I have to admit that there was a time I also thought that ....lol ------------- Cheers, Jody Thornton (Richmond Hill, Ontario) |
Posted By: Bill Cahill
Date Posted: 29 March 2019 at 4:10am
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As far as trying to create that "AM" version, it was written at the time that somebody used the "A" from Aja, but as mentioned in this string, that's probably not the source. As far as what we called it on the air, it was always referred to as "No Static at All". And it wasn't played for long because it didn't do that well.
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Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 29 March 2019 at 4:56am
Similar situation in Portland, Me. with Donald Fagen's solo "IGY". WJBQ would only announce it as "What A Beautiful World"...their cross-town competitor was WIGY. Again, a song that didn't get played long as it wasn't much of a hit either. |
Posted By: AdvprosD
Date Posted: 31 July 2020 at 10:04pm
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I seem to remember doing a "Frankensteined" version of my own back when the soundtrack was released. I had just bought my first Pioneer RT-701 7" reel deck and was itching to make an edit of my own.
Needless to say, I was absolutely shocked to hear that exact edit on the Citizen boxed set when it came out. Only today, I just heard about the "AM" creation for the first time! Had I stuck with it, I might have done something like that too. Instead, I listened to my brother in law who handed me some wrenches and said, "You need to learn how to fix cars." *Sigh* ------------- <Dave> Someone please tell I-Heart Radio that St. Louis is not known as The Loo! |