Mr Sheep wrote:He played Happy Cycling today (Sat 3rd March), the actual Peel Session, as opposed to the CD version. He related the story of how he listened to it on a cassette on a rooftop in Soho, London in 1998 and this was the track that got him into BoC.
Little known fact: the live broadcast version of this track was actually called 'Bad Day' and is different from the version of Happy Cycling found on the Peel Session CD, which is actually just the regular version from MHTRTC.
I managed to find a cassette tape recording of the actual radio broadcast, complete with John's introduction before Aquarius and XYZ. I will send the link to anyone if you're interested.
I think I can safely say we'd all be interested in that
Mr Sheep wrote:He played Happy Cycling today (Sat 3rd March), the actual Peel Session, as opposed to the CD version. He related the story of how he listened to it on a cassette on a rooftop in Soho, London in 1998 and this was the track that got him into BoC.
Little known fact: the live broadcast version of this track was actually called 'Bad Day' and is different from the version of Happy Cycling found on the Peel Session CD, which is actually just the regular version from MHTRTC.
I managed to find a cassette tape recording of the actual radio broadcast, complete with John's introduction before Aquarius and XYZ. I will send the link to anyone if you're interested.
I think I can safely say we'd all be interested in that
In that case, I'll just post it here. Scroll down to find it.
SonicDimension wrote:
Little known fact: the live broadcast version of this track was actually called 'Bad Day' and is different from the version of Happy Cycling found on the Peel Session CD, which is actually just the regular version from MHTRTC.
I managed to find a cassette tape recording of the actual radio broadcast, complete with John's introduction before Aquarius and XYZ. I will send the link to anyone if you're interested.
I think I can safely say we'd all be interested in that
In that case, I'll just post it here. Scroll down to find it.
Wow awesome! That's really clear! The only thing I regret is that there's a bit missing from the beginning of Bad Day.
Interesting to read that XYZ was actually on initial pressings of the CD, never heard that story before. I know DJ Food has that 1 copy (of 5) which includes the whole session, but I think that's a different kettle of fish entirely, being a present to friends, rather than a commercial release.
ryetronics wrote:Excellent stuff. Thanks for posting! This version is much cleaner than what I had previously. You can really hear the difference in Aquarius.
Since this was apparently recorded directly from the radio, there was presumably a fair amount of extra compression added. I compared the waveforms of the CD and radio versions of Aquarius and it's pretty clear that the radio one is squashed to hell. This would apply to the other tracks as well. I would have thought that BoC's music would be the last to benefit from the loudness war treatment, but I have to admit that it sounds kind of cool on these tracks, particularly Aquarius.
The CD version of Aquarius is on top, the radio version is below:
For the more sonically adventurous among you, another way to achieve such a DIY re-master effect on your boring old BoC .mp3's might be to record them to cassette tape with the input level cranked way up. In addition to compressing the signal, this will add some saturation (analog distortion), which is actually one of the techniques Boards like to use on a lot of their tracks. Or just use your favorite compressor plug-in if you prefer software
thedisavowed wrote:Thanks for sharing- though it seems like XYZ is the truncated version. There's a longer 9 1/2 minute version with actual dialog between BoC and Peel.
It's explained in the link that the interview and first broadcast of XYZ on John Peel's show was from June 16, when BoC was in the studio recording their session. The radio broadcast of the full Peel session on July 21 just has a brief introduction with no interview. So I guess you could say they are two different 'versions,' although the track itself is the same. That's my understanding, anyway.
This actually makes me wonder, though-- is there a rip of the rare original Peel Session CD that included XYZ? Because it seems like the only ones I have been able to find are from radio recordings. The CD version might actually sound quite different dynamically because of the radio compression.
Last edited by SonicDimension on Mon Mar 05, 2012 2:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ah that's right. Thanks for clearing it up. No CD rip I'm aware of - but then again I had never heard that chatter before Aquarius before - so anything is possible at this point.
ryetronics wrote:Excellent stuff. Thanks for posting! This version is much cleaner than what I had previously. You can really hear the difference in Aquarius.
Since this was apparently recorded directly from the radio, there was presumably a fair amount of extra compression added. I compared the waveforms of the CD and radio versions of Aquarius and it's pretty clear that the radio one is squashed to hell. This would apply to the other tracks as well. I would have thought that BoC's music would be the last to benefit from the loudness war treatment, but I have to admit that it sounds kind of cool on these tracks, particularly Aquarius.
Very interesting. I have to say, even though I don't care for it once the beat starts, the beginning of the song sounds really cool like this.
ryetronics wrote:Excellent stuff. Thanks for posting! This version is much cleaner than what I had previously. You can really hear the difference in Aquarius.
Since this was apparently recorded directly from the radio, there was presumably a fair amount of extra compression added. I compared the waveforms of the CD and radio versions of Aquarius and it's pretty clear that the radio one is squashed to hell. This would apply to the other tracks as well. I would have thought that BoC's music would be the last to benefit from the loudness war treatment, but I have to admit that it sounds kind of cool on these tracks, particularly Aquarius.
Very interesting. I have to say, even though I don't care for it once the beat starts, the beginning of the song sounds really cool like this.
SonicDimension wrote:
Since this was apparently recorded directly from the radio, there was presumably a fair amount of extra compression added. I compared the waveforms of the CD and radio versions of Aquarius and it's pretty clear that the radio one is squashed to hell. This would apply to the other tracks as well. I would have thought that BoC's music would be the last to benefit from the loudness war treatment, but I have to admit that it sounds kind of cool on these tracks, particularly Aquarius.
Very interesting. I have to say, even though I don't care for it once the beat starts, the beginning of the song sounds really cool like this.
My feeling is that if listeners cannot appreciate subtlety generally in their lives, they are unlikely to appreciate it in music, or one part of music (dynamic contrast). Hence the popularity of garbage like brostep in North America. They don't care if it's musical, they just want it LOUUDD.
That said, compressing a mix to make it louder sometimes has a good result. I thought the 2010 re-master of NIN's Pretty Hate Machine sounded better than the original, even though it was obvious that the dynamic range was reduced significantly. You just have to use your ears and make an appropriate decision for the specific material and the sound you want.
SonicDimension wrote:My feeling is that if listeners cannot appreciate subtlety generally in their lives, they are unlikely to appreciate it in music, or one part of music (dynamic contrast). Hence the popularity of garbage like brostep in North America. They don't care if it's musical, they just want it LOUUDD.
That said, compressing a mix to make it louder sometimes has a good result. I thought the 2010 re-master of NIN's Pretty Hate Machine sounded better than the original, even though it was obvious that the dynamic range was reduced significantly. You just have to use your ears and make an appropriate decision for the specific material and the sound you want.
Yeah, I felt the same way with that particular remaster. It was one of the exceptions where the sound was just improved source wise that the compression didn't quite matter as much (with the exception of Head Like a Hole which in my opinion, sounds like shit on the remaster).
For the most part, I don't really even get the whole thing of compression and loudness wars. I don't see how it sounds better to people. There's no definition in any of the sounds when it's like that and I'm a bit confused as to how it became so popular. Maybe it sounds better only on shitty speakers like iPod earbuds and that's why the general public loves it.
I just wish people knew that they could turn up their volume higher, thus allowing music to preserve its dynamic range and still be loud. Apparently everyone forgot this.
