[FAKE] Old Tunes Vol. 2 and A Few Old Tunes in FLAC.

[re-phaelam-ed]

I am *slightly* skeptical about this... the frequencies have a shelf at 16k, which is normal for mp3 files. If it were ripped from a genuine tape, the frequencies would not roll off at exactly 16k. It seems to me that someone took the original poor-quality mp3 files, recorded them onto a tape, then recorded it back to give the extra frequencies above 16k, which is just tape hiss. But hey, that's just my two cents, I could be wrong.

Here is an example of a legitimate tape rip:


As you can see no shelf is visible at 16k, which shows that the source was not an MP3 file.

i was looking at it in Audition...i dont get that leveling off your images show. this is also by far the cleanest version ive heard. granted ive only been bouncing around between tracks on otv2. but sounds really good to me. even if these arent right from the teat....they sound great.

thanks for taking the time.

what i see in Audition...end of Fly in the Pool and start of Mukinabaht

[re-phaelam-ed]

so the recordings sound real bassy...i dunno if the tapes are like that...or your recording is off. perhaps take somewhere that would do a good transfer. echo you said would do it?

anyways simple eq REALLY cleaned it up. so im thinking it was just the way you recorded it.

take it for a proper transfer...i think itll sound awesome.

[NEUROMUTE]

I'm a bit confused. There's lots of conflicting evidence here. And, of course I am biased because I have the tapes, but what entails a definitive answer? As I stated before, I'm really new to the world of analog to digital, so I'm likely doing something wrong. I just hear: ".mp3 shelf, fake. Handwriting, real. Gapless transition on some songs, real and fake."
I honestly don't know how to parse this information. Either way, I really hoped I could've done something worthwhile for the community, and I feel pretty bad.

[Basefree]

re-phaelam-ed: can you post spectrals for all four sides? OTV2 A/B, AFOT A/B.

[FernieCanto]

Analysing the FLAC of Old Tunes 2 doesn't give very conclusive results; there are no segues, which allowed me to take a pretty definitive conclusion on A Few Old Tunes. The only thing I can say is that, when the MP3 version of Old Tunes 2 hums, the FLAC hums as well, but that could very well be there in the original tapes. I only noticed a minor glitch in the hum between Fly in the Pool and Mukinabaht, but that's not conclusive.

As for the spectral analysis, I have to say, I'm not impressed. The frequencies all tend to cut off at the same spot where the MP3s cut off (16KHz). The only exception is Music for Pylons, which has frequencies spreading up to 22KHz. However, that track is littered with noise, and it could be messing up the cassette player's noise reduction, but I wouldn't be sure. Personally, while I put the odds of fake versus legit on A Few Old Tunes at 95/5, on the case of Old Tunes 2, like Frank Zappa, I figure the odds are 50/50!

I could say that, since AFOT is certainly a forgery, I'd have no reason to believe OT2 is legit, so that could knock it to 55/45, but I still wouldn't put my money on either. So I'll stop blabbering and let you folks have fun as you wish.

[FernieCanto]

To Neuromute, to sum things up: I don't think you did anything wrong. The tape transfers don't seem screwed up in any way, and they wouldn't distort the sound so much as to make the legit/forgery analysis questionable. The MP3 characteristics are way too distinct to be unnoticeable.

My personal conclusion is: AFOT is almost certainly a forgery, OT2 could be but I wouldn't be sure.

If your tapes are real and your effort here was legitimate, I'd say my disappointment is as big as yours, but I don't regret the effort I put into the analyses. There's still the hipotesis that you're trolling us, though, and if I was trolled, all I can say is "well played, sir".

[NEUROMUTE]

To Neuromute, to sum things up: I don't think you did anything wrong. The tape transfers don't seem screwed up in any way, and they wouldn't distort the sound so much as to make the legit/forgery analysis questionable. The MP3 characteristics are way too distinct to be unnoticeable.

My personal conclusion is: AFOT is almost certainly a forgery, OT2 could be but I wouldn't be sure.

If your tapes are real and your effort here was legitimate, I'd say my disappointment is as big as yours, but I don't regret the effort I put into the analyses. There's still the hipotesis that you're trolling us, though, and if I was trolled, all I can say is "well played, sir".

I really do appreciate your effort. I'm still going to call the studio, just to ask some questions on how they got the tapes, etc.
I'm no expert on handwriting, but AFOT doesn't look as "real" as OTv2, in comparison with certified examples.
No trolling this time. Although, it would've been slightly amusing if I uploaded "Magic Timeline" onto my Dropbox. Unfortunately for me, I purchased these tapes.

[Basefree]

Audiochecker gives OTV2 side A 100% CDDA, can it be trusted or is the white noise thing or something tricking that program?

Side B too. My pc is just slow as a snail. I'll run AFOT through it as well.

[NEUROMUTE]

Audiochecker gives OTV2 side A 100% CDDA, can it be trusted or is the white noise thing or something tricking that program?

What is CDDA?

[Basefree]

Audiochecker gives OTV2 side A 100% CDDA, can it be trusted or is the white noise thing or something tricking that program?

What is CDDA?

It stands for lossless audio in this context. AFOT seems to get checked 100% CDDA as well though, so I suppose it's not a sign of anything then.

[NEUROMUTE]

Audiochecker gives OTV2 side A 100% CDDA, can it be trusted or is the white noise thing or something tricking that program?

What is CDDA?

It stands for lossless audio in this context. AFOT seems to get checked 100% CDDA as well though, so I suppose it's not a sign of anything then.

Ah, okay.
Unrelated note: If AFOT is nearly a positive forgery, and OTv2 is fluctuating between real and fake (Schrödinger's Tape,) what else could I do with OTv2 to provide evidence? Also, I received BoC Maxima in this lot, but I didn't even care to mention it because we already have a .flac rip. And why do some tracks on AFOT have gaps, and some do not? So many questions, sorry guys.

[NEUROMUTE]

Here are the best quality pictures I could take of OTv2 with my shaky hands:
Art:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gd8as2apk4at8 ... %20Art.JPG
Side A:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8b7p3qd5rhz7e ... de%20A.JPG
Side B:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bxnfvdgv2qq0h ... de%20B.JPG

Maybe this will help, I don't know. I'm disregarding AFOT, which is disappointing, but I'm going to conclude it's fake from looking at the evidence.

[GH]

[GeogEddie]

The only thing that stands out to me from the pictures is that the tape itself simply has "Boards of Canada" written on it but the known pictures of OTV2 on the Wiki have both the band name and "Old Tunes Vol. 2" on them. The TDK cassettes themselves look different too, though that may not mean anything.

[NEUROMUTE]

The only thing that stands out to me from the pictures is that the tape itself simply has "Boards of Canada" written on it but the known pictures of OTV2 on the Wiki have both the band name and "Old Tunes Vol. 2" on them. The TDK cassettes themselves look different too, though that may not mean anything.

The second picture shows where it says "Old Tunes Vol. 2." Can't vouch for the cassettes though.

[GeogEddie]

I meant to say that they have them both written on the same sticker (i.e. "Boards of Canada - Old Tunes Vol. 2"). Not 100% sure that that means anything but knowing how anal Marcus and Mike are, it seems like they'd probably want uniformity for all their demo tapes.

[NEUROMUTE]

I meant to say that they have them both written on the same sticker (i.e. "Boards of Canada - Old Tunes Vol. 2"). Not 100% sure that that means anything but knowing how anal Marcus and Mike are, it seems like they'd probably want uniformity for all their demo tapes.

True, that would make sense. I thought the OTs weren't demos, but I suppose it would make sense if they were.

[re-phaelam-ed]

Analysing the FLAC of Old Tunes 2 doesn't give very conclusive results; there are no segues, which allowed me to take a pretty definitive conclusion on A Few Old Tunes. The only thing I can say is that, when the MP3 version of Old Tunes 2 hums, the FLAC hums as well, but that could very well be there in the original tapes. I only noticed a minor glitch in the hum between Fly in the Pool and Mukinabaht, but that's not conclusive.

As for the spectral analysis, I have to say, I'm not impressed. The frequencies all tend to cut off at the same spot where the MP3s cut off (16KHz). The only exception is Music for Pylons, which has frequencies spreading up to 22KHz. However, that track is littered with noise, and it could be messing up the cassette player's noise reduction, but I wouldn't be sure. Personally, while I put the odds of fake versus legit on A Few Old Tunes at 95/5, on the case of Old Tunes 2, like Frank Zappa, I figure the odds are 50/50!

I could say that, since AFOT is certainly a forgery, I'd have no reason to believe OT2 is legit, so that could knock it to 55/45, but I still wouldn't put my money on either. So I'll stop blabbering and let you folks have fun as you wish.

You do know that tape offers a kind of free compression. you can go hot without the shitty clipping digital crap. (fuck digital). so, speculating, if this is just stuff done for fun and friends...the tunes are most likely not mastered and may have diff levels. i don't know if your from the day of mix tapes made for the girl you were after...but those would have tracks that were louder than others or mixed real shitty.
and sometimes tapes got caught or twisted and you'd get little gaps or stutters. tape was so far from perfect. but perfect sucks (over compressed garbage).

i think these sound better than any version passed about so far. just too bassy maybe. need to get someone to register properly.

said it before...will say again...just sell them. we'll all buy them for sure. cept' for those fucks that refuse to pay. and that would end all this none sense.

[re-phaelam-ed]

re-phaelam-ed: can you post spectrals for all four sides? OTV2 A/B, AFOT A/B.

Adobe Audition

otv2 A


otv2 B

[Cupz]

If you need to look at spectrals to comprehend the difference its probably not worth the trouble anyway.