Post by Rick Henry on Oct 31, 2006 21:30:24 GMT -5
goodolddreams said:
As we have observed, remixes tend to ADD more layers of music. However, I really didn't notice there was a song remix in which something was actually taken OUT of the original version until I ran across the following on the official Carpenters website:
[yellow]Q:[/yellow] Upon first hearing the "Master Karaoke" remixes years ago, I noticed in "Rainy Days and Mondays" that the string line was mixed out during the sax solo. This has also been a common mix on most if not all of the subsequent compilations. What was your reasoning for this?
[yellow]A:[/yellow] Yes, because as time went on, I felt the string line didn’t really work in the sax solo; it was heard enough under the vocal.
As far as I know not much has ever been mixed out. And usually if anything is mixed out it's generally just a short fifteen to thirty second portion which is mixed out - the fix the balance of a certain section of a song. It's mainly been additions to the music - mostly keyboard parts and some flute and clarinet parts. Sometimes a few guitar chords are added - but usually these additions are so small and almost identical to the original that they are mostly unrecognizeable - unless you listen very close with headphones on. And Richard is such a master musician as are all the Carpenters band that the added parts in the remixing are generally an embellishment and not a hinderance to any of the original recordings.
As mentioned in "Rainy Days And Mondays" the string line was only mixed out in one short portion of the song - and that was duuring the sax solo. I guess in Richard's mind the strings and sax were competing. He obviously wanted to put the focus completely on the sax during the solo. I can't argue with his reasoning here as that sax solo is one of the finest in all of Carpenters' music.
In "There's A Kind Of Hush" Richard mixed out the synthesizer parts in one remix - which I thought was not needed as the song sounded fine as it was musically - though the remastering process certainly helped the song to sound better on current day equipment. Anyway Richard taking out the synthesizer parts did not really hurt the song any - it also didn't make it better. I still enjoy the song either way. The original with the synthesizer parts is available anyway on the remastered disc of "A Kind Of Hush". The remastered and remixed edition is on some of the compilation releases.
We have to remember that when Karen and Richard recorded these albums that most of them were done so quickly as Carpenters always had a very full scedule and weren't able to take the time to really perfect the sounds to the nth degree as I'm sure Richard wanted to. Some of these albums were recorded in three even two months. That's hardly any time at all. That's only like nine weeks to record ten to twelve songs.
As mentioned in "Rainy Days And Mondays" the string line was only mixed out in one short portion of the song - and that was duuring the sax solo. I guess in Richard's mind the strings and sax were competing. He obviously wanted to put the focus completely on the sax during the solo. I can't argue with his reasoning here as that sax solo is one of the finest in all of Carpenters' music.
In "There's A Kind Of Hush" Richard mixed out the synthesizer parts in one remix - which I thought was not needed as the song sounded fine as it was musically - though the remastering process certainly helped the song to sound better on current day equipment. Anyway Richard taking out the synthesizer parts did not really hurt the song any - it also didn't make it better. I still enjoy the song either way. The original with the synthesizer parts is available anyway on the remastered disc of "A Kind Of Hush". The remastered and remixed edition is on some of the compilation releases.
We have to remember that when Karen and Richard recorded these albums that most of them were done so quickly as Carpenters always had a very full scedule and weren't able to take the time to really perfect the sounds to the nth degree as I'm sure Richard wanted to. Some of these albums were recorded in three even two months. That's hardly any time at all. That's only like nine weeks to record ten to twelve songs.