Joe Harley restores damaged Song For My Father Blue Note

[monkboughtlunch]

Why didn't they just spend the time fixing the opening bars, where the flutter occurs, and then crossfade this into the analog master for the rest (vast majority) of the tune?

Exactly my impressions upon listening to my copy of this record (RVG edition CD by EMI). I really cannot make out anything that could really be called "SEVERE flutter" during the vast majority of the tune. A slight raggediness (which may be intentional?) in the way some instruments sound here and there but nothing distracting and no discernible change of fidelity vs the subsequent tunes on the CD. (And my ears cannot possibly have been damaged that badly by listening to too many French DMM pressings of BN's? )

I realize it is frowned upon in circles that probably consider themselves particularly "enlightened" to speak out against what would be considered the "accepted wisdom" of BN-ism but honestly, to me all this is "much ado about not all that much".

Maybe these characters ought to tune in their ears to a hefty dose of CD remasters from the 78 rpm era where you often just cannot eliminate all the hiss, pops and crackles without flattening the sound. That would teach them a lesson about music that is worth "listening through" a wee bit of surface noise any time!

Folks, Harley is producing a reissue--not putting a gun to your head. If you don't want his sonic restoration of a classic Blue Note don't buy it. Why all the acidic invective? MGM restored Gone With the Wind on Blu Ray, but no one is forcing you to replace your subpar 1985 Betamax tape with a remastered version?

[Chuck Nessa]

I was just saying the work could be done relatively easily without all the "hoo-haw". Been there, done that without any press releases.

[Teasing the Korean]

Folks, Harley is producing a reissue--not putting a gun to your head. If you don't want his sonic restoration of a classic Blue Note don't buy it.

I won't - especially if he monkeyed with technology for the full duration of the tune instead of the first four bars.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

well at the least, it is interesting-- so wait what tape did they end up utilizing? id have to actually hear one of these to get religion, but i just dont see how you can go any other way but original van gelder. part of song for my fathers magic is it IS a kind of DARK sounding track--

[David Ayers]

We are emphasising a lot the first couple of notes but aren't there quite a lot of wobbles in the whole tape? They seem to show up particularly in the piano solo. I know some of it is just that horrible piano....

[CJ Shearn]

Yeah there are a few wobbles in the piano solo, as I intently listened to the RVG yesterday, really doesn't bother me all that much b/c the album is just great music like so many other Silver BN's.

[AllenLowe]

"it's a reissue - not a gun to your head" - oh yeah? Than how come I just got this email from Cuscuna:

NEW RELEASES FROM BLUE NOTE: BUY OR DIE: HORACE SILVER REMASTERED: WE HAVE YOUR CHILDREN - love, Mike***

****bonus tracks by Kleck

Edited July 2, 2010 by AllenLowe

[DMP]

Did I miss something? Is this actually for sale? Is it a CD? A 45? SACD? 8 Track?

[David Ayers]

Did I miss something? Is this actually for sale? Is it a CD? A 45? SACD? 8 Track?

It's actually an implanted microchip. And it's compulsory.

Welcome to the underground.

[J.A.W.]

Did I miss something? Is this actually for sale? Is it a CD? A 45? SACD? 8 Track?

If I'm not mistaken it will be a (very expensive) 45RPM LP-set on the Music Matters label. It's not available yet. It'll probably also be released as an XRCD (playable on regular CD-players) on the Audio Wave label. Joe Harley, the author of the post that was quoted in the first post of this thread, is involved in both projects.

[AllenLowe]

how do we know that the wobble isn't really some Horace Silver keyboard trick, like a veritcal tremolo?

Edited July 5, 2010 by AllenLowe

[Big Beat Steve]

how do we know that the wobble isn't really some Horace Silver keyboard trick, like a veritcal tremolo?

Sssshhh ... don't spoil the legends!!

[ShowsOn]

I was just saying the work could be done relatively easily without all the "hoo-haw". Been there, done that without any press releases.

I completely agree. Removing wow and flutter from audio tracks is a standard digital processing technique that has been going on about the last half decade in film restoration.

If you want a good example, compare the constant wow and flutter on the music of the original DVD release of the film The Robe (1953) with the amazingly improved track on the Blu-ray release of the same film.

It was a very similar issue to Song For My Father. All existing prints and audio masters for some reason had serious wow and flutter throughout the entire musical score, but it was all removed by hours worth of manual digital processing. A firm in California named Audio Mechanics specialises in removing wow and flutter from entire film soundtracks: http://www.audiomechanics.com/

They would've been able to fix Song For My Father in a few weeks, when most of their film projects take months.

[sage1]

I, for one, am thrilled that a classic and irreplaceable recording such as this is being restored to it's original glory. This is jazz history, and well worth restoring and preserving. I certainly intend to purchase a copy if/when it becomes available as an XRCD.

Coincidentally, the last time I listened to this great recording the warbly piano made me think it would benefit greatly by use of the Plangent Process. The Grateful Dead have been using it for years to remove wow/flutter from their live concert tapes for release on CD.

[brownie]

Glad I still have my mono original of this album!

[sonnymax]

The Grateful Dead have been using it for years to remove wow/flutter from their live concert tapes for release on CD.

That was wow and flutter? I thought it was the weed.

[paul secor]

The Grateful Dead have been using it for years to remove wow/flutter from their live concert tapes for release on CD.

That was wow and flutter? I thought it was the weed.