The differing speeds of "Please Let Me Wonder"

[arnoldfringe2]

Hello All!

Have you ever noticed that all the stereo mixes of "Please Let Me Wonder" are slower/lower in pitch than the 1990/2000's twofer? The recent mono mix of the "Today" album is also "lower' in pitch. My vinyl versions are like the 1990/2000's twofers. I tried this listening experiment on my Wife and she also noticed the differing pitches. What's going on?

[Jason]

I believe the mono mix on the 2012 reissue of Today! is a remix.

[arnoldfringe2]

Thanks for that bit of info.

So why are all the modern remixes lower in pitch than the twofers and the vinyl? Maybe I used the wrong wording in the title...It should read "The Differing Pitches of etc". The speed change is ever so subtle. The pitch change stands out like a sore thumb to me. The modern mono/stereo remixes kinda drags IMO. I love the twofer and vinyl versions. I'm not meaning this post to sound like a moan, I'm just curious as to why the modern mixes are different than the remasters. Any info anyone?

Cheers


Shane

[EgoHanger1966]

I believe the mono mix on the 2012 reissue of Today! is a remix.

Where did you get this info? It actually sounds worse than the other tracks - almost as if it's slightly rechanneled.

[Jason]

I can't speak for sure, but my ears tell me very clearly that it's a remix. The 45, LP, and all CD versions up until the 2012 reissue have the same muddy sound. Even finding a lower generation tape wouldn't necessarily remove much in the way of the muddy sound.

Maybe Mark could enlighten us...

[Micha]

I must admit that I didn't check out the 2012 versions because I'm not really interested in the new stereo versions (mono geek), but it is interesting that this issue should pop up with this song, because on the old versions I always thought that Brian's voice sounded as if it was recorded lower and slower and was then sped up. As if the backing track had been played back slower for the recording of his vocals.

[runnersdialzero]

I doubt the 2012 mono "Please Let Me Wonder" is a remix, just remastered. "Do It Again" was originally muddy as ballz, too, but when you listen to more recent releases containing the song, much of it is gone (at least by comparison). We know the master for "Do It Again" was lost for decades until recently, so there was no way to remix it, so that's one example of how far you can take a remaster.

To me, it sounds like a well-remastered... uh, remaster. A lot can be done with EQ, multiband compression etc. and there was no mention in the liner notes or elsewhere of it being a new mix. Obviously I could be wrong, though.

I, too, always noticed the speed differences with "Please Let Me Wonder" and thought it was odd. I'd figured what happened was something along the lines of Brian (or someone) speeding it up slightly on the original album, intentionally or unintentionally, and it was not noted to do this on the more recently done stereo mix. Personally, I heard it "sped up" so many times that I got used to it. The later stereo mix sounds off by comparison, thus when ripping the more recent releases containing the stereo mix I would always put it back to its original speed.

I can't explain why the 2012 mono/stereo remaster also has the mono mix to the slower speed. I'm guessing someone was doing a comparison between the two and said "Huh. This isn't right," and set it to the speed of the stereo mix given those tracks are from a more recent digital transfer. Who knows.

[arnoldfringe2]

Good stuff everyone! I'm so glad I'm not going crazy in noticing the pitch/speed issue

runnersdialzero could you tell me what program you use to speed up "Please Let Me Wonder"?

Cheers


Shane

[zachrwolfe]

‍

[grillo]

I'm almost a million percent sure that the new mono IS REMIXED, not just remastered. I read it somewhere on this here forum back when the remasters came out (last year?).

[arnoldfringe2]

Thanks everyone!

[Custom Machine]

Interesting thread, as I'd never realized there was a speed/pitch difference between the original version and the somewhat slower stereo version which first appeared in 2007 on The Warmth of the Sun compilation.

Gotta agree that the 2012 mono mix sounds like a remix rather than simply a remaster, as it sounds dramatically cleaner than the original.

As far as the pitch difference is concerned, I prefer the slower pitch on the recent PLMW releases.  I'd like to say that preference stems from the vocals on the newer slower versions sounding more natural, but on the other hand I prefer the sped up versions of Caroline No and It's OK to the original speed recordings.

[arnoldfringe2]

Yeah, I prefer the sped up "It's Ok". On the other hand, the original speed of "Caroline No" really moves me. The sped up version is nice but doesn't touch me in the same way.

[Micha]

My own custom-made-for-myself-version of the TWGMTR album contains sped up but pitch true versions of Isn't It Time and Beaches In Mind.

Actually, before the CD age I used to speed up most songs a bit using the pitch control of the record player. The only song ever I found too fast is Surf's Up. It sounds so rushed to me. Alas, the sound quality drops significantly when I try to artificially slow it down, so I couldn't make me a custom version as slow as I'd like.

[arnoldfringe2]

I used to do that with vinyl too! I don't know why but I seemed to get a "tingle" from tracks at slighlty faster speeds/higher pitches.

I've downloaded audacity and it has a change pitch/speed function...a slower "Surf's Up" sounds very interesting...I might give it a go!