Members rasputin1963 Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 You know the record very well, I'll bet. Johnny Nash doing "I Can See Clearly Now" [YOUTUBE]HagzTRmUBIE&feature=related[/YOUTUBE] Towards the middle of the record, there is that magnificent bridge. Then you hear what appear to be a Beatlesque choir of saxophones (like the ones in, let's say, "Good Morning, Good Morning") No, wait! It's a distorted guitar! No, wait, it's gotta be a Moog synth patch! What's producing that sound? If anything, it sounds like an electric guitar is triggering a saxophone horn patch via MIDI. But this is 1970... it couldn't be! What say you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dean Roddey Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 I think it's just old fashioned saxes. Maybe a baritone sax or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 What say you? Johnny Nash? Sounds like a baritone sax to me. I have a better question: Listen carefully at the end (around 2:28) and you will hear what sounds like an oscillating filter sweep. Maybe we are talking about the same thing. Perhaps that is what is contributing to your confusion. Did someone tweak the recording? Or is this a compression artifact? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 That's just horns, my man. Just horns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 That's just horns, my man. Just horns.But listen to the stuff around 2:28. Do you hear what I hear? It sounds like a squeeky/ phasey compression artifact. And it occurs right where you should expect it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 But listen to the stuff around 2:28. Do you hear what I hear? Yeah, I was responding to Ras and his "mystery" bridge sound. I heard those little squeakies you refer to. Can't tell ya exactly what's happening there, and I can't stomach listening to that song yet again to tell for sure (not that it's a bad song, but I've hit my lifetime limit of hearing it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted May 5, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 I hear the phasey thing... I thought that part was intentional, you know, to make this 1970 record sound "psychedelic" or something. I figured the singer's "Seeing Clearly Now" was NOT the result of some meteorological phenomenon.... ahem. No, I'm referring to that sonority which sounds honky, horn-like, but also like a sawtooth wave. I would've initially thought it was horns, except the attack of the notes' amplitude envelope sounds like a guitar's attack to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 Horns. They're... horns. Horns, and nothing but horns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 I hear the phasey thing... I thought that part was intentional, you know, to make this 1970 record sound "psychedelic" or something. I figured the singer's "Seeing Clearly Now" was NOT the result of some meteorological phenomenon.... ahem. No, I'm referring to that sonority which sounds honky, horn-like, but also like a sawtooth wave. I would've initially thought it was horns, except the attack of the notes' amplitude envelope sounds like a guitar's attack to me... Right. We are talking about the same thing. It's horns or a bari sax or whatever. But I think the sound is getting {censored}ed up by the compression. I can also hear it around 2:08-2:14. It sounds like a goddamned Small Stone phaser or something. I think thems be DCT artifacts. (Btw, I know what you mean about the attack.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GVDub Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 I happen to have a 192k AAC ripped from the Rhino set "Can You Dig It?: The '70s Soul Experience" sitting here on my system at work. Definitely horns, but it sounds as if they were careless enough in mic'ing them that there's a wee bit of distortion in the signal chain somewhere. That and the steel pans doing some doubling create an interesting sonority. The chirping noises on the fade are birds. After all, it's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiney day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 The chirping noises on the fade are birds.No way. The 'filter sweep' follows the envelope of the horns. Like a Doctor Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 Definitely horns, but it sounds as if they were careless enough in mic'ing them that there's a wee bit of distortion in the signal chain somewhere. Yup. Or they were just hitting the tape a wee bit too hard. Doesn't necessarily sound like a mic crapping out, but more like a little square-wavy tape saturation. The chirping noises on the fade are birds. After all, it's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiney day. I'll take your word for that. Why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GVDub Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 No way. The 'filter sweep' follows the envelope of the horns. Like a Doctor Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff da Weasel Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 because I didn't want to subject the others in the room to Johnny Nash unduly Thank you for your service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 Actually, after breaking out the cans and doing some close listening (because I didn't want to subject the others in the room to Johnny Nash unduly), there is a synth track buried there in the mix (along with other occasional bong and blips for other sources) that does have some filter stuff going on. It's not compression artifacts and it's not the horns.Ah ha! I'll be damned. Yes - Thank you for your service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GVDub Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 Thank you for your service. If only I could convince the cookie monster metal fan in the corner to be as considerate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 It seems so wrong to put music without video on YouTube. I recognize it's not necessarily a waste of bandwidth if they did it right but it's really irritating when you search for a given artist, find what you think is a video and it's some joker who put up a pirated mp3. Is it just because they think they won't get caught on YT, whereas if they were to put it on a music site like Soundclick, they'd get busted? (It's still against the YT Terms of Service, of course.) You can upload other people's music to iMeem or Last.fm, right? (That's actually a question I can never figure out the official answer to, actually.) That seems to be what those sites are there for. (Again, it's hard to tell.) With re Ras's question, my guess is that what you've got in that section is a sax section, an organ, and back up singers, forming big, somewhat complex chords. [uPDATE: after listening to it in stereo (and hoping it's the same basic tracking; I'm not going to go back and forth to check that), I'm willing to ammend my statement, there's also what appears to be an accordion (but might be a synth) as well as a couple of sounds that very clearly seem to be synths -- (they sound kind of Oberheim-y but without checking corporate product histories, I'm thinking '72 would be early for that) in addition to the aforementioned sounds. Also, there seem to be trombones in the horn section and maybe a trumpet. But I'm not listening again. I got sick of this sweet little song back in '72. ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GVDub Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 It seems so wrong to put music without video on YouTube. I recognize it's not necessarily a waste of bandwidth if they did it right but it's really irritating when you search for a given artist, find what you think is a video and it's some joker who put up a pirated mp3. Is it just because they think they won't get caught on YT, whereas if they were to put it on a music site like Soundclick, they'd get busted? (It's still against the YT Terms of Service, of course.)... Granted, but the other day I had a jones to hear Merry Clayton's recording of "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow". The album's been out of print for years (only slightly longer than my copy of the album disappeared), and it doesn't look as if Sony, who currently owns the Ode catalog, is going to be reissuing it. The only place I could find it was on YouTube, with the fascinating video of the single spinning on a turntable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted May 5, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 Yeah, Mr. blue, I share your rant about this, but sometimes it's a very quick and expedient way to get this song up here on SSS for all of us to listen to (even if the audio is crap). Definitely an accordion in there, and an organ, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kurdy Posted May 5, 2008 Members Share Posted May 5, 2008 I've heard that it was a synth. Plus, I know of other albums from around '70 that feature a Moog, so I don't think it would be a stretch to say that's what it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted May 6, 2008 Members Share Posted May 6, 2008 Granted, but the other day I had a jones to hear Merry Clayton's recording of "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow". The album's been out of print for years (only slightly longer than my copy of the album disappeared), and it doesn't look as if Sony, who currently owns the Ode catalog, is going to be reissuing it. The only place I could find it was on YouTube, with the fascinating video of the single spinning on a turntable. Well, it's a gesture, anyhow. And -- don't get me wrong -- I think there's a real value in the sort of pool of ephemeral and spotty cultural access and exchange represented by You Tube's wilder and woolier frontiers. I, myself, once snuck up a brilliant little 5 minute riff from an early Perry Mason episode with Bobby Troupe as a super-jaded beatnik with a hilarious mouthful of faux jive talk that made Camus' L'Etranger look like a walk on the beach with Pollyannah and some cute puppies. But then YouTube made a special appeal to everyone to remove their unauthorized content and I was the one guy who did it... the world is a little darker and drearier in a funny kind of way. Anyhow... if you ever get a chance to see "The Case of the Jaded Joker" from around 1958, do it, and stick around to the end, 'cause it's really worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wwwjd Posted May 6, 2008 Members Share Posted May 6, 2008 sounds exactly like a synth to me. a bunch of "Bweeeeeeeezzyoomp" sounds. Is that the orginal song or did someone "add stuff"? I forget exactly what the original sounds like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted May 6, 2008 Author Members Share Posted May 6, 2008 Well, it's a gesture, anyhow. And -- don't get me wrong -- I think there's a real value in the sort of pool of ephemeral and spotty cultural access and exchange represented by You Tube's wilder and woolier frontiers. I, myself, once snuck up a brilliant little 5 minute riff from an early Perry Mason episode with Bobby Troupe as a super-jaded beatnik with a hilarious mouthful of faux jive talk that made Camus' L'Etranger look like a walk on the beach with Pollyannah and some cute puppies. Now that I would like to dig, daddy-O.... It sounds, like, real gone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Richard King Posted May 6, 2008 Members Share Posted May 6, 2008 The sax section reminds me of the sax portion in the song "Touch Me" by The Doors. I could be wrong, but I think I hear a harpsichord hidden away in that section also. That is the original, or at least what I recall as the original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dean Roddey Posted May 6, 2008 Members Share Posted May 6, 2008 You can find some classic stuff on there sometimes, that you forgot about for a long time: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.