The ShadowMusic Web Community

Is the original (1960) Ventures' recording of Walk Don't Run off concert pitch? It seems markedly sharp.

Regards,

Andy

You could well be right there Andy.

However they probably would have tuned to a piano that was in the studio or maybe even what we used to do, tune in accordance with the bass player as he was the only one who could read music

So could very easily have been a little "sharp/flat" depending on how they "tuned up"

Dave "Robbo" will know for sure

Dick

ps.....................anyone know how the Shads "tuned up" in 1960 ?

Or maybe the speed at which it was recorded was increased a little. The Spotniks Orange Blosson Special is another dubious one.

Alan Prudhoe wrote:... The Spotniks Orange Blosson Special is another dubious one.

Not dubious, it WAS recorded at half speed.

Ulrich

Ah - thanks Ulrich

I thought many tunes and songs from the 60's ended up above concert pitch and always understood that it was a bi product of speeding the recording up to fit time requirements for radio stations and juke boxes.

Geoff

Thanks, all. I thought it was only me.

I noted that with WDR before, but yesterday, I was trying out new software that could make backing tracks. I tried it with WDR and then played along with the new BT. That reminded me WDR was off pitch. It seems higher, as if the were speeded up on playback.

The Ventures' Blue Moon is a huge semitone off pitch, but lower than the standard C for the piece. The Ventures woudn't have played it faster when recording, so the problem with that one seems to be the Ventures tuned wrong. Maybe they were using a tuning fork made before 1939, when the World finally agreed on 440hz, the concert pitch. Or tuned using an off-key piano in the studio.

The other early Ventures pieces seem all right, such as Bulldog, Lullaby, and Perfidia. In contrast, all the Shadows pieces from the era are spot on.

The program I'm using (Roland R-Mix, just acquired) has a facility for changing pitch. I will use that to correct WDR. A friend already corrected Blue Moon for me.

Best,

Andy

Some of the early Shadows tracks have a couple of slightly off-key notes from Jet's bass guitar. From memory, I think this is the case with "Nivram" and "Theme From A Filleted Place".

The whole of the Cliff live album is above concert pitch, e.g. Move It is closer to the key of F rather than E.

Martin.

Ever listened to a CD (they are available) of the Beatles' Decca audition?