Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site dartvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!hou3c!hocda!houxm!houxz!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!dcdwest!ittvax!decvax!dartvax!merchant From: merchant@dartvax.UUCP Newsgroups: net.music Subject: Re: Albums and 45's in Top 40 stations - there aren't any! Message-ID: <1813@dartvax.UUCP> Date: Sat, 9-Jun-84 12:40:12 EDT Article-I.D.: dartvax.1813 Posted: Sat Jun 9 12:40:12 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 13-Jun-84 01:44:56 EDT References: <186@ssc-vax.UUCP> Organization: Dartmouth College Lines: 43 { } Well, yes, many stations tend to use carts. However, I believe the sound quality isn't quite so good, but you make up for it with longer lasting music. (Nothing is worse than "Orville Redenbacher's greatest popcorn hits) When I refered to "singles", however, I should have been a little clearer. "Singles", sometimes, are edited forms of the album cut. If the cut is too long or has a very loud section (lots of heavy guitars, for example) it may be cut so that it is, in theory, more pleasing. Sometimes it works: Robert Plant and "In The Mood" is a very nice single. I found the album cut boring. There's a minute and a half of him just kind of humming "I'm in the mood" while music plays in the background. Snore city. But, as we all know, this isn't always true. I don't like the editting job that they did on "Another Brick In The Wall". They left out the marvelous little tinkling noises on Alan Parson's "Damned if I do" and they really chopped up Michael Jackson's "Thriller". I'll admit, they weren't going to release it as a single and changed their minds at the last minute, but... The best example, though, is the new Duran Duran single, "The Reflex." The album cut I rather like. At the radio station I was at, I talked with the music director while we were listening to the song for the first time, from the album. We hadn't received the single. It's a bit lengthy for Top 40 play (5:35) and we were trying to figure out how they would edit it. But even with all the revisions and edits that we came up with, the best we could knock it down to was about 5:00. So what do they do? The remix it at about 2% the normal speed and stick some reverbs in at strategic points and the song is 4:22. And it sounds like something an engineer would do to show off what a multitrack mixing board can do. As I say, it's not a song, it's a "techno-toy." -- "Stop! Peter Merchant Son! What are you doing?! That's no way to treat an expensive musical instrument!" -- Jim Steinman