Speeding The Tape Up

[Pete Academy]

In the 80s I used to record a lot of my own stuff on a Portastudio. I discovered that playing something with the tape slowed down and then speeding it up to pitch made certain things sound tighter.

Is it true that technique was used in the days of tape in recording studios? Some recordings I hear from funk bands of the 70s and 80s sometimes sound just a bit too good and tight, especially the horns.

[thisnameistaken]

Duran Duran's 'The Reflex' definitely speeds up in the middle - if you play along with it you suddenly go flat. I guess they had a duff take they had to use or something.

[YouMa]

Yep it was very common,even the beatles did it,and discovered flanging in the process.

[maxrossell]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='659525' date='Nov 19 2009, 07:09 PM']In the 80s I used to record a lot of my own stuff on a Portastudio. I discovered that playing something with the tape slowed down and then speeding it up to pitch made certain things sound tighter.

Is it true that technique was used in the days of tape in recording studios? Some recordings I hear from funk bands of the 70s and 80s sometimes sound just a bit too good and tight, especially the horns.[/quote]

Yep. It's still used now. Listen to some of the guitar solos on some of the more extremely technical prog-metal albums. They have parts that if you see the guitarists live, they literally can't play that fast. It works even better with digital audio because with timestretch effects you can speed up the rhythm without affecting pitch.

I also used the tape trick a few times on my porta 488, but it didn't always work depending on the instrument.

Edited November 19, 2009 by maxrossell

[phagor]

James Brown - Sex Machine is a good example. It's played back faster than it was recorded.

I noticed when trying to figure out how Bootsy was playing what he played. Slow it down and the pitch also drops so you can use the open E string.

Also, it's slower and very groovy, and James sounds like he does on other records. But speeded up it sounds tighter and has more energy, I can understand why they did it.

[Pete Academy]

I know EW&F had a great horn section, but on tracks like 'Got To Get You Into My Life' and 'Jupiter', the brass sounds impossibly tight.

I remember seeing a documentary on TV many years ago, where Phil Collins was recording an album using those EWF guys. They sounded crap in the studio.

[ahpook]

i used to, mainly for the live percussion tracks i'd use to spice up drum machines.

(i was a fostex 414 fella btw)

[Pete Academy]

I had a Fostex 250. It cost me £500 at trade in the early 80s!!!

I could get 10 tracks out of it, though, with some bouncing.

[maxrossell]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='659586' date='Nov 19 2009, 08:07 PM']I had a Fostex 250. It cost me £500 at trade in the early 80s!!!

I could get 10 tracks out of it, though, with some bouncing.[/quote]

Yeah. It blows my mind that my Tascam 488 set me back £600 in 1997, and now you can pick one up for a tenner on the 'bay.

[Pete Academy]

I bought the first 'affordable' digital drum machine - the Korg DM110. It had 16 PCM sounds and cost about £220. I also bought the percussion module that linked to it at the same price.

Almost £500 for 32 PCM drum and percussion sounds!

You youngsters don't know you were born.

[silverfoxnik]

Loads of records have been made that were sped up when mixed & cut..

Another old favourite trick in the 60's was to make the song slightly louder from the Middle 8 onwards when doing the Cut, just to keep people's ears interested..

[The Funk]

There's the story about Chuck Berry playing with the Stones. Keith et al had learnt the songs from the records only to be told by Chuck that he'd never played the songs that fast in his life. Did I hear that one wrong?

[Dread Bass]

[quote name='maxrossell' post='659531' date='Nov 19 2009, 07:15 PM']Yep. It's still used now. Listen to some of the guitar solos on some of the more extremely technical prog-metal albums. They have parts that if you see the guitarists live, they literally can't play that fast. It works even better with digital audio because with timestretch effects you can speed up the rhythm without affecting pitch.

I also used the tape trick a few times on my porta 488, but it didn't always work depending on the instrument.[/quote]

I would be interested in some examples of this in the tech metal genre. Can you think of any obvious examples?

[maxrossell]

[quote name='metaltime' post='659797' date='Nov 20 2009, 12:25 AM']I would be interested in some examples of this in the tech metal genre. Can you think of any obvious examples?[/quote]

Dragonforce. A while back I ran into a couple of guys who delivered cables to the studio where they recorded Ultra Beatdown and they saw the guitarist who isn't Herman Li cutting some harmony parts over a half-speed session.

To be fair I couldn't even play their parts at half the speed, so kudos on technique either way. Not that I particularly like their stuff, but hey.

[AM1]

[quote name='maxrossell' post='659799' date='Nov 20 2009, 12:32 AM']Dragonforce. A while back I ran into a couple of guys who delivered cables to the studio where they recorded Ultra Beatdown and they saw the guitarist who isn't Herman Li cutting some harmony parts over a half-speed session.

To be fair I couldn't even play their parts at half the speed, so kudos on technique either way. Not that I particularly like their stuff, but hey.[/quote]

Yeah IIRC their bassist uses ESP, I have one, very under-rated!

[Low End Bee]

I heard Hit Me With Your Rythm Stick was speeded up quite substantially taking it up from E to F.

Common practice in the 70s to do this to give songs more punch.

[NancyJohnson]

Kiss had a reputation of tuning down to D then speeding the tape up to achieve regular pitch.
P

[velvetkevorkian]

[quote name='metaltime' post='659797' date='Nov 20 2009, 12:25 AM']I would be interested in some examples of this in the tech metal genre. Can you think of any obvious examples?[/quote]
My drummer claims the drums from Lamb Of God are done this way- don't know the source of that though.

[Count Bassy]

What a load of cheats!

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='659872' date='Nov 20 2009, 09:04 AM']I heard Hit Me With Your Rythm Stick was speeded up quite substantially taking it up from E to F.

Common practice in the 70s to do this to give songs more punch.[/quote]

Dave Robinson at Stiff was notorious for this - anyone see Tracey Ullman on the Stiff documentary on BBC 4 recently - she said it gave her real problems on TOTP.

[skankdelvar]

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Edited November 20, 2009 by skankdelvar

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='659872' date='Nov 20 2009, 09:04 AM']I heard Hit Me With Your Rythm Stick was speeded up quite substantially taking it up from E to F.

Common practice in the 70s to do this to give songs more punch.[/quote]

So Norman actually played it slower than the original?

[YouMa]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='660417' date='Nov 20 2009, 06:05 PM']So Norman actually played it slower than the original?[/quote]

I hope so

[Pete Academy]

This is one of my favourite Crusaders tracks, but listening to the great slap bass part, I strongly suspect a speed-up.

Let me have your opinions, please.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWPjKDObcIo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWPjKDObcIo[/url]

[markdavid]

[quote name='YouMa' post='659528' date='Nov 19 2009, 07:12 PM']Yep it was very common,even the beatles did it,and discovered flanging in the process.[/quote]

Ive always wondered if they sped up Hey Bulldog, I always have to bend my notes up to pitch when I play that song