Calling all temptaholics!!

[arrr&bee]

The question of the day is this,on thier great[1966]album[temptations greatest hits]were the songs simply re-recorded or did the fella go into the studio and re-create their greatest work at that time?...if you listen closely it sounds like they sang em again which would've been easy enough back then..what do ya'll think??

[soulster]

Trust me, they are not re-recordings. What would make you think that? If there are any differences between the mono singles and the GH album, it is because it uses the stereo mixes.

I'm too lazy to pull out my original vinyl pressing, but if memory serves, the only two mono mix on that album is "My Girl". The CD versions on this album have the stereo mix of "My Girl".

"Since I Lost My Baby" is rechannelled, which means that it was the mono mix, but processed to make it fake stereo, which is never desired.

[soulster]

BTW, here's an old post from Harry Weinger on how "My Girl" was mixed. However, there are no clues to exactly how the mono and stereo mixes were created.


Warning: If you do not wish to read about of the great mysteries from Hitsville USA, skip this. But I know you're in this forum to hear those very same stories from deep in the Motown archive.

Here is what is in the vault, and what seems to match the session log:

1. Smokey Robinson and Ronnie White with engineer Harold Taylor record the backing track at Hitsville in the Snakepit on a three-track reel, September 1964:
track 1 > empty
track 2 > two guitars and horns
track 3 > bass, drums, piano

[My understanding is that a reference copy of this reel is what Smokey & Ronnie White brought to NY and played for the Temptations backstage at the Apollo Theatre, to teach them the tune, a few weeks later.]

Smokey returns with the Temptations to the studio in November. TWO straight copies of the backing track three-track are made on November 10, 1964. On ONE of the copies the Temps record the lead vocal, fingersnaps [[possibly Paul) and background vocals, all on the one empty track.

A second overdub recording is made to the other copy of the backing track. The Temps record only their background harmony vocals - it's a low harmony. We figured that out by listening carefully to the isolated harmony vocal track: you can hear headphone bleed of the lead vocal and original backgrounds.

At some point the master is transferred over again and the vocal tracks are combined. Or this harmony track is not used in the final mix. It's hard to tell but perhaps with this info we can put another ear to it. Then...

There is a fourth three-track: on this one, the strings appear, overdubbed to the guitar and horns track. I have put queries to my engineer friends to see how exactly this was accomplished. But there was a lot of bumping up and pre-mixing - and a buildup of noise and some magic. The final stereo LP master on which this track appears notes on the tape box that they made heavy use of 'Conax' processing, an early form of noise reduction and compression used by the RCA production plant.

It may be there is a missing link somewhere, or lost to the ages. But what is reported here is what we have heard.

Whew.

Harry Weinger
"HW"

[Motown4Ever518]

BTW, here's an old post from Harry Weinger on how "My Girl" was mixed. However, there are no clues to exactly how the mono and stereo mixes were created.

Warning: If you do not wish to read about of the great mysteries from Hitsville USA, skip this. But I know you're in this forum to hear those very same stories from deep in the Motown archive.

Here is what is in the vault, and what seems to match the session log:

1. Smokey Robinson and Ronnie White with engineer Harold Taylor record the backing track at Hitsville in the Snakepit on a three-track reel, September 1964:
track 1 > empty
track 2 > two guitars and horns
track 3 > bass, drums, piano

[My understanding is that a reference copy of this reel is what Smokey & Ronnie White brought to NY and played for the Temptations backstage at the Apollo Theatre, to teach them the tune, a few weeks later.]

Smokey returns with the Temptations to the studio in November. TWO straight copies of the backing track three-track are made on November 10, 1964. On ONE of the copies the Temps record the lead vocal, fingersnaps [[possibly Paul) and background vocals, all on the one empty track.

A second overdub recording is made to the other copy of the backing track. The Temps record only their background harmony vocals - it's a low harmony. We figured that out by listening carefully to the isolated harmony vocal track: you can hear headphone bleed of the lead vocal and original backgrounds.

At some point the master is transferred over again and the vocal tracks are combined. Or this harmony track is not used in the final mix. It's hard to tell but perhaps with this info we can put another ear to it. Then...

There is a fourth three-track: on this one, the strings appear, overdubbed to the guitar and horns track. I have put queries to my engineer friends to see how exactly this was accomplished. But there was a lot of bumping up and pre-mixing - and a buildup of noise and some magic. The final stereo LP master on which this track appears notes on the tape box that they made heavy use of 'Conax' processing, an early form of noise reduction and compression used by the RCA production plant.

It may be there is a missing link somewhere, or lost to the ages. But what is reported here is what we have heard.

Whew.

Harry Weinger
"HW"

HW, thank you for the information. I suspect that such meticulous re-recording was not the norm, so someone felt that going through the whole process was a need to do thing. On the other hand, listening to the version sans music on The Emperors Of Soul, sounded OK without any music. Though the strings on the last verse never fail to make the greying hairs on my arms stand up.

[soulster]

HW, thank you for the information. I suspect that such meticulous re-recording was not the norm, so someone felt that going through the whole process was a need to do thing. On the other hand, listening to the version sans music on The Emperors Of Soul, sounded OK without any music. Though the strings on the last verse never fail to make the greying hairs on my arms stand up.

Motown4Ever: it is important that you get the terminology correct. Mixing is not the same as a re-recording. In the case of "My Girl", there was NO re-recording!!!

A re-recording is when the musicians and/or the vocalists go in and re-record the same song or it's parts. A mix is when the parts, once already recorded on a two, three, four, or more individual tracks, and are blended in [[mixed) to either mono, two-track stereo, or multichannel.