Appendix
F: Notes on methods and source materials
Comparison Methods
A great deal of tolerance has to be allowed when comparing vinyl discs. Cutting engineers would often apply their own adjustments to the sound in order to get what they considered a good result. This means that copies mastered from the same version of the mixdown tapes but cut by different engineers at different locations can have significantly different sound characteristics. This would appear to be the case with the first and last sides of Blonde On Blonde, for example, when heard in the US and French editions; but it can also apply to different copies pressed at different locations within the same country.
In fact, it is sometimes hard to tell whether the same or differently-mixed master tapes have been used for different vinyl editions. A cutting engineer's boosting of a particular frequency range can give the impression that a particular instrument has been brought to the fore at the mixing stage.
It should also be borne in mind that some of my assessment has been based on digital transfers of vinyl records made by other people - for example, I do not yet have an original copy of the Canadian mono album. This introduces further variables which will undoubtedly have affected the overall sound of what I have heard: different turntables, pick-up cartridges, phono pre-amps, analogue-to-digital conversion hardware and software. I have tried to minimise the risk of false judgements by obtaining several copies from different sources.
I have tended to err on the side of caution and relied wherever possible on editing differences to identify different mixes. By this I mean splices, overdubs and edits to particular instruments or vocals. I have also generally assumed that a different fade-out indicates a different mix, though in theory a shortened fade-out might be the work of a cutting engineer.
Another element of variation between different vinyl pressings is the speed (and therefore pitch) at which they play. Many pieces of analogue equipment were used in the production chain, and each would be potentially subject to slight inaccuracies in operating speed. Sometimes these would cancel each other out, but sometimes they added together to produce significant variations in the end product. To eliminate any further variation at the playback stage I have set the speed of my turntable using the strobe markings on the platter.
In the analogue world,
the recording and playback speeds of a track will affect its length, and this is
one reason why comparing track lengths is particularly
difficult. So instead of comparing total track lengths, I have
concentrated on timing the length of additional music in the longer of
two versions; doing it this way, any error will be much smaller. I have also ignored the timings printed on album sleeves and labels, as
these are very unreliable.
Recordings Used
All comparisons were made using the following
recordings:
US mono vinyl: original copy (Columbia C2L 41); 2002 vinyl reissue (Sundazed LP 5110).
Canadian mono vinyl: original copy (Columbia C2L 41).
French mono vinyl: original copy, early pressing (CBS 66012).
UK mono vinyl: original copy (CBS DDP 66012).
Mono 45 r.p.m.
releases: UK single Rainy Day
Women Nos. 12 & 35 / Pledging My Time (CBS 202307); French EP Rainy
Day Women Nos. 12 & 35 / Pledging My Time / One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or
Later) (CBS EP 5660)
Original stereo
vinyl mix: UK pressings circa 1975
and 1981 (CBS SDDP 66012); first-generation tape of US first pressing (Columbia C2S 841); CD-Rs of original sides of US
"hybrid" copies from late 60s / early 70s; tapes of 70s and 80s
Japanese copies (CBS/Sony 40AP 274-5); CD-R of 1999 UK Simply Vinyl reissue
(SVLP 063).
Revised stereo
vinyl mix: 1997 Dutch reissue
(Columbia 66012 1); CD-R of US 70s copy, and CD-Rs of remixed sides from US
"hybrid" copies circa 1969-70 (Columbia C2S 841).
Original
CD mix (1st abridged version): UK edition (CBS CDCBS
22130).
Original
CD mix (2nd abridged version): CD-R of 2nd
US pressing (Columbia CGK 841, matrix no. DIDP 70406 2)
Original
CD mix (full-length): US "Nice
Price" issue (Columbia CGK 841); European edition (Columbia 463369 2).
MasterSound CD
mix: original issue (Columbia CK
53016); Japanese 20-bit CD reissue (Sony SRCS 7905); UK Millennium
Edition (Columbia MILLEN15).
SACD
stereo mix: Original SACD (Columbia
CS 841); UK hybrid SACD (Columbia 512352 6).
SACD
5.1 surround mix: UK hybrid SACD
reissue (Columbia 512352 6).
Books, Magazines
Information was drawn from the following:
Michael Gross
& Robert Alexander, Bob Dylan: An Illustrated History, Elm Tree,
1978
Terry Hounsome
& Tim Chambre, New Rock Record, Blandford Press, 1981 (http://www.rock-record.co.uk)
Clinton Heylin, Dylan:
Behind The Shades, Viking, 1991
Rod MacBeath, Looking
Up Dylan's Sleeves, Part 1, in issue 50 of The Telegraph, 1994
Michael Krogsgaard,
Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions, Parts 1 & 2, in issues 52 &
53 of The Telegraph, 1995 (these can be seen online at http://www.punkhart.com/dylan/sessions-1.html
and http://www.punkhart.com/dylan/sessions-2.html
)
Clinton Heylin, Dylan:
Behind Closed Doors, Penguin, 1996
M. C. Strong, The Wee Rock Discography, Canongate, 1996
Andy Gill, Classic
Bob Dylan 1962-69: My Back Pages, Sevenoaks, 1998
Michael Fremer, Analog Corner, Stereophile magazine, February 2000
Robert Norris, Interview with Michael Brauer, Quad Recording Studios News, Vol.1, Issue 1, May 2001 (see http://www.mbrauer.com/articles/quad_interview.asp )
Howard Sounes, Down The Highway, Doubleday, 2001
Richard Younger, Interview with Bob Johnston, in Issue 20 of On The Tracks magazine, 2001
Michael Fremer, Interview with Bob Irwin in Stereophile magazine, February 2002
Christopher Walsh, Reissues reveal another side of Dylan, in Billboard magazine, September 2003
Sean Wilentz, Mystic Nights: The Making of Blonde on Blonde in Nashville, in Issue 58 of Oxford American, September 2007 (see http://www.oxfordamericanmag.com/content.cfm?ArticleID=254)
Alan Fraser, Searching For A Gem - illustrated online catalogue of rare and not-so-rare Dylan releases from all corners of the globe.
Acknowledgements
This time I'm particularly grateful to Hans Seegers and Les Kokay for information and transcriptions of some international editions of Blonde On Blonde; and to Robert Kornovich for information, ideas, copies of albums and the indefatigable enthusiasm that fuelled this long-overdue update to the site.
I'm still much indebted to Al Kooper for answering some questions about the original recording sessions, to Michael Brauer for talking to me about his remixing of Blonde On Blonde for the Super Audio CD release, and to Bob Irwin for answering my endless questions about his researches in Columbia's tape vaults and the remastering of the Sundazed mono edition.
I'd also like to thank Tim Anderson, Martin Andrzejewski, Richard Batey, Wieland Bauder, Pachi Becerril, Bruce Borgerson, Peter Stone Brown, Brian Budde, Geoff Chappell, Dave Chesterman, Peter Clerides, Phil Cohen, Larry Crum, Andrea Falesi, Richard Feirstein, Michael Fournier, Alan Fraser, Martin Gayford, Dennis J. Green, Jack Guerreiro, John Harju, Jon Heinink, Jim Heppell, Steve Hoffman, Pete Howard, Marty Howe, John Howells, Bruce Hughes, David Hwycdrrev, John Jones, Les Kokay, Paul Loeber, Damián M, Jon McAuliffe, Daniel McLean, Luke Pacholski, Jeff Partyka, Andoni Perez De Lema, Tony Perry, Tony Pignataro, Andrew Russ, Stephen Saper, Jean-Luc Sarrabayrouse, Leila Seneca, David Sims, Bob Stacy, Jordi To, Sam Visser, David Whiting, Paul Woods and Matthew Zuckerman for their information, opinion and encouragement, and to the anonymous American collector who very generously provided me with tapes and CD-Rs of numerous US vinyl copies of Blonde On Blonde.
Lastly, my thanks to all those who've posted contributions on the subject to rec.music.dylan, if they're not already mentioned above.
Last updated
February
2008