The new 2018 remix of the Beatles White Album sounds very good - natural and more space. Listening through Tidal, however, “Wild Honey Pie” (Disc 1, Track 5) sounds really weird, as if the tape got loose. My ripped copy of an earlier version (2009 remaster) doesn’t sound like that and I also confirmed from other community members that a regular CD release of the 2018 remix sounds normal. I know it is not obvious as the original song itself was made corky, but I’m talking about the main vocal “honey pie…” part sounding wobbly. Both MQA and 16/44 versions of Tidal have the same problem.
Do you hear the same thing on your Roon/Tidal or regular Tidal? I wonder how such a thing can happen.
I have the new 2018 version and can confirm that the “wobbly” effect occurs on both my and Tidal versions.
In the accompanying book, the following appears… “The fluttering sound of one of the guitars was created by making the speed of the tape fluctuate slightly…it resulted in a sound similar to playing a cassette tape when the batteries are almost flat…As Giles Martin…discovered…this was an effect that could only be emulated by the same laborious…technique.”
I surmise that the wobbly effect is now a part of the remastering done by Giles
Is this code for ‘Yoko was singing on that track’?
Has the remastering simply made this effect more obvious? I have certainly heard new things on remasters that are obviously there when you go back to your original copy, but were hidden in the duller treble, colouration or noise of the first CD release (made from a tape intended for vinyl).
@BrianW, thanks for the definitive answer!! So I was right about tape wobbles, and my other facebook friend just couldn’t notice it on his CDs.
But did you mean that Giles did that extra wobbles on purpose? That would be surprising and I am not in favor of the effect. I’m talking about not just the guitars, but the entire vocals going out of tune, which is unpleasant. Well, it’s not a critical track so I can live with it.
Some explanation here on a massive thread. From a quick scan of it, as a result of needing to remix, they went back a tape generation which didn’t have the FX added yet (done during final mix to master tape?), so had to recreate some of them.
