F.A.Q.

Who?
Retired sound engineer who loves music from the 60's & early 70's.

What?
My aim is to make rare stuff publicly available again with the best possible sound quality.

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Download guide: here

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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds Of Silence (1966) Orig. US Mono + 1 Bonus




















CD Quality (16bit/44.1kHz)
High Resolution (24bit/96kHz)
Info
pass: profstoned

31 comments:

  1. wo-o-o-o-o-ow!
    another tremendous work.
    нour commitment to mono at its best produces strongest admiration and respect.
    regards,
    a

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  2. sorry: your inst. *нour
    my fingers and brain switched to Latin characters faster, than my keyboard did it.

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  3. You really do extraordinary work, and I appreciate it immensely. Thank you.

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  4. Finally got around to downloading this...

    Thanks a whole lot for doing this, prof. Now I can put my misconception about the mono album to rest. I thought that the title track would be running at correct speed here (a bad thing, since I actually LIKE it sped up), but thankfully, it's as sped-up as the 45 is. I still think Blessed is the worst song on the album here, but it's much more bearable than the stereo version. The vocals are much more prominent here, so you can focus on the duo's sweet teamwork here instead of the (intentionally?) bad instrument playing. :D

    I still think this album is sort of a rush capitalization job in response to the single's surprise success, but listening to the mono version, it's a lot tighter and well-done than I expected it to be. For all intents, this is the version I'm going to be listening to from now on. (Probably the only song I liked on the stereo the first time is "A Most Peculiar Man". The effects sound so cooooool/ambient there, and it left me feeling impressed.)

    Shame you're not doing the first album, though, because I'd call that album's stereo mix the worst of all, strangely (the duo's vocals are split between speakers! it just doesn't work that way!). Understandable, though, that album's not really enjoyable, apart from the acoustic version of the Sound of Silence. Anyways, that's enough rambling from me, and I'm going to end this before this comment turns into a novella.

    -Vic

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    1. Whoops, forgot to mention one more thing. I honestly prefer the first version of I Am A Rock here. I'm not entirely sure why Simon wanted to change the intro. I guess he liked to use and abuse the echo effect? At least contrary to popular belief, he DIDN'T change the rest of the song, though, which is a good thing.

      -Vic

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  5. Thanks for another excellent analyses, Vic. At the end of the day, I have to (at least) LIKE the music that I'm working and I just don't find enough love for that first album in me.

    I think having the IAAR intro replaced had more to do with the singing than the lack of echo/reverb. Simon sings it with more confidence and swagger on the recut, but it just doesn't gel with the rest.

    As for the "bad playing", I always thought the solo guitar in TSOS was laughably amaturistic, like they picked some dude with long hair from the street and gave him one take. I've read that the session guitarist in question was deeply embarrassed with his performance. But, it is history and Tom Wilson made a heroic move by revisiting the sound and putting it out this way.

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    1. Appreciate it, prof. Listening to both versions of IAAR again, I agree that Simon sings with more confidence on the recut, but I wonder why he felt the need to swap the guitar playing, too. Couldn't they have just overlaid his new vocal over the guitar track? Eh. Maybe those two are just combined together on the multitracks, making such a simple swap impossible.

      As far as the guitar goes on TSOS, I do have to say I always chuckle when it veneers way off course after they sing "'Fools,' said I, 'You do not know'", but it's just something I've gotten used to and learned to appreciate in the song, when viewing this in retrospect with this version's history. I think the award for worst guitar solo has to go to that pitiful twangy solo on the Spinning Wheel 45, though. Man, now that was just laughably bad.

      And as far as collecting mono S&G goes, I think I'm pretty much set with that "Changes upon Changes" collection on the big D. I know it's not that great (some of Q's own tracks are used, with NR applied!), but it does have the Bridge Over Troubled Water 45s done by djwilbur, and seemingly intact, too, which was what I wanted.

      -Vic

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    2. Yes! It's exactly that little bit after "You do not know" that does it. Never had heard the Spinning Wheel 45 version, until just now. Ha! That was clearly done after the fact because they had shortened the middle part and couldn't get the trompet solo to work. Nice one!

      I still have one last S&G mono project to do: the 3 Bridge mono singles. I have perfect copies of all three, BUT one of them is off-center and I will have to take some time to get it exactly in position on the TT platter (maybe even with some maths which I'm not very good at).

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    3. Off-center? Ouch. WOW (is that what it's called?) is very annoying, but at least it can be compensated for somewhat, compared to IGD. What single is the one that's off-center?

      Out of curiosity, I took a look at my mono singles again, and I have to say that my favorite songs on the list are The Boxer and OLBinNY, simply because they're epically long and not edited down (only applicable for the latter). I don't really mind having Cecelia shortened, that's probably my least favorite song of theirs. Shame they never made a dedic. mono for Condor, because I just love how the fold has every part equal in volume, making the intro louder.

      -Vic

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    4. It's the side w/ BOTW. The WOW (or pitch wavering) is much more noticeable on a single instrument - piano in this instance. I definitely wanna get it done right, or nothing at all.

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    5. It's BOTW? Oh man, that's a shame, as that's a VERY dynamic track. I think the wavering would annoy the hell out of me on the piano the most. You have my best wishes on fixing the off-center problem. Hopefully you'll get the maths right soon.

      -Vic

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    6. Thanks Prof, for championing these versions, you've turned my head around. The prospect of you doing OLBinNY... I adore that track in mono, I think I must have heard it over at the scratchy 45s blog... haunting. But thanks so much.

      Slightly off topic, but have you heard the mono Man of the World on DJM? I liked the track already, but was blown away by this version even with a little distortion/sibilance on it. I'd love to get my hands on an original Immediate.

      Best wishes,

      Barraud.

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  6. Great as always Prof! Thanks for giving this album the justice it deserves!

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  7. A simple "Thank You" for each and every one of your offerrings. I have enjoyed each one of them as well as I've enjoyed reading your notes (and some of the comments from your readers/listeners). Having heard these records way back when, and usually in mono, it is wonderful to listen to them again with my many years of musical knowledge/listening under my belt (or through my ears). Thanks again for all your time consuming effort. It's very much appreciated.

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  8. Prof - thank you so much! I have bought this LP, I think, in 3 separate formats - so it's nice to get it in the original format that can't even be bought anymore. Appreciated!

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  9. Prof thanks for the upload. You should consider a S&G singles collection, I can help. All the S&G singles "A sides" are different than the LP versions except one. Also the version of Sounds of Silence included here is NOT the Tom Wilson version. It was remixed by Bob Johnson to match the "tone" of the rest of the album.

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  10. You're mistaken my friend. It's the same mix. Groovy thing too, was mixed by Wilson and used as was.

    The singles collection has already been done. I've contributed to it, and it will be uploaded here as well.

    http://jaenes-q-records.blogspot.nl/2013/05/simon-garfunkel-complete-singles.html

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  11. Thanks a lot for these wonderful Mono rips!

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  14. For some reason cannot dl the file, with 403 server error.

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  15. Just found this site and I'd like to say thank you for sharing the long unavailable mono mix!
    Thanks!

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  16. Looking forward to all this S and G Doc. Thanks and thanks again

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  17. Thanks Prof - great work as always!

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  18. The sound on all of these are spectacular, what a difference between the mono and stereo. I have had these in stereo since they were issued; hearing these brilliant mono recordings is almost like having them new all over again. Thank you!

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  19. Many thanks for all these masterpieces!

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  20. Thank you very much. Sounds great, really well done.

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