Walk a Mile in My Shoes

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   Does anybody know what radio played when this Joe South song was a minor hit? Reason I ask: I think every stereo CD of this song features the vocal completely out of phase, meaning if you played this mix on AM Radio in 1970 you wouldn't have heard his vocal at all.. it gets phased completely out in mono. 

I picked up an original Capitol 45 today to verify that it was origninally screwed up. It's in stereo, but the INSTRUMENTATION phases out. So on the original 45, it's not the vocal that is cancelled out in mono but instrumentation. 

You can't fix this song simply by flipping the phase. It must be messed up on the multrack meaning you can either have unphased instrumentation or unphased vocal, but not both. 

When did the phase get flipped so the vocal cancelled out? For the LP version? If so, would the single edits in the book be unsuccessful attempts to recreate the single? 

Yeah I know, a lot of discussion over a really screwed up production. Anybody have any information? 

Bill

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BillCahill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 13 October 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote BillCahill Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Walk a Mile in My Shoes Posted: 29 June 2006 at 8:04pm
	Does anybody know what radio played when this Joe South song was a minor hit? Reason I ask: I think every stereo CD of this song features the vocal completely out of phase, meaning if you played this mix on AM Radio in 1970 you wouldn't have heard his vocal at all.. it gets phased completely out in mono. I picked up an original Capitol 45 today to verify that it was origninally screwed up. It's in stereo, but the INSTRUMENTATION phases out. So on the original 45, it's not the vocal that is cancelled out in mono but instrumentation. You can't fix this song simply by flipping the phase. It must be messed up on the multrack meaning you can either have unphased instrumentation or unphased vocal, but not both. When did the phase get flipped so the vocal cancelled out? For the LP version? If so, would the single edits in the book be unsuccessful attempts to recreate the single? Yeah I know, a lot of discussion over a really screwed up production. Anybody have any information? Bill

aaronk Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 16 January 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 260	Post Options Post Reply Quote aaronk Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 June 2006 at 8:14pm
	What's interesting is that Jim sent me a "phase corrected" stereo version of this song. You can mono it without losing the vocal and instrumentation. I'll have to ask Jim how this version came to be. Jim?

Gary Mack Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 06 February 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote Gary Mack Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 June 2006 at 8:20pm
	Our AM station played WAMIMS and you're right - in mono, the original Capitol 45 lost some of the music. In fact, I don't recall any mono promo copies, either. The problem was tolerable on AM, but today's FM stations and CDs really bring out the sound of that grungy, miswired studio. GM Edited by Gary Mack

AndrewChouffi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 24 September 2005 Status: Offline Points: 44	Post Options Post Reply Quote AndrewChouffi Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 June 2006 at 8:48pm
	Hi Bill! I believe the version on his album 'Don't It Make You Want To Go Home' was a completely different mix (some different instrumentation) with a longer fade with some phase problems, but not as egregious as the commercial single or those 180 degrees-flipped CD issues. Unfortunately I no longer have that vinyl LP so I am going by memory, not fact. But I do still own the vinyl LP 'Joe South's Greatest Hits Vol. 1' which was issued the same year and contains that album mix. Does anyone have a mono promo single and was it a dedicated mix or was it a Haeco-CSG processed fold-down? I certainly don't remember hearing it on my AM radio in 1970 with anything buried in the mix. Andy

jimct Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 07 April 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote jimct Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 June 2006 at 11:30pm
	"Walk A Mile In My Shoes" is of my digital editing friend Bob's crowning achievements. He said he was able to fix this by dubbing the CD version onto a reel-to-reel tape, and then intentionally mis-aligning the tape heads until he got the out-of-kilter audio to properly phase. He got it, dubbed it this way onto his digital editor, then put the reel-to-reel heads back to their normal position, and gave me the finished product. Glad it meets with your approval, Aaron!

aaronk Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 16 January 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 260	Post Options Post Reply Quote aaronk Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 June 2006 at 7:20am
	Wow! I was very impressed with that one, Jim. Very clever technique!

davidclark Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 17 November 2004 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 46	Post Options Post Reply Quote davidclark Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 October 2006 at 6:34am
	I just got a mono version of this that ends cold at about 4:07, runs slower and does not have the percussion hits during the intro, instead it has a bit of Joe humming. Anyone know what this version is?
	dc1

AndrewChouffi Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 24 September 2005 Status: Offline Points: 44	Post Options Post Reply Quote AndrewChouffi Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 October 2006 at 10:49am
	Hello David, The mix you are describing is the album version (apparently a mono version of it). Andy

Pat Downey Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 01 October 2003 Status: Offline Points: 1	Post Options Post Reply Quote Pat Downey Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 October 2006 at 6:37pm
	Was this LP ever issued in mono?

BillCahill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 13 October 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote BillCahill Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 October 2006 at 2:51pm
	The version missing the percussion hits on the intro and featuring a little humming is the same version on the promotional only CD Memories Are Made Of This Part 2, The 60's and beyond, part of an 8 CD boxed set sent to radio stations to celebrate Capitol Records 50th birthday in 1992. I orginally thought somebody just tried some phase fixing to get it in mono, but it appears to be a different mix, as you note. I would doubt somebody would go through the trouble for that promo CD to come up with a new mix but you never know. Or somebody pulled a different mix from the vault, dissatisfied with the phase trouble of all the others. Or just pulled the wrong tape. Since it's 4:07 as you note, I doubt it was on a promo 45 in mono this way. I also doubt there was a mono album. By 1970 Capitol was out of the mono business in LPs.