elo "twilight"

Can anyone tell me timing of the start of the fade so I
can recreate the 45 version using the Light Years
track?

I want to clarify the distinction between the single version of Twilight and its appearances on CD compilations.

Twilight is part of a suite on the ELO album Time. The first song (Prologue) builds into Twilight, with swelling sound effects that lead to the main synthesizer riff (four epic-sounding notes - G-C-E-F). And then at the end of the song, as the last note fades out there are backwards vocals that come in, sounding a bit like singing angels, which transition into the next track.

Elements of these transitions are included in just about every release of Twilight - on the Time album, on the vinyl singles, and on CD compilations. In other words - the album mix is the only one available. But CD comps vary in length due to where they start and stop the track - how much of the beginning and end transitions they include.

I have the Twilight 12” single, and a copy of Another Prof’s 45 rip; their timings match up pretty closely:
Total length - 3:29.750
Fade-in to full volume - 2.460
Time until 1st synthesizer note is heard - 4.990
Fade-out - ~1.9 seconds of the “singing angels” can be heard as it quickly fades to silence

You can hear a (poor) recording of the 45 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oagsfSPz_os

Compilation versions

Most CD compilations with Twilight - that do not include the Prologue intro - usually include 5+ seconds of the intro transition, and/or 5+ seconds of the outro singing - which is why on compilations it typically runs from 3:37 to 3:42.

The good news is that the single version is easily recreated from any CD copy of Time, and many other compilations Twilight appears on, as they usually include enough audio from the Prologue intro (~5 seconds) and outro (~2 seconds) to accommodate the trimming and fading necessary.

Edited by davidlg1971 - 2 hours 5 minutes ago at 11:21pm