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"Dueling Banjos"

Printed From: Top 40 Music on CD
Category: Top 40 Music On Compact Disc
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URL: https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=651
Printed Date: 16 June 2025 at 12:32pm
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Topic: "Dueling Banjos"

Posted By: EdisonLite
Subject: "Dueling Banjos"
Date Posted: 16 January 2006 at 9:16am

Pat, most of your entries for the 2:14 (2:16) version of "Dueling Banjos" have the remark about the hiss on the recordings; However, 2 CDs with this version have no hiss comment:

"Classic Country - the '70s Treasures"
"40 Great Country Instrumentals"

Is there considerably less hiss on these? or was this an oversight in the description? I have a few of the hissy CDs (the hiss actually runs for over a minute!) and I find that using de-hisser software hardly does anything to remove any of the massive hiss. I'll seek out one of the above CDs if they don't have the massive hiss.

Replies:

Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 16 January 2006 at 9:46am

Can't speak for the hiss issue, but I do believe the stereo shorter versions made one editing error, so they aren't the actual 45 version.

One question about the mono version described as the 45 version on the K-Tel CD--seems to me that the speed/pitch is slower compared to the LP version and stereo edits. Was the actual 45 slower than the LP?

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Doug
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All of the good signatures have been taken.

Posted By: edtop40
Date Posted: 16 January 2006 at 11:05am

where are the editing errors???

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edtop40

Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 16 January 2006 at 11:40am

edtop40 wrote:

where are the editing errors???

I'd have to check the CD to be absolutely sure (I'm going on memory here, since I'm at work), but I believe the error occurs at around the (:39) mark of the stereo edit (the guitar/banjo sequence from (:31)-(:38) is repeated in the stereo version [perhaps with a slight modification] but not repeated in the mono version).

The mono version (from the K-Tel Country Music Classics CD) is loaded on my iPod (although I sped it up slightly to try to match the pitch of the LP version), so that's where I'm getting my times.

If someone has a copy of the stereo edit handy and can verify or refute, please do so.

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Doug
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All of the good signatures have been taken.

Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 16 January 2006 at 2:42pm

The short stereo versions do say "Neither the 45 or the LP version." Did Pat just add that?

Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 16 January 2006 at 2:49pm

I'm pretty sure they were in the book like that, so I don't think he just added them.

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Doug
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All of the good signatures have been taken.

Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 16 January 2006 at 2:57pm

Oh, okay. It was just that your wording on, "I do believe the stereo shorter versions made one editing error, so they aren't the actual 45 version," and Ed's apparent surprise, made me think this wasn't indicated in the database.

Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 16 January 2006 at 6:29pm

Brian W. wrote:

Oh, okay. It was just that your wording on, "I do believe the stereo shorter versions made one editing error, so they aren't the actual 45 version," and Ed's apparent surprise, made me think this wasn't indicated in the database.

OK, I checked the CD (I used Rhino's Have A Nice Day Volume 10)--I need someone to check the vinyl 45 (Ed?). . .

After the guitar and banjo play the "Yankee Doodle" call and response at about (:31.3), they get into the duel. As I guessed, the line that's plucked from (:38.35) to (:45.99) on the stereo edit is not present on the mono version found on the K-Tel Country Music Classics CD (for that matter, neither is the tape hiss). However, the mono version found on said CD is slower than the stereo edit (which clocks in at (2:19) because of the extra line) or the LP version--the mono version on this CD clocks in at (2:17), which I'm wondering if it should be faster.

Confused? Good. :)

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Doug
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All of the good signatures have been taken.

Posted By: Moderator
Date Posted: 18 January 2006 at 4:40pm

The mono version found on the K-Tel Country Music Classics is the 45 version and it is at the correct speed also (at least for the 45). I have added some additional hiss comments to other titles.

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Top 40 Music On Compact Disc Moderator

Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 18 January 2006 at 8:44pm

Interesting--there aren't a ton of 45s where the 45 speed/pitch is slower than the LP. A few do spring to mind--"Tears Of A Clown," "Ramblin' Man" and "Key Largo" among them. Now add "Dueling Banjos" to the mix (although I think it sounds better in the LP speed personally).

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Doug
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All of the good signatures have been taken.

Posted By: edtop40
Date Posted: 27 July 2010 at 7:23pm

my mono (not stated on label, just gathered from listening) commercial 45 issued as warner 7659 states the run time on the label as 2:10 but actually runs 2:12 and is identical a cdr version i have....this 45 run time s/b added to the db...

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edtop40

Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 29 July 2010 at 12:31pm

This is from a post of mine on the Steve Hoffman board, from a thread related to Rhino's Have A Nice Day series:

Pat Downey's book tells me that the 45 version appears in mono on a CD from K-Tel called Country Music Classics Vol. XIX, which I don't have. Everything else is either the 3:14 LP version or a 2:16 edit of the LP version that isn't the true 45, all being in stereo. I have the LP version on a Cema 2-CD set called Instrumental Magic (1991), with a differently-EQ'd digital clone on Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies - A Loss For Words (1995). I'm guessing that Bill Inglot did the edit for this specifically for HAND, and it's done fairly well. Without going into too much detail, he lopped off the first 13 seconds, did a few more edits in the 0:13-1:54 portion to reduce the number of exchanges, and kept from 1:54 onward. On the HAND version, the last edit is at 0:55, and from there onward corresponds to 1:54 onward on the LP version. There's a ridiculous amount of hiss on HAND - it's got terrific presence, but it's really excessive on this track. There's a differently-EQ'd digital clone on Time-Life's AM Gold - Early '70s Classics (1992), which rolls off the hiss somewhat. Still, in a side-by-side comparison, the hissy version on HAND has lots more life than the full LP versions, which sound muffled in comparison, and even sounds better than the EQ'd clone on AM Gold.

Not sure that it reveals anything new, but it's a good summary.

Posted By: AdvprosD
Date Posted: 09 August 2020 at 8:37pm

Wow! 10 years since this thread has been touched. I guess I'm going to do this a lot if I'm spending my time here instead of reading politics this year.

I just happened to be listening to the "Billboard Top Soft Rock Hits: 1973", and hit this thread at the same time. That version seems to be 02:17 give or take.

But what I did notice was what appeared to be one of those editing errors at 01:43 where the guitar begins the duel. To me, it sounds like there are two overlapping
parts to the guitar. I am by no means a musician but, I don't think you can make one guitar sound that way, even if you are trying to. Maybe it sounds different on
other compilations but, this one just happened to be playing at the time.

I was originally going to comment on the hiss but, I see that has already been covered pretty well. All I can say is that being there sure was an amazing experience.
I had the chance to hear this song on AM and then on FM at night when things were quieter around the house. I still remember hearing the tape hiss on the FM station.

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<Dave> Someone please tell I-Heart Radio that St. Louis is not known as The Loo!