Whitney Houston - How Will I Know

<I've always found these types of sources to be hissy, especially on '80s-era songs.>

I know that can happen but I found 2 or 3 really good single mix sources by using their DVD or videotape counterparts:

Air Supply - The Power of Love (from DVD)
Belinda Carlisle - I Feel the Magic (from the VHS store-bought compilation of Belinda's videos!)
John Hunter - Tragedy - from a VHS compilation of various videos, probably a promo thing for in-store play.

I know there's a post I started for using DVD sources for single mixes unavailable elsewhere, but does anyone know any other good VHS store-bought tapes that are good sources for single mixes unavailable in the digital realm (CD/DVD)?

Yikes! Just ran squarely into the above three pages of posts for this song. Perhaps, even double yikes.

I bought the 45 when it was near the top of the charts. Mine came with a picture sleeve and has the "RE-1" designation in the matrix number. Printed time of 4:10, actual time of 4:32. It has the spliced-on LP version as mentioned above. The splice occurs exactly two beats before the downbeat 4:17, at the beginning of the two-beat drum fill. The RE-1 45 uses the exact fade points of the LP version, and doesn't fade early.

In addition to the instrumentation change, there's a slight tempo change. My 45 starts at 119.6 BPM, drifts slightly to 119.7 BPM over the course of the song, and drops abruptly to 118.9 BPM at the splice. The original 45 runs 119.6-119.7 BPM throughout, and the original LP mix runs 118.9 BPM throughout, so it's all consistent with the splicing-in-the-LP-ending theories.

The versions on The A List Disc 34 and TM Century GoldDisc 923 also have the dubbed-in LP portion with the mix and tempo changes, but they de-emphasize the transition by beginning their fade slightly before the 4:17 splice. Total run time on The A List is 4:28.

Trying to figure out why this even exists at all, and can only come up with two reasons:

(1) Arista wanted a later fade than the original 45 mix, but the 45 mix faded before the desired fade point. For the desired fade point, there wasn't any portion of the song available with the 45 mix, so Arista used the only mix that was available, the LP mix. Compared with the original 45 mix, the modified 45/LP mix fades about 8-12 beats later.

(2) Tape damage. When the first pressings ran out and Arista had to make more stampers/mothers, something bad happened to the last ten seconds of the tape. I kinda doubt that this is the case.

I had never noticed all this before, and had never played my commercial 45. (Not really a song for pleasure-listening...) Kinda fun to play a mint 45!

Edited by crapfromthepast

aaronk wrote: jimct wrote: "How Will I Know" stock deadwax is AS1-9434-SA SR1 1-1 (with the first "4" deeply and repeatedly retraced, covering an initial "3"). There is no "heartbeat" sung during the fade. I have both a stock and promo copy in front of me with the same matrix numbers, and they both do have the "heartbeat" vocal on the fadeout. The conclusion here is that all 4:29 (actual) 45s have the original 45 remix. All 4:33 (actual) 45s with the "RE" in the deadwax have the 45 remix with the LP ending spliced on.

I was digging around for a reference dub of the earlier pressing with "heartbeat" in the fade but our stock copy has the "RE" with LP ending. However I pulled a Flashback re-issue 45 AFS-9554 and that has the full remix with "heartbeat" in the fade. The deadwax on this is AFS-9554-SA-SR1.
So oddly enough, this tape was still around somewhere when this was pressed in the early 90's.

Only frustrating thing is the the time is different, it runs (4:25) not (4:27) as it should so it's either faded earlier or at a different speed. If i find something to compare it to I'll report back.

MM

The full single remix (i.e. no tacked on LP ending) appears to be on the video at the link

Whitney Houston - How Will I Know (Official Video)

I presume the audio comes from the Deluxe Anniversary Edition (2010) of Houston's debut album.

Has anyone ripped the audio from that DVD? Is it a lossless or lossy source?

smallworld wrote: The full single remix (i.e. no tacked on LP ending) appears to be on the video at the link hlhBg">Whitney Houston - How Will I Know (Official Video) I presume the audio comes from the Deluxe Anniversary Edition (2010) of Houston's debut album. Has anyone ripped the audio from that DVD? Is it a lossless or lossy source?

The audio doesn't come from the Deluxe Anniversary
Edition of her first album. I just listened to that on
Spotify... it has the first-pressing 45 version
without the "heartbeat." As far as I know, the 2nd
press 45 version with "heartbeat" in the background
vocals on the fadeout is still M.I.A. on CD.

I don't have the DVD, but if you crank up the audio on
the YouTube video it's extremely hissy on the fadeout.

Edited by Brian W.