Quick A Hard Day's Night Film Question

[DookieMan]

Why are all the songs so much lower, especially on I'm Happy Just To Dance With You?

[SgtRubberRevolver]

I don't know. I always wondered that. It must be the adding of the song in the film. Something must have happened in the editing.

[RockBandRocker]

Are you talking about the club scene?

The music in the club scene where they are dancing and partying is supposed to be in the background.

[Snookeroo]

I noticed that too. Its not just in the club, all of the songs seem to be in a lower key. We'll use I'm Happy Just to Dance With You as an example here. Listen to the album version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJNRpHzJ1cU), then the movie version. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQD8AYEcpvI) Different, isn't it? But why I wonder.

[instantdeath999]

Good ear. All the songs in the film were lowered by one semitone. To give you an example of what this means, Pauls voice on "When I'm 64" achieved it's "younger" quality by speeding it up, raising it by a semitone.

Why did they do this? I'm not sure. If I had to guess, I'd say it was to match the lip syncs.

[Diego81]

It depends on what version or print you watch of the movie, the problem is most likely that in the newer versions (the DVD for example), The Beatles and Apple were not involved on the release, as the movie is owned by Miramax, not Apple. Since the Beatles didn't cooperate I'm guessing Miramax had to work with whatever tapes they had/found and not the masters from Abbey Road. The DVD itself is only in mono for the songs.

[edschen]

The short answer is that Richard Lester made an artistic decision. He wanted the film rate to match the video playback rate. This required slowing everything down by roughly four percent.


http://www.recmusicbeatles.com/public/files/saki/moremoreahdn.html

[DookieMan]

Good ear. All the songs in the film were lowered by one semitone. To give you an example of what this means, Pauls voice on "When I'm 64" achieved it's "younger" quality by speeding it up, raising it by a semitone.

Why did they do this? I'm not sure. If I had to guess, I'd say it was to match the lip syncs.

So if I lower the song by a semitone using Audacity, that is how Paul actually sounded singing it?

Edit: Hey, that actually sounds a lot more like him. :P

[RockStarr]

So if I lower the song by a semitone using Audacity, that is how Paul actually sounded singing it?

Edit: Hey, that actually sounds a lot more like him. :P
AMAZING. Very odd to hear the song in that key but you can definitely hear "more" of Paul's actual voice imo

[BeatleMath]

And "She's Leaving Home" is a semitone too low on the stereo mix.
Raise it and it sounds like a happy song. (And now a favorite)

[BeatleMath]

I watched it today as well, and it completely freaked me out when I heard "If I Fell" too low.
Thank you all for clarifying. (And proving that I am not insane. Not yet.)

And "She's Leaving Home" is a semitone too low on the stereo mix.
Raise it and it sounds like a happy song. (And now a favorite)

[instantdeath999]

So if I lower the song by a semitone using Audacity, that is how Paul actually sounded singing it?

Edit: Hey, that actually sounds a lot more like him. :P

That's interesting; I've never actually tried it :p

[hannie3000]

So if I lower the song by a semitone using Audacity, that is how Paul actually sounded singing it?

Edit: Hey, that actually sounds a lot more like him. :P

Oh wow, you're right.
Haha, the magic of pitch changes.

[hannie3000]

Okay, this is quite funny.
I put both "When I'm 64" tracks on at the same time; the lowered and the album one and it sounds like Paul is a robot or something. It's hilarious but freaky at the same time.

Also, the music sounds rather demonic. Especially the piano.

[mysfarbror]

raise strawberry fields a semitone to get the original

[hannie3000]

Now that I've heard the modified and original versions, I'll forever hear the difference.
Not sure if I like that. My mind'll probably yell at me that "When I'm 64" is too high, or "Strawberry Fields" is too low whenever they come up on my MP3 player.. Oh boy.

Though, this was quite fun to find out.

[DookieMan]

Okay, this is quite funny.
I put both "When I'm 64" tracks on at the same time; the lowered and the album one and it sounds like Paul is a robot or something. It's hilarious but freaky at the same time.

Also, the music sounds rather demonic. Especially the piano.

Take any music at all, and make three separate tracks. Lower the first two by 4 and 2 semitones respectively, and raise the last by 2. You will get something scary.


And "She's Leaving Home" is a semitone too low on the stereo mix.
Raise it and it sounds like a happy song. (And now a favorite)

Very fun.

Any other examples of changing pitch? It's fun to see what the songs originally sounded like. I'd like to know if parts of Strawberry Fields Forever were altered, as John sings much lower than usual. This has become the official pitch changing Beatles thread. :P

[Yesguy]

I've been trying but I can't put the MP3 of When I'm Sixty-Four into Audacity. Can someone help?

[DookieMan]

Do you have the file on your computer, first of all?

Open Audacity, then click the "Project" tab, then click "Import Audio". Open the file, and there you go.

[Yesguy]

Do you have the file on your computer, first of all?

Open Audacity, then click the "Project" tab, then click "Import Audio". Open the file, and there you go.

I tried that and it still doesn't work. Yes, I do have the file on my computer.

[DookieMan]

What does it say? Also, try it with some other songs.

[Yesguy]

It doesn't say anything. When I try to import it it imports. But when I play it, it just makes a high pitched noise.