Speed-correction issue I've never encountered before

[beatlesondvd]

Hello all.

I'm currently sorting out different versions of various interviews, and one which was uploaded as part of the 'Some Old Interviews' collection has a big speed issue.

It's the Paul McCartney radio special from 18 June 1981, which, incidentally, features clips of an interview with Paul I don't think I'd heard before, from the late 1970s or very early 1980s (obviously), where he talks about refusing to go to America before the Beatles had a #1 (a claim he would repeat in subsequent years, including in the 'Anthology'), the Sex Pistols, Stuart Sutcliffe, 'Pet Sounds,' 'Helter Skelter,' and the pressures of fame.

Anyway, this radio special runs waaaay too fast, but since it has official versions of their songs throughout, I adjusted the pitch to match that of the songs, as I always do in such cases. Usually, it works like a charm, but not this time.

I did that on 'Long Tall Sally,' to .88 of the speed it was at (see link below), but for some reason I can't explain, once the pitch is corrected the track plays much too slow, like at half time or something, yet it's in the correct pitch.

Can anyone help?

hoops://we.tl/t-NIHt204D6X (change the "oo" to "xx")

[csnyfan]

Pitch or Speed? Don't ever adjust pitch or tempo alone unless you have determined that was done in the first place.

[Mr Bump]

I just tried it and adjusted to 0.88 and got the same thing - so it looks like something to do with the file.

Can only speculate that someone, at some point, knew the recording was running fast and adjusted the tempo down - but not the speed (therefore leaving the music playing slower, but still sharp). Thus when you now adjust the speed to correct the pitch, it applies more (unwanted) slowing.

Maybe you can do some calculations with time and pitch to check whether this is right.

[beatlesondvd]

Pitch or Speed? Don't ever adjust pitch or tempo alone unless you have determined that was done in the first place.

I adjusted the pitch. If I adjust the speed, it sounds like the Chipmunks. (See the sample I posted.)

[Mrbeatleg]

how's this?

1981-06-18 BBC Radio 1 - Macca Birthday Special - Paul McCartney (fixed)
hxxps://we.tl/t-WNbU333PGe

[Lord Reith]

The raw sample has had its tempo decreased by -12.441 but not the pitch. You now need to decrease the pitch by that amount but not the tempo. Use the "Change Pitch" effect in Audacity and type that number into the percentage field. Use the high quality option.

[alphabeatles]

I just played around with that interview and came to these conclusions:

1) There's way too much CV music in it (and any other similar radio show), wasting my time and disk space

2) Your estimate of 88 tempo correction seemed to be appropriate for some parts of the interview but not others

3) "Some Old Interviews V4.0" is a great collection but not the best available quality of each interview in many cases. If you dump this set and other sourced interview tracks into the same year-by-year folders and named by date, you can A/B and pick the best versions. If you have nothing else to do in your life, that is...

[beatlesondvd]

Thank you very much, guys. Yes, Alphabeatles, I agree with you and, as a matter of fact, that's exactly what I'm doing.