Steve - Noise on the Mamas & Papas

[Dave B]

Steve, I just recieved my copy of Their 16 Greatest Hits (along with Who's Next and M,B,B&B). As has been posted before, the sound is excellent but I have a question. On Monday, Monday during the silent pause before the closing there is a wierd noise in the background. I can't tell if it's a splice or the tape had some loose oxide on it. It's not that noticable at low or mid-volume. Do you remember what the problem was?

[Steve Hoffman]

I don't remember, but probably tape/console/Mic preamp/limiter noise from the 12 bounce dubs needed to finish the song.

[Dave B]

Wow! 12 bounces? I'm surprised the vocals are as clean as they are. How do you push all that noise down and still keep the vocals from sounding muddy? Especially the soft Cass and Michelle backup on this song?

[Steve Hoffman]

The original engineer added a LOT of upper midrange EQ during every bounce. When the last bounce happened, he reduced this EQ, which acted like a primitive noise reducer. Clever, but they should have hired more than one string player. Then they could have saved themselves the hassle of all those bounces!