Free program to reverse left/right channels on Cowboys CD?

[Foxfan 128]

I noticed the original CD has them inverted (violins on the right, brass on the left) and want to switch them back. Any free program that will do this?

I don't want to endure any "deliberate creative decisions" on my John Williams CDs!

[Erik Woods 555]

I'm sure you could find some 30 day trails of Sound Forge, Adobe Audition or Cool Edit that you can use to do the trick.

Or...

Check out the following link

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/win95/AUDIO_EDITORS/

-Erik-

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I don't want to endure any "deliberate creative decisions" on my John Williams CDs!

You think you know better then John Williams? :roll:

[Olivier 5]

Unless you are a conductor, does it really make that much of a difference?

I certainly couldn't tell; if indeed you are a conductor, used to having the instruments that way, I suppos it might be unusual hearing them reversed, but surely, it cannot alter the music not the acoustics / recording itself? I doubt music is written for "strings on the left only". As long as the separation is correct (ie, the strings stay don't sway from one side to the other), I think the music can't be altered by this.

Another question: how do you intend to switch those two instruments only? The percussion should remain on the right, shouldn't it? Can you extract instruments that easily with a free software, with only a stereo mix? If you can't, more instruments will move around, unless they are all mixed evenly.

I'm pretty baffled.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Olivier.

Violins on the right is the time-honored set up for an orchestra.

The reasons that this set up has indured is simply because it works, never change a winning team.

If an error was made with Varese's mix of the album, then swopping the sound channels will be the easiest way to correct that mistake.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Maybe the orchestra was behind john Williams...

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Now that makes a lot of sense.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

D'OH

[Kendal_Ozzel 36]

Flipping channels is a a breeze in Audacity.

[ashinyobject 0]

Wear your earphones the other way around.

[futuremartymcfly 0]

Rofl LOL, just too bad it flips everything else too, lol

[Foxfan 128]

Thanks. I tried Audacity (copy and pasted each channel) and worked fine.

There must have been a mixup on the Varese recording. All other John Williams scores have the instruments properly placed.

[Kendal_Ozzel 36]

It's actually even easier than that. Just Open the track, click on it and "split stereo track," "move down" the top track (left channel), and then "make stereo track" again.

But cut and paste works too.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

Olivier.

Violins on the right is the time-honored set up for an orchestra.

Stefan.

The time-honored set up is first violins on the left and second violins on the right. Mixing them together is a younger practice ("invented" or made popular by Stokovsky, as far as I know), and by far not a standard for all orchestras. Furthermore, often enough conductors make a point of using a separated setup - even when the orchestra usually doesn't - because many composers expected it and wrote "effects" based on this.

Marian - who hasn't been bothered by the Cowboys balancing so far.

[Morlock 11]

I am shocked to learn that people actually listen to The Cowboys CD.

Morlock- who has a CD-R and several recording of the suite, and never listens to the CD-R

Morlock2- who really should get that CD, as it's one of the very few widely available JW CD he does not own

[King Mark 3,631]

i have the official c.d. and the bootleg with the extra LP tracks.

I don't notice such things as inverted instruments.

K.M.

[sulky 6]

Initial pressings of the Varèse release used a bad master, resulting in the errors mentioned above.

However, subsequent pressings did remediate the issue.

This posting by Mr. Thaxton does shed some light in identifying the faulty from the corrected pressings.

[Trent B 337]

I use Cool Edit Pro for my editing music... all though I downloaded it from LimeWire because I didn't want to pay the $400.00 for the program. However wouldn't Gold Wave the free trial version swamp channels for music?

[GoodMusician 56]

I use a program called MAGIX... it was $20 on sale at best buy and you can use that. It has that as an option button right on the main menu. Youcould probably get a demo for free, though the program is so cheap and yet does sooo much--I use it for all my editing now--it's kinda worth it.

As far as orchestral set up, in college, We had strings in front , brass in back... so I can't really say much on such an issue... (although I think I missed the point)

Not to mention I'm a violist... so I just sit in the middle... the only difference I've ever seen in set up is to put violin 1 on the left, violin 2 on the right; viola-cello in the middle with bass in the back still... and then brass... so I woudln't honestly know nor would I ever notice...

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Initial pressings of the Varèse release used a bad master, resulting in the errors mentioned above.

However, subsequent pressings did remediate the issue.

This posting by Mr. Thaxton does shed some light in identifying the faulty from the corrected pressings.

If FAT is correct then I have a bad version.

Bugger!

[Olivier 5]

How about the other instruments?

Flipping the channels flipped everything, which means (to layman me, who couldn't tell the exact percentage of instruments spread about evenly in the orchestra) that to switch two instruments back to normal you switched 10 other instruments-- percussion, piano, harmonica, whatever, ...

I'm still baffled.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Well obviously on the faulty Varese discs all the instruments are flipped the wrong way round, not just the strings.

It's just that's it's very easy to notice with the strings.

[Jediwashington 59]

As far as orchestral set ups go for strings, the generally accepted set up is (Left to right arch) Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello, and bass behind the cellos.

To record a more full strings section, and especially to brighten the violin section if it is not large, it is common practice to seat I Violin, Viola Cello, II Violin, and basses behind. There are also times when John Williams will switch the viola and cello position putting the violas on the outside edge.

The variations are endless. Under Dimitri mitropoulus, the Minneapolis S.O had second violins not next to the firsts, but behind them, than violas cellos, and the bases behind all the entire orchestra including winds. It's a variation of the standard set up, But one of the most radical variations is Arturo Toscanini when he conducted the National Broadcasting Company Orchestra. This set up has First violin, cello, organ in the center, violas, thn second violins with the basses on the far left behind the first violins and cellos. Percussion was placed far right and the harp in the center.

So basically, the only problem that comes with music being backwards like that is when they put the stereo micing poision different from the mixer pan position of the close microphones. It's pretty obvious that the whole mix is seperated opposite and doesn't have that pan problem.

anyway, interesting that such a critical error wouldn't get noticed by those people quickly.

~JW

[Ollie 1,059]

I am shocked to learn that people actually listen to The Cowboys CD.

Why is that?

It's a good score.

CD sounds fine to me regardless of which version I have. And I haven't checked to see which one I have.

[Olivier 5]

Well obviously on the faulty Varese discs all the instruments are flipped the wrong way round, not just the strings.

It's just that's it's very easy to notice with the strings.

Okayyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Thanks, Stefancos!

Now you've told me this, it seems I had misunderstood the initial message, because of its apparent focus on the strings & percussion. If it's a general switch, now I understand.

Silly, really.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

Why is that?

It's a good score.

Make that *very* good.

Marian - happy to have both the OST and the suite.

[Foxfan 128]

JediWashington, has anyone been able to figure out why John Williams sometimes inverts the cellos and violas at concerts? I remember two years ago when JW's Friday concert had the violas and cellos inverted, while the Saturday concert had them placed normally. That would be a good question to ask him instead of the traditional stupid question of (What is your favorite score? etc.)

[Jediwashington 59]

Well, if there is a reason for the reversal of the order, I don't know about it. mostly I think it's to change it up a little bit, as it gets boring conducting in the same direction for cues and such.

But there are other reasons for it. Violas don't carry well over distance, but sound loud close up, and placing them in front of the conductor always makes the conductor quiet the violas down. As a result, you rarely hear violas very well in live music. Putting the violas on the side of the conductor allows them to bellow a little bit more, I think. I'm not sure if that is why. I'll ask around about it and see what I can find out for you.

~JW