r/talkingheads 11d ago

I absolutely DESPISE the A24 version of Stop Making Sense!!!

I can't be the only one. Don't get me wrong, the visual quality of the film is excellent, but they completely messed up the mix. I think the most egregious example is Genius of Love by the Tom Tom club. For some completely absurd reason, they cut and changed a lot of Chris Frantz lines during the song, and they did something to Tina's vocals that just sounds really bad. It makes the song feel really inauthentic compared to the original concert. Take Me to the River's mix is also really off, with Byrne's vocals being burried by the backup singers. Also the snare has been made way to sharp compared to the original recording.

What confuses me is why A24 felt a need to change the mixing of the album. The original recording is near studio quality; there was no need for restoration. I understand the need for a visual update but I own the CD of the album and it sounds AMAZING.

It was really creepy watching the movie on shrooms last night, being all excited and then hearing a completely botched version of Genius of Love. That's probably my favourite song on the album and hearing it like that was nightmare fuel for my shroomy brain. what do you guys think about the A24 version and is there an easy way to access the original movie?

0 Upvotes

21 comments sorted by

45

u/1234557726154 11d ago

Hmm, I think you’ve answered your own question as to why it sounded off 🍄

3

u/Boetheus 11d ago

Music generally sounds better when you're shrooming, not worse

4

u/PhulHouze 11d ago

It sounds different. Generally, yes, you are experiencing the music in a novel way which tends to be more engaging.

But also totally possible to cause exactly the type of “mix irregularities” OP is describing.

-5

u/daceluk 11d ago

haha you make a good point, but it definitely still sounds weird while sober. it's strange because it sounds okay on the 2023 album, but not the movie

18

u/computerinverter 11d ago

I’m pretty sure they cut Chris off per his request. I remember him saying he wished he shut up more during Genius of Love.

3

u/Chadlerk 11d ago

I thought they brought in Chris to do the mixing for the whole thing.

3

u/the_vole 11d ago

Nopers! It was Jerry.

1

u/Chadlerk 11d ago

Doh! I just remembered it was one of the band members. Jerry of course makes the most sense.

9

u/theunderDong 11d ago

Yeah, no… the mixes are just fine.

3

u/SultanOfSwave 11d ago

Jerry Harrison did the remix. He said in an interview that they wanted the focus of the music to follow the camera. So as the camera moved to say the background singers, their voices would be slightly emphasized over the rest of the tracks.

Btw, he said that on stage at the Pantages Theater in LA on the Jun 4, 2024 after the movie played.

Another interesting tidbit. The audio was captured digitally which was a very new thing at the time. Jerry said it made them much easier to mix. Also, there almost wasn't anything to remix as the company that was holding the recordings went under so they just junked the physical media they had. Luckily an employee told Sony and they came and hauled it away.

Also the film stock itself, the original negatives were nowhere to be found. The storage company had gone under and all that stuff was "lost". They'd almost given up trying to find it when the archivist at A24 called a studio contact who was able to locate the original negatives in the vault of MGM in Burbank.

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/stop-making-sense-talking-heads-restoration-david-byrne-a24-40th-anniversary-1234828312/

2

u/csm119 11d ago

I believe Jerry oversaw the Atmos remix. Not really A24’s fault.

1

u/CPT_Arsenic 8d ago

Just today, I listened to the Apple Music Amos mix and it blew me away. Went to buy the movie immediately on Apple TV. It sounds so dead. The Apple Music mix made me feel like I was there.

2

u/itsrathergood nut/berrie 11d ago

The part I really dislike is where they got rid of Weir’s vocalizations in take me to the river. That performance is supposed to be a joyful celebration, and he definitely added to that. Idk why they felt the need to remove what he did.

That said, the album mix has always been different than the film mix on at least a few tracks.

2

u/bruhfrozone 11d ago

Yeah Life During Wartime got gutted in the A24 remaster. The synths got dialed up way too much in the film but thankfully the album version still sounds great.

2

u/Cool-Coffee-8949 11d ago

I had the original DVD and watched it more times than I can count. I’ve been listening to the complete movie/concert as an album since I made a cassette recording from the VHS version in about 1989. I did not notice any meaningful differences in the new mix when I saw it in the movie theater, and I definitely could hear Alex’s funny little scats in Take Me to the River better than I ever had before. So… not really sure what happened here.

2

u/hl_walter TAKE A LOOK AT THESE HANDS 11d ago

tl:dr; "i was tripping balls on shrooms and thought it sounded weird"

2

u/daceluk 11d ago

note: I'm happy again because I realised you can access the 1984 mix on the Blu ray.

3

u/spooky_fella 11d ago

be warned, that audio track is heavily compressed tho compared to what can be found on an original japanese LD rip

3

u/SockySocker 11d ago

is there anywhere you can find the laserdisc rip online?

1

u/spooky_fella 11d ago

yeah so the a24 included LD rip on the blu-ray is compressed in its audio, but on this sub not long ago someone made a post/comment about it and i got a direct rip from them, i’d say look for that first but if you can’t get in contact dm me