The annoying frequencies in Polynomial C

Recently I saw the remaster of Classics in a record store and I was curious to see if my favourite song on it, Polynomial C, was fixed. There are these really annoying high frequency buzzing sounds throughout some of the song (first noticeable 2 seconds into the song), at about 11500Hz and 17300Hz, here is a screenshot of the frequency analysis:

Anyways, I was talking to people in the WATMM IRC channel about it, and out of curiousity I went to see what frequency it was (the one I put up there), so I decided I'd try to remove it. A simple cutoff between 11000Hz and 11800Hz and also between 17000Hz and 17500 removed the sound without destroying the song.

Here is a 40 or so second excerpt from the beginning of the song so anyone can compare it with their version if they wish. But yes, cutting between 11000Hz and 11800Hz and also 17000Hz and 17500Hz fixes the problem without impeding the song in any way.

polynomialcexcerptfreqfix.mp3 716.73 kB · 89 downloads

The thing I don't understand, is why it wasn't fixed in the remaster. It'd be such a simple thing to do, and makes the song 100x better I think.

there is a really annoying sound at the very en of fingerbib, it tickles my spine ....

really its a weird sensation, if you dont believe me just try it and analyse it

the sound is raw data of a video game or something by it sure sounds like hell

i have no idea what you are talking about and the posted sample sounds completely fucked.

please ignore this post. i'm just stating an opinion without the intention of entering any discussion whatsoever.

the high frequencies in "phlange phace" are much more annoying imo... but it's a nice track! and it's an old one by rdj, nobody can produce perfect music right at the beginning.

Meh. Most of his earlier stuff doesn't sound "pretty" production wise. Just like .215061 from AB3, the track has some tape damage. It has its charms I guess.

yeah, AB, caustic lindows... not exactly mixes i take to the store to test out new monitors.

  hahathhat said:

yeah, AB, caustic lindows... not exactly mixes i take to the store to test out new monitors.

windowlicker would be perfect though...

  jubes said:

there is a really annoying sound at the very en of fingerbib, it tickles my spine ....

you mean the ZX Spectrum program tape sounds all over the album?

precalculated = strong

goDel for mod

Man, I'm amazed that you even picked up on those tones. They're pretty much at the limits of human hearing, both in terms of frequency and loudness. I can't say they bother me, but they do kind of remind me of the sound that old CRTs make. Of course, now that they've been pointed out to me, I'm sure they'll be all I'll hear when I listen to that track. WATMM strikes again.

You know theres a lot of frequencies in a lot of his tracks. Phlange Phace has an even more noticeable section at the beginning. Not to mention that Dodeccaheedron has a really harsh one at the beginning - which is probably intentional. Could it be that all these frequencies where intentionally added for no reason at all?

Metapharsic, Phloam.

Its probably one of those "things" that makes the tracks relate. Like a lesser variant of Ventolin.

DAT to DAT bouncing maybe

  boris said:

You know theres a lot of frequencies in a lot of his tracks...

i suppose they were put there intentionally.

you can find a lot of sounds like these in his works.

i dont hear it sorry...

btw, dont fuck with RDJ's music.

  bias said:

  jubes said:

there is a really annoying sound at the very en of fingerbib, it tickles my spine ....

 

you mean the ZX Spectrum program tape sounds all over the album?

O RLY?

examples plz, you haz my interest.

17300Hz = v. approx nyquist frequency of DAT running at 32kHZ (16000Hz in reality, but maybe your turntable is running fast, or something)

  Barricade said:

Meh. Most of his earlier stuff doesn't sound "pretty" production wise. Just like .215061 from AB3, the track has some tape damage. It has its charms I guess.

That was one of the things that endeared me to that track - I like how it sounds like it's from 1981 or something...

Is the Remaster worth it ?? ..

I own the Original release .. and i don't know if the Remaster Version is worth Buying ..

can't hear it

my hearing must be bad

now im depressed. thanks

wait: I only have an mp3 copy. maybe i need it lossless to recognize it.

eta: ok now i hear it!

I just threw on my copy of the song and I must say, I don't really hear it either. It's just an Apple Lossless file playing out my iPod into some Bose (derp) headphones though, so maybe that's why. It sounds like there's a good amount of hiss/tape crunch/whatever to the tune though (noticeable to me most the first time the initial arp drops out, for example), so maybe that's the source of the noise. Thanks for posting this; I've never really listened to this song this closely before.

I also feel like sometimes I've had issues with "non-naturally-occurring" sounds like this REALLY fucking with bright, somewhat primitive reverb algorithms. I'm sure the fairly un-damped long reverb in this tune is not helping with the ringing supersonic frequencies issue.

also, sound is more "directional" the higher the frequency, so I had to turn my head until i could hear it.

I'm in the same boat as the guy with tinnitus. I can't hear it apart from my normal background wheeeeeeeeeeeeeen.

the year 2000 on aphex phans are such twats and have no idea about how street the early recordings were all about.

get a life or listen to lady gaga