In 1966 The Beatles stopped touring and in November, after a 3 month break (during which they did different stuff on their own) started recording their next album. On 19 and 20 January 1967 they recorded the brilliant A Day In The Life in 7 takes, on a 4-track recorder. Early February they did some overdubs, and on 10 February the orchestral crescendo was recorded. On 22 February John, Paul, Ringo and roadie Mal Evans hit the final chord, E major, on 3 pianos. George Martin added some harmonium to this and copied all this to the other available tracks, resulting in a monumental BOINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! Ready.
A great, great song, building from a guitar and piano, and John's voice, via a middle section by Paul and an unbelievable orchestral crescendo to the final piano chord.
Here it is, the last song on the album.
Then someone thought it would be fun to put 'something' in the final groove of the lp, so some gibberish was recorded for that. When played backwards it sounds (if you like) like Will Fuck You Like A Superman is said. Pure coincidence, people in the know maintain.
And still they were not finished. John wanted to put something in the run-out groove 'only audible for dogs, like a dog whistle'. A 15 kHz high tone it was, not audible for most human ears. According to Mark Lewisohn this was not recorded, but added only during the cutting of the laquer by Harry Moss, on 28 April 1967 for the mono version and on 1 May for the stereo version of the lp. So it is there, between the piano chord and the end groove of the lp.
There are different versions of Sgt. Pepper on cd. The original cd from 1987, the remastered stereo and mono cd's from 2009, and the 50th anniversary edition of 2017. What did they do with that high tone bit?
From the cd's, using Exact Audio Copy I have created wav-files of A Day In The Life, and with Audacity I have created the audiospectrum of the part between the piano and the end groove gibberish. What's clear is that on all cd versions there is something visible in the audio spectrum in this part of the album. Visible, but for most of us not audible.
(click on the graphs for larger, readable versions)
spectrum high tone 1987 stereo-cd
spectrum high tone 2009 stereo-cd
spectrum high tone 2009 mono-cd
spectrum high tone 2017 stereo-cd
In the 1987 and 2009 versions, apart from a clear peak around 15 kHz there is also something going on at lower frequencies, mostly very low level in dB's. In 1987, the signal was cut off above 20 kHz, in 2009 both the stereo and mono version have some signal between 20 kHz and 22050 Hz, the maximum possible frequency on cd's.
I always wondered where they got this signal from when making the cd's, as it was not on the session tapes (says Mark Lewisohn).
The frequency spectrum of the 2017 anniversary remix is different. It is much clearer, no lower frequencies here, and remarkably, it is not 15 kHz, but 16 kHz, a slightly higher pitch.
Also, the tone (though not audible for most) is much 'louder' (-4.5 dB, compared with -27.7 dB in 2009 and -25.5 dB in 1987). I think this 'new' tone is purely digital.
This can also be seen from the amplitude (of the signal), which shows the strength, the 'loudness'. The amplitude of the high tone part can be seen in the next graphs, between the red lines.
amplitude high tone 1987 stereo-cd
amplitude high tone 2009 stereo-cd
amplitude high tone 2017 stereo-cd
It is clear to me, the tone on the 2017 edition is much louder (well, it IS a re-mix), it is on a different frequency and it looks very synthetic. This was newly created, I suspect. Probably the use of 16 kHz instead of 15 kHz is a mistake (inaudible for most, if not all of us).
End of story, about an (almost) inaudible part of Beatles music. Better stop here and play the record instead. A splendid time is guaranteed for all!
