While listening to the title track on Paul Simon's latest CD, "You're the one" I was wondering why it sounds like he's saying "you broke my fart" instead of "you broke my heart". I also noticed in Sting's "Fields of Gold" from Ten Summoner's Tales it sounds like he's singing "ufon the fields of barley" instead of "upon the .....".

What causes this? Bad recording, bad CD, inadequate or bad equipment?

Will superior equipment correct this?

How about bad pronounciation?

Do you hear the words differently on other systems? If you're hearing different things on a different system, then your system might be having issues. Otherwise, it's a matter of interpreting what the artist is saying. In other words, it's more about the performance at the time of the recording than anything to do with playback.

Sounds like there may be excess sibilance somewhere in the recording and/or playback chain. This would include the singer.

A high frequency peak or unstability somewhre in the aforementioned recording and/or playback chain could cause this.

The cause can be any of the things you listed. Once a mistake is made in a recording, it is pretty difficult to correct it without the correction causeing problems elsewhere. If the problem is in the playback side, then replacement of the offending piece of equipment may fix the problem.

Or it could actually be Paul Simon actually singing "you broke my fart" etc. Sort of like playing your Beatles albums (remember vinyl?) backwards to hear the message that "Paul is dead" but without the trouble of spinning the platter backwards.

Try playing the recording on a system that has less pronounced highs (or even subdued highs) or used tone controlls to investigate.

Paul

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the 1derful1

I usually associate this type of distortion with a slightly mis-tuned radio signal, not CD listening. However, overloading a preamplifier stage can also give this type of sound as in the sibilance example mentioned earlier. We usually associate clipping with power amplifiers but when small signal stages are overdriven they produce their own type of clipping distortion. Dirty, intermittent connectors and switch contacts can sometimes yield this type of noise and distortion as well (the diode effect). A bad tweeter with a warped or rubbing voice coil can sometimes sound this way too.

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Tekdredger

I've heard this on my own system through two different sets of speakers (PSB Image 4T and the PSB Stratus Silveri). The receiver has been the same (Yamaha RX-V995). I haven't had an opportunity to listen to a different CD (or my CD) on a different system to see if there's a difference.

I believe the speakers are pretty good but I question the 995. I've had it awhile and I've been saving to upgrade to the 950 and 5 M200s and I wondered if the same would occur with better equipment.

A CD walkman, boom box, or even computer speakers serve just fine as a different system to listen for this type of issue. Recording engineers listen to their recordings on all different kinds of playback situations, from high-end studio monitors to Auratones, to find this sort of problem. If you're not hearing the same lyrics on one of these other playback options, then there may be an issue with your main system.

PJS brings up a great thought with the idea of too much treble. This can be equipment associated or even from your room. If you have a very reverberant space, you're certainly going to have less intelligibility. At my work, we currently have a pretty famous acoustician working on our main concert hall to solve a problem just like that.

All just nice little things to consider...

I've heard a similar thing from time to time. I tend to find the root is either a faulty tweeter, or (I know you've checked already, but it never hurts to check again) reverse polarity on a speaker.

I have the DTS 5.1 version of Ten Summoner's Tales.

The vocals for that track are in the center channel.

My system is very clear.

It's definitely an enunciation problem. He pronounces 'upon' as 'upfon'.

Since Sting usually sings his lyrics very clearly, I think it's his way of adding a solemn sort of air to the song, or 'Tale'.

Someone help me with this one...PLEASE:

'Blinded by the light. [blank]ed up by the [blank], you know the [blank]er in the night.'

I think that's the one you're asking about!

I'm not sure if you'll receive a response, but try e-mailing the record label with your question. I kept hearing a "clack" like sound in a North Star jazz recording, so I e-mailed them. Within a couple of hours I received a response. My e-mail had been forwarded to one of the engineers and one of the musicians, they e-mailed me that they had carefully listened to the section in questioned and had not realized that the sound of the bass strings reverberating on the neck had been picked up by the microphones. This says a lot for the 950/770 combo, my B&W speakers and my H/K CD player. But it says a lot for North Star's customer service. Again, try e-mailing the label and see if they respond.