Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun - early alternative mono mix version

[overdriveauximenes]

I want to say real quick, there is a possibility, no matter how small, that the tracks which you’re assuming supplanted the original track, could have been a drop in or short overdub using the same track and simply be edited in.

Dealing with 4 track, there’s no doubt they used every bit of tape they could.

it doesn’t seem any less likely than an entire guitar track getting recorded but not noted by emi staff in 1967.

It is technically possible but the real deal working that way is matching the sound between the old take and the overdub, with several months between the two recordings. Not sure it was a standard practice in those days, although I can tell you it's fairly common nowadays, we experience that all the time.

[overdriveauximenes]

If this is so, where does it leave us on the subject? Apart from marksturdy's hypothesis making full sense in light of the until now available evidence from the session's tapes, on a more practical sense, I, at least, have never really heard anything resembling Barrett's style in the released version (and certainly not the way he played it in the live recordings we have with him), so what's going on?

It seems to me that either he is in it, and he was the one who first recorded the guitar part (indeed, a Telecaster with tone knob rolled off) in the way in which Gilmour played it in subsequent years, or the studio recording actually features Gilmour all the way, but no Barrett. I don't think it is the case that both are in it, because the number of tracks were so limited then, and the soundstage is already so heavy with seagulls, vibraphone and that mad Farfisa part; I just never could hear it.

P.S.: the only part which I've always found slightly odd is the sweet guitar coda higher up in the instrument's register, slightly acoustic-sounding; is there any possibility that that is the only remnant of Syd's original part?

The fact that both David and Syd are present on the final recording is clearly something that should be taken into account. I have re-checked Random Precision, and it is clear that guitar and bass were recorded on 8th Aug. 1967 with organ overdubbed later on the same track, and that vibes were added on 23rd Oct. 1967 with vocals overdubbed later on the same track. Which is quite confusing is that Parker hasn't found any documentation about guitar being added to the recording. Maybe a guitar overdub wasn't noted on the recording sheet or the tape box because it was done very quickly. I haven't heard the album track for a long time so I can't say if they could have overdubbed on a track without erasing previously recorded content.

Don't want to look like I'm chasing tail, but indeed without hearing the unused take 1 of STCFTHOTS, it would be tricky to affirm without a doubt that Syd is not on the recording.

[j.vavala513@gmail.com]

It is technically possible but the real deal working that way is matching the sound between the old take and the overdub, with several months between the two recordings. Not sure it was a standard practice in those days, although I can tell you it's fairly common nowadays, we experience that all the time.

Sorry, I guess I didn’t explain clearly. I was suggesting that during the outro or elsewhere that perhaps if there was no guitar on a track during a section or that the guitar isn’t important at that moment they could’ve punched in an organ or sound effects. Especially if we are just talking about intro or outro sections. No need for tone matching ( might as well start from scratch). When working with such a small amount of tracks, I know my past projects had to have multiple instruments on a single track. The Beatles would often overdub backing vocals, percussion and lead guitars to the same track.

Again, it’s not the most likely answer but it’s an option that gets us a completed song within losing all the guitar.

incidentally the limitations that 4 track presented were also its strengths. With so little options, there’s less to mess up. Now with unlimited tracks, I can tend towards throwing the kitchen sink at songs when all that they really need was a concise, simple arrangement sometimes. It’s a lot easier to make a great sounding recording when you don’t have plug ins and unlimited tracks and a billion sounds happening at once.

[TheMoebLoop]

Don't want to look like I'm chasing tail, but indeed without hearing the unused take 1 of STCFTHOTS, it would be tricky to affirm without a doubt that Syd is not on the recording.

Yes, if we had that, we could look for stylistically similar content in the album version.

[marksturdy]

Well, we do have the Top Gear recording from Sept 67, and the Rotterdam gig from November. Both of which definitely have Syd on guitar. The riff he plays is basically the same, albeit with a more typically Syd-y, jangly tone. The main difference in terms of actual notes played is that (certainly on the Top Gear one, which you'd assume is closest to the studio take recorded the month before) the part where final two notes of the riff are repeated, with Roger singing "the heart of the sun, the heart of the sun", isn't there. He just sings "set the controls for the heart of the sun" twice and that's the chorus. If the "the heart of the sun, the heart of the sun" part was a later development, then that would be a reason to replace the original guitar track.