Waveform
.- It’s the image (spectrum) of a recorded audio showed by an audio editor program.
Noise
.- It's an audio file part which corresponds to some transition. That happens in the Roll beginning, at the end of the Roll, when the recording re-starts, when the recording stops, etc... These noises can belong to the original Rolls or have been created in the successive copying processes.
Empty
.- It's an audio file part without some kind of recording. This part doesn’t belong to the original Rolls. They are usually at the beginning and at the end of the audio file. Be carefull!!! Don't confuse with silence.
Silence
.- It's an audio file part without some kind of recording. This part belongs to the original Rolls. They are usually in the middle of the Rolls.
Cut
.- It’s a part of an audio file where the recorder machine was stopped.
Hole
.- It's a recording cut where ALL the recording machines are stopped. The length of this cut is unknown and what happened in this time has been lost.
Very Low Level Recording
.- It's an audio file part where the audio level is too low. This part belongs to the original Rolls. If these areas are amplified, music / dialogues can be heard but without quality.
Performance
.- It’s a section of music with a certain coherence and differentiable from contiguous performances (previous and later).
Segment
.- It’s a continuous part (uncut) of a performance.
In a general way, the A Rolls Camera are recorded with a small quantity of "holes", while the B Rolls Camera are a set of partial segments, sometimes, of a minimum length.
Originally, Rolls B were going to be used to cover the gaps that occurred whenever it was necessary to replace the Rolls in the Nagra recorders of camera A.
The truth is that there are many "holes" throughout the "Get Back sessions" without a recorder machine working.
When you study in depth the "Get Back Sessions" the first question arises is which is the length of a Roll?
The audio files that can be obtained from the Rolls have been constructed from copies and copies of copies of the original Rolls. This means that the length of the audio files is longer than original Rolls. At this point, it’s necessary to differentiate what is original audio (Waveform), noise (Noise), or excess of length (Empty).
The criteria used are valid both for the beginnings and the ends of the Rolls.
In order to distinguish between Waveform, Noise and Empty, we used the following procedure:
1. Once the audio file is loaded in the audio editor, the audio part without (apparently) a Waveform is selected. This is done at the beginning and at the end of the audio file.
2. Using the audio editor, that zone is amplified + 25dB.
Waveform before the amplification of + 25dB. Waveform after the amplification of + 25dB .
3. After amplification, Waveform is considered the wide spectrum area and is delimited by the red line.
4. It’s considered "Noise" from the red line to the green line. And "Empty", from the green line to the file end.
After amplification the amplified Waveform has a shape similar to the unamplified Waveform.
There is not always the "Noise" zone.
Particular cases are those + 25dB Amplified Waveforms that present a continuous zone thicker than the typical "Empty" zone. To check if there is any kind of understandable sound in that area, we amplify it again + 25dB. This allows to determine if that zone should be considered or not a Waveform.
Waveform before the amplification of + 25dB. Waveform after the amplification of + 25dB .
The "Noise" zone can have different shapes. In some cases, it’s necessary to listen those zones to determine if there is any kind of understandable sound and it should be considered or no Waveform, or it’s only a transition noise. With a little practice it Will not be difficult to determine the validity or not of a "Noise" zone.
The Rolls have been divided into "perfomances" and they have been numbered according to the numbering of "A / B Road Complete Get Back Sessions" by Purple Chick that matches the nDDSI of the book "Complete Beatles' Audio Guide (2006)" of Doug Sulpy.
This numbering has been used because it allows to interrelate the five sources that have been selected for the construction of the MAPS.
To be able to perform conversions with other numbers, see the "Cross References" page.
The denomination used is that defined in "Complete Beatles' Audio Guide (2006)" by Doug Sulpy if it exists. Otherwise, new title.
The criteria of numbering and denomination of the performances, is NOT valid for all Dialogues, Roll & Slate Announcements, ambients, tunings, etc.... and ultimately all those parts that are NOT music.
These "performances" have NO numbering, their denomination is approximate and their length is defined by the "cuts".
For Maps elaboration it’s fundamental to define where a Roll must be cut to extract performances or segments.
As we have already defined, the length of the NON-musical parts is defined by the "Cuts".
Musical parts that not begin in a "Cut", they do it in the beginning points defined by Purple Chick and Doug Sulpy. These points are very noticeable, so it’s easy to find them thankd to the "A / B Road Complete Get Back Sessions".
To make a separation in a "Cut", it’s necessary to extend the Waveform to the zone in order to be clearly observed.
If you look closely, you can see a small point. That point is the area where the cut should be made.
For clarity, the zone can be amplified to + 25dB, so a slight zigzag, corresponding to the cut point, will be observed.
At least in the copies I accessed, the playback speed ""Pitch" of "A" Roll doesn’t coincide with the "B" Roll ""Pitch". In addition to this, those ""Pitches" are NOT constant
In many cases, the B Roll "Pitch" can can be different from the same musical paragraph of Roll A up to 0.2%.
That's the reason why, it have been necessary to be defined a fixed time base in the Maps (at intervals not exceeding 30 minutes), which serves as a fix reference in the reconstruction.
The criteria used for partial times is the following:
1. Whenever there is A Roll recording, the time base will match with A Roll times.
2. If there is not A Roll recording of but it does exist B Roll recording, the time base will match with the B Roll times.
3. If there is not A and B Roll recording, the time base will match the file times of "A / B Road Complete Get Back Sessions".
Be careful, the partial times of the Maps have been defined following these criteria.
Due of A and B Rolls "Pitch" differences, the simultaneous synchronization of the beginning and end of a segment is practically impossible with the Rolls that can be accessed.
Adjusting the B Roll "Pitch", it is possible to get the two ends of a paragraph matched up with those of its counterpart on A Roll, but it’s NOT easy.