“Hair” audio quality

[Lemon Blood 561]

This might be something that literally only bothers me, but I’m curious to know if anyone else notices this too.

The audio of Hair is different on Apple Music and YouTube. That doesn’t really matter for the most part, however, one vocal take changes the whole song for me. 
On Apple Music the chorus shows less emotion, especially in the line “I’ll die living just as free as my hair”. I always opt to listen to the YouTube version, it just sounds better to me. I don’t know if this was a conscious decision by Gaga or the label (changing the production slightly since the release in 2011) but whatever the reason is, the original audio that was published in 2011 sounds leaps and bounds better. It actually makes it one of my favourites in her entire discography 

Am I insane or has anyone else noticed?

[Helxig 44,842]

Isn't that the Apple Music spacial/dolby audio? Honestly I hate that feature. People say omg it sounds soo much better you can hear every vocal layer, but imo it just messes with the mix and pushes random audio layers to the front which aren't supposed to be the dominant sound. I haven't hear a single song that sounds better that way to me

[Pigatha 979]

Spatial/Dolby, I couldn't listen to Poker Face on AM because of it, especially in the car lol

 

[Lemon Blood 561]

4 minutes ago, Helxig said:

Isn't that the Apple Music spacial/dolby audio? Honestly I hate that feature. People say omg it sounds soo much better you can hear every vocal layer, but imo it just messes with the mix and pushes random audio layers to the front which aren't supposed to be the dominant sound. I haven't hear a single song that sounds better that way to me

Most of the time I actually really like the sound quality on Apple Music but there’s just something about hair that I don’t like there. It’s the same on Amazon Music. I guess Hair just works better without Dolby audio 

[SimonBaetens 9,309]

the production on this song is one of her worst, I wish the album version was an acoustic 

[River 124,451]

19 minutes ago, SimonBaetens said:

the production on this song is one of her worst, I wish the album version was an acoustic 

sometimes her vocals are just muffled like she's singing underwater idk

and so many things are going on in the background and suddenly there's a sax, like chill omg 

[Dayman 6,250]

    I know some people said Atmos which maybe be the reason. But also there are two different mixes of “Hair” since the time the album came out as well. If you don’t have a good ear the best way to tell which version you’re listening to is to listen as it fades out. One version has the “oh oh-oh” backing vocals in the mix as it fades out and the other does not. There’s other differences besides that - but they are present.

   When Born This Way came out Apple was pushing this whole mastered for iTunes thing and it kinda resulted in two versions of the Born This Way album in terms of mixes. Physical and digital primarily. As time has gone on though those mixes kinda are all over the place on what shows up where now.

[Mr Oak 7,744]

4 minutes ago, Dayman said:

    I know some people said Atmos which maybe be the reason. But also there are two different mixes of “Hair” since the time the album came out as well. If you don’t have a good ear the best way to tell which version you’re listening to is to listen as it fades out. One version has the “oh oh-oh” backing vocals in the mix as it fades out and the other does not. There’s other differences besides that - but they are present.

   When Born This Way came out Apple was pushing this whole mastered for iTunes thing and it kinda resulted in two versions of the Born This Way album in terms of mixes. Physical and digital primarily. As time has gone on though those mixes kinda are all over the place on what shows up where now.

Do you know where I can find them in order to compare them?

[Notorious Bean 8,486]

I’ve just remembered something… when Hair was released as a promotional single the production was a bit different to the album version. Is this what you mean? I just tried looking but I think it’s removed now

[Gohan 16,776]

1 hour ago, Dayman said:

    I know some people said Atmos which maybe be the reason. But also there are two different mixes of “Hair” since the time the album came out as well. If you don’t have a good ear the best way to tell which version you’re listening to is to listen as it fades out. One version has the “oh oh-oh” backing vocals in the mix as it fades out and the other does not. There’s other differences besides that - but they are present.

   When Born This Way came out Apple was pushing this whole mastered for iTunes thing and it kinda resulted in two versions of the Born This Way album in terms of mixes. Physical and digital primarily. As time has gone on though those mixes kinda are all over the place on what shows up where now.

Do you mind putting these here so we can compare?

[Helxig 44,842]

4 hours ago, SimonBaetens said:

the production on this song is one of her worst, I wish the album version was an acoustic 

4 hours ago, River said:

sometimes her vocals are just muffled like she's singing underwater idk

and so many things are going on in the background and suddenly there's a sax, like chill omg 

I think some songs on BTW have this muffled sound or a weird mix to them because she literally recorded them in a makeshift booth/studio in a second tour bus that followed her tour bus on the Monster Ball. So sometimes she was probably in a moving bus tracking her vocals on maybe not the best equipment. I think this was both a good thing and a bad thing tbh. The good thing is, I believe it was the only way to capture the spirit of BTW that we love so much. The album feels like you're on a spiritual movement riding down the highways. I don't think it would've been so anthemic if she waited until after tour and jumped in a regular studio

[Defmix100 6,849]

8 hours ago, Pigatha said:

Spatial/Dolby, I couldn't listen to Poker Face on AM because of it, especially in the car lol

 

I don't have AM but I just checked the dolby atmos Poker Face on youtube and yeah it's not good

[Defmix100 6,849]

4 hours ago, Mr Oak said:

Do you know where I can find them in order to compare them?

 

3 hours ago, Gohan said:

Do you mind putting these here so we can compare?

 

 

[Lemon Blood 561]

5 hours ago, SimonBaetens said:

the production on this song is one of her worst, I wish the album version was an acoustic 

I actually really like the production on the song for the most part. I would have lowered the mid frequency on the kick drum though 

[Lextyr97 20,653]

9 hours ago, Helxig said:

Isn't that the Apple Music spacial/dolby audio? Honestly I hate that feature. People say omg it sounds soo much better you can hear every vocal layer, but imo it just messes with the mix and pushes random audio layers to the front which aren't supposed to be the dominant sound. I haven't hear a single song that sounds better that way to me

The Born This Way Atmos mixes are notoriously horrible. They’re awfully mixed. Atmos CAN be spectacular but all of Born This Way sounds bad. I downloaded it in lossless