for context, im talking about this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XmjbLs1Fxs
things I know:
- original was uploaded to youtube on 07.09.2011
- video in the re-upload has hub watermarks. This is PROBABLY the original video but I can't know for sure.
so this indicates that it MAY have been sampling audio from a youtube upload of the show
However, a question unresolved for me is, when did the iTunes uploads first hit the scene? This matters because the iTunes version of the show has both a 2.0 stereo mix and a 5.1 surround mix. The surround mix is notable because the instrumentals are on different channels from the vocals, so you can isolate most of the vocals just by taking the center channel.
In the song, a lot of the sample chops don't have obvious instrumentals backing them. This could just be that it's masked by the other instrumentals, and it's very obviously EQ'd, but the the most isolated sample at 2:12 doesn't have anything obvious under it that I can hear from the original.
ALSO, the "my little pony, my little pony" section at 2:48 which very intentionally leaves the original instrumentation in sounds very stereo, and plays an isolated instrumental section without the vocals that are behind it normally, then brings the vocals in afterwards. The 2.0 iTunes mix does not sound this stereo at all, but the 5.1 mix DOES sound this stereo. It seems pretty close but I can't conclusively say that it wasn't made more stereo during song production.
So based on this it seems likely it was made from the iTunes rips, assuming they existed at the time. But I think that beginning instrumental riff might just show up in other parts of the show, so maybe not?
In any case, if it was made using the 5.1 rip this severely complicates the question of what samples were used if I want to recreate them because now I need to think about whether the channels were taken in isolation and Alex S. mixed them together, or if it was downmixed to 2.0 first (and if so, with which algorithm? probably the standard one.)
