Goodbye Baby- question about the audio quality
 

Something I've always wondered about is Goodbye Baby on Say You Will- the quality seems very bad in the beginning, almost like a demo rather than a fully produced track. I am not an expert when it comes to terms like 'remastered' or whatever, so for me to notice something about the poor audio quality means it has to be pretty noticeable. I can't believe they just threw the demo on the album, but why does it sound that way?

Anyone else notice what I'm talking about?

I think I know what you mean, it sounds like they recorded the metronome and put it into the song. I personally like the version that was filmed in the Destiny Rules documentary.

Hard to say, really. I don't think it's a matter of poor quality, it's the way it was recorded. I think Stevie's vocals were recorded in the larger room of the studio and so everything has an "airy" quality... the song isn't quite as well crafted as some of the other tunes on Say You Will (one could argue the whole album is a bit of a hot mess)... anyway, check out the Destiny Rules documentary below and you might enjoy it a bit more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQOjptfZLJ4

I'm not sure what people are objecting to on Goodbye Baby. It was clearly recorded to be like a lullaby, especially at the beginning. Her vocal is soft, almost whispery, at the beginning, and gradually builds up over the course of the song. There's not a lot of correcting on her vocal, so it sounds more raw and real and that was deliberate, in keeping with the raw realness of the lyrics.

The editing, to me, just sounds slopping. At some points, there's a hissing sound in the background that is absent in other parts. You can hear when vocal tracks are cut in and others dubbed over. Listen to the line "and the sands of time like shattering glass went past me, like a tunnel to the sea" around the :40 second mark. The word "to" sounds out of place. Part of this, I think, is because Stevie was probably singing at such a low, soft volume, that the controls had to be turned way up to get everything correctly...but in the process, the final version sounds messy.